Porcupine Tree @ Riviera Theater in Chicago last night.

It was an amazing show. They played all of The Incident live, and it even sounded better live too. It was also filmed for their 3rd dvd.

It was pretty nice to go to a show where there's no moshing or my ears aren't ringing after the show for once.

Mastodon.

Megadeth R.I.P. 20th anniv. tour in Atlanta

megadave.

He needs wind in his locks. He could do a Timotei ad.

High On Fire, Priestess, Black Cobra, and Bison B.C. that shit was tons of fun.

Beth Hart..... it was awesome and extra g00d cuz Danielle came with us

Last show was Gov't Mule in January, got these coming up...

Iron Maiden (Houston)
Pentagram
Eyehategod
Scorpions
Rush
Roger Waters

Hank III. gotta say "what's up" after the show autographed my ticket stub. He should endorse copenhagen
bought a big ass patch lol
and 4 songs was played

I saw Mastodon on Thursday night (4-29). I'm mixed on the show...

Most importantly, Bill was a no-show. He was hospitalized a couple days before the show. They postponed their Rochester show which was two days before Grand Rapids, so I'm fortunate to have gotten to see them at all. The guy I was with told me Bill is rumored to have a terrible drinking problem, and that's what the hospitalization was for. I haven't seen anything online saying anything one way or the other.

They started off playing all of Crack the Skye. A guy from Baroness stood in on guitar for the first few songs (Pete??? maybe?), but I think they were down to a three-piece after The Czar, maybe after Ghost of Karelia. They were a three-piece the remainder of the night.

Big negative: They only went through the first six songs of Crack the Skye. The Last Baron didn't get played, which was extremely disappointing for me.

The setlist:
01. Oblivion
02. Divinations
03. Quintessence
04. The Czar
05. Ghost of Karelia
06. Crack the Skye
07. Crystal Skull
08. I Am Ahab
09. Circle of Cysquatch
10. Aqua Dementia
11. Iron Tusk > March of the Fire Ants
12. Blood and Thunder

Seeing other sets from this tour, this set is about four songs shorter than the others when Bill was with them. Based on when I sent my wife a text at the beginning of their show, I estimate they only played about an hour and fifteen minutes, maybe even slightly less, so there could be a song or two from above they didn't even play.

Musically, these guys were fabulous. Some of the later songs had heavy, heavy riffage. I mean, it was head-crushing heavy. It was awesome to see a band like this get on stage and headbang the fuck out. In my opinion, they clearly had more interest and energy after they got through Crack the Skye. I got the impression that those songs are starting to drag on them a little bit, which would be understandable considering they've been playing it non-stop for quite some time now.

Vocally, that's where my criticism is of the performance. Troy was pretty solid anytime he was on the mic, though he was spotty at times. Brent, on the other hand, was below average at best. His vocals were like a mumbling, off-key version of Beavis and he seemed to really struggle through most every song. It's something that would really boost the shows of these guys. (Also, Brent sang the verses of Oblivion. I could've sworn Brann normally does 'em.)

The visualizations behind the band were awesome. They had great repeating animations of the Blood Mountain cover as well as the Leviathan cover. The Leviathan one had flashes of lightning and snow falling repeatedly over the whale as night faded in and out during the songs.

I'd like to see these guys again, especially when all four guys are on stage. It was an all ages show, so I felt very, very old.


Some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnkSvLFKFg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXt7FeefIOE

Vocally, that's where my criticism is of the performance. Troy was pretty solid anytime he was on the mic, though he was spotty at times. Brent, on the other hand, was below average at best. His vocals were like a mumbling, off-key version of Beavis and he seemed to really struggle through most every song. It's something that would really boost the shows of these guys. (Also, Brent sang the verses of Oblivion. I could've sworn Brann normally does 'em.)

Agreed, I've seen Mastodon 5 times and their vocals are the weakest part of their shows. They live vocals sound different from the record sound and in a bad way. However, I agree their shows are still amazing. It's best to see them in smaller clubs though. I saw them on the main stage at Mayhem Fest in 08 and I thought Slipknot put on a better show then they did at the time. Mastodon just isn't an ampitheatre type band imo.

Mastodon

well damn, i hope Bill's there for the Oakland Mastodon show, i've seen them 5 times, but last time was 3 years ago.