Last night, April 29, 2009, the the conceptual prog/thrash/stoner metal masters in Mastodon came to the Fine Line Music Cafe in the heart of downtown Minneapolis’s club district to support of their brilliant new album Crack the Skye, and they put together a gripping set that had the MN crowd salivating for more. It’s one thing to make every one of your albums into a separate concept piece, but it’s an entirely different story when you are able to execute that concept, front-to-back, in front of the live audience. However, Mastodon did just that by dedicating the entire first half of their set to the new release, and it didn’t end there they treated each of their releases with the same type of reverence, playing back through their career with mini-conceptual sets devoted to Blood Mountain, Leviathan, and Remission.
Crack the Skye was played in order, and it couldn’t have sounded better than it did at the Fine Line on Wednesday. The guitars were thick, loud, and crunching over the insane drum textures of Brann Dailor, sounding heavy as hell at times and lush and beautiful at others. Mastodon has the unique ability to play heavy rock that tends to get tripped out never loses sight of the fact that it’s main purpose is to fuckin’ rock! Fine Line’s sold out crowd certainly appreciated the heaviness throughout the night, and the moshing only subdued a few times during some of the most Pink Floydian moments.
However, things really kicked into high gear when the band stepped back onto stage for their second set of the night. As the band roared into the first notes of the psychonaut thrasher “Bladecatcher” from Blood Mountain, a renewed fervor hit the pit that didn’t let up until the end. Fans seemed to celebrate each time a new song began, a sure sign that of the future trouble the band might have in putting together albums that can stack up against their back catalog. Nevermind that though, because tonight the band has a more control of their sound and their crowd than any other band I’ve seen all year. The show was an ambitious one, but in the end it brought things full circle, beautifully introducing fans of the old the the new and vice versa.
Not to be outdone, the underground pyschedelic sludge metal vets Kylesa is came into town supporting their new album Static Tensions and played a set that left most of the crowd taking serious note of who was on stage in front of them. To anyone in metal band, Kylesa’s dirty headbanging psychedelics sonic presence is quite enviable, and the fact that they’re the direct support to Mastodon’s sold out tour is probably even more enviable. To sum it up succinctly, this is a “band’s band”, if you know what I mean; everybody sings, they’ve got two drummers, males, females, and they play some very, very, very sick metal.
The underground prog/sludge heavyweights in Intronaut started things off right with their poly-rhythmic doom metal. Most of the set was focused around Prehistoricisms and The Challenger EP, with only a single song taken from earlier material. All around, the band sounded extremely tight and super heavy last night, and for as technical as their music is, they still came across as a pretty carefree group of musicians. If I would’ve found them in the venue, I would’ve gladly offered to roll one up with the dudes (but I might have had to make that conditional on a personal request for “Fragments of Character” next time they’re in MN – it’s a song that brings back great personal memories!).
And now on to the media presentation! We owe a big thank you to Chris, Erik, and the guys at CultureBully.com for the spontaneous “partnership” that spawned the vimeo hosted video in this post (and they were nice enough to include some of the shots that I took with their own, much better and more detailed writeup of the show)! Check out all the great photos of Mastodon, Kylesa, and Intronaut and FIVE videos of Intronaut and Mastodon. Happy viewing!
VIDEO: Mastodon, “Oblivion” (live at the Fine Line, 04/29/2009)
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VIDEO: Intronaut live at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 04/29/2009
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VIDEO: Mastodon, “Bladecatcher” (live at the Fine Line, 04/29/2009)
The recap (and more videos) are posted for you after the jump! Enjoy… Continue reading
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(Frail By Design)
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band was on point that night and ready to impress their ecelectic audience. With everyone from heavily bearded metalheads to formally dressed females in attendance, Dredg had to know that their opening acts and their dynamic catalog would be sure to attract a such a undefinable mix of people – which probably is why the band chose to spend fair amounts of time playing songs from all of their albums, including several songs from their forthcoming album The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion. Songs from the recent Catch Without Arms and El Cielo were sounding more impassioned and intimate this time around, and against the back drop of the Varsity their performance was even grander. Even Leitmotif got acknowledged with a performance of “Yatahaze” (video below) that ended with the band proclaiming, “whoa that felt good! We need to do that more often.” Throughout their performance, the entire crowd often sang above the band, and as anyone there would likely agree, we all agreed it was an amazing return.
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(Torche)
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(From Monument to Masses)
(From Monument to Masses)
(From Monument to Masses)
St Paul’s technical/jazz metal wizards in 
It wasn’t just the fact that Andrew Bird’s encore seemed endless, it was everything leading up to that which was perfection as well. The way the man is able to create music, and piece together different violin lines or whistling sequences is astounding. Most of this has all been said before, it seems to be common knowledge that Bird is amazing live, but to finally see it in person I feel like I have to rave about it. How crystal clear he is able to keep his sound and the way his voice commands so much energy throughout the entire set also surprised me. Though he changed the tempo of delivery on a few lyrics, the way his voice actually sounds is just as beautiful as it is on record. He had a great rapport with the crowd, joking intermittently between nearly every track, somethings that few artists are able to capture. Of course I could gripe about what songs he did or didn’t play (just to note, I would have loved to have heard more Bowl of Fire and Armchair Apocrypha tracks) but I won’t get into that too much. I feel truly grateful and honored just to see him perform, Andrew Bird has a great gift and to be able to share that amount of time with him is a great feeling. The show was a spectacle of all that is concert going: perfect weather, an above awesome venue, an anxious and diverse crowd, an opening act that is surprisingly awesome, and most of all a great set from the big performer. Oh, and did I mention the encores too? I thought so. 
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(Bring That Shit)
(Bring That Shit)
(The Nina! The Pinta!)
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No matter how old 
MIND INVERSION 