The Mighty MASTODON
Okay, I bought tickets to this show about two months in advance. It's been two whole years and a little more since I last saw Mastodon. Boy was I pumped. Their "Crack the Skye" record has been a huge success commercially and personally for me. This concert also introduced me to two new bands. Thanks Brendan for getting me into Converge and Dethklok. Let's get onto the show.
The show was at the Sound Academy. Another first for me (Massey Hall in my previous entry). I liked this venue. Not only is it in a nice location, the venue is a very good size. It's a bit smaller than Kool Haus but has all the bells and whistles of Kool Haus. I was expecting the place to be bigger than Kool Haus but it wasn't. This was good news for me! Being closer to the bands is always a good thing.
We got into the venue and High On Fire were already playing. Didn't have much interest in these guys so I just hit the merch table during their set. The Mastodon merch guy was extremely slow and went on a random smoking break when there was 20 or so people waiting to buy stuff. This was pretty stupid on his part in my opinion. Oh well. Spending time at the merch table pretty much took up all of High on Fire's time on the stage, which I guess isn't such a bad thing. Converge up next!
Converge came on and boy did they rip things apart. They sounded incredible live and played a pretty good variation between Jane Doe, No Heroes, You Fail Me and their newest record Axe to Fall. Singer kept thanking the crowd, which I found a bit funny. He would thank the crowd maybe two or three times in between songs. Anyways, the band had tonnes of energy and sounded really good. I totally want to see these guys again, and just read they're planning a Canadian headlining tour. How often do non-Canadian bands do Canadian tours? Almost never! So this is awesome!
Mastodon was up next. And holy shit, I was so super pumped to hear/see these guys again. I had read they were going to play their entire "Crack the Skye" record in its entirety! In addition, they would play a bunch of older songs following the Crack the Skye set. The anticipation was building and I was super pumped. They came on and just killed it. They sounded amazing, and played through the latest album like troopers, ending the set with a 13 minute song. Wow. They took a 5 minute break and came back to play some older songs. What an incredible set. They played for a bit over an hour. A nice time considering they were the co-headliners. I enjoyed every minute of it and the crowd was clearly there to see Mastodon. Everyone was having a good time which was nice to see. What's funny is the guys in Mastodon did not say a single thing to the crowd the whole night. Not even a, "Hello we're Mastodon!" or "What's up Toronto!?". I believe the same thing happened when I saw them two years ago. Very classy guys...very classy. In all fairness, Brann did come to the main mic at the end of the set and thanked Toronto. Good job. Mastodon is fucking amazing, and have reminded me of why there are one of my favourite bands of all time. Top three...easily. Can't wait to see these guys again! How is it, I've only seen them twice now?
Alright, enough praising for Mastodon. The other headliner was Dethklok. If you don't know who they are, well they are a cartoon band. No joke. Made popular by Adult Swim's Metalpacalypse, Dethklok are a fictional band from the show who play the BIGGEST band in the world, even though they play death-metal. The show is actually hilarious and I highly recommend it for any metal fans, or even fans of rock music. The guy behind the voices and the music in the show has released two albums and decided to do some touring! These guys were absolutely awesome and I really enjoyed the set. It was very fun! In between songs, they would play clips from the cartoon relevant to the tour. It was just a really fun set. Gene Hoglan, a legendary drummer was playing the drums on the tour. It was nice to hear/see such a respected and talented drummer. The lead singer, did some live voice work before the last song and it sounded so funny. The set was awesome, played most of my favourites.
All in all, what an amazing show and night! Three fucking bands that I wanted to see. All of them amazing, and at a great venue with a good crowd. What a good time. I've gone to a lot of shows this year, more than any other year so I'm going to have ONE MORE ENTRY probably for 2009 in a few weeks...when I go see....get ready for this. SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!
The show was at the Sound Academy. Another first for me (Massey Hall in my previous entry). I liked this venue. Not only is it in a nice location, the venue is a very good size. It's a bit smaller than Kool Haus but has all the bells and whistles of Kool Haus. I was expecting the place to be bigger than Kool Haus but it wasn't. This was good news for me! Being closer to the bands is always a good thing.
We got into the venue and High On Fire were already playing. Didn't have much interest in these guys so I just hit the merch table during their set. The Mastodon merch guy was extremely slow and went on a random smoking break when there was 20 or so people waiting to buy stuff. This was pretty stupid on his part in my opinion. Oh well. Spending time at the merch table pretty much took up all of High on Fire's time on the stage, which I guess isn't such a bad thing. Converge up next!
Converge came on and boy did they rip things apart. They sounded incredible live and played a pretty good variation between Jane Doe, No Heroes, You Fail Me and their newest record Axe to Fall. Singer kept thanking the crowd, which I found a bit funny. He would thank the crowd maybe two or three times in between songs. Anyways, the band had tonnes of energy and sounded really good. I totally want to see these guys again, and just read they're planning a Canadian headlining tour. How often do non-Canadian bands do Canadian tours? Almost never! So this is awesome!
Mastodon was up next. And holy shit, I was so super pumped to hear/see these guys again. I had read they were going to play their entire "Crack the Skye" record in its entirety! In addition, they would play a bunch of older songs following the Crack the Skye set. The anticipation was building and I was super pumped. They came on and just killed it. They sounded amazing, and played through the latest album like troopers, ending the set with a 13 minute song. Wow. They took a 5 minute break and came back to play some older songs. What an incredible set. They played for a bit over an hour. A nice time considering they were the co-headliners. I enjoyed every minute of it and the crowd was clearly there to see Mastodon. Everyone was having a good time which was nice to see. What's funny is the guys in Mastodon did not say a single thing to the crowd the whole night. Not even a, "Hello we're Mastodon!" or "What's up Toronto!?". I believe the same thing happened when I saw them two years ago. Very classy guys...very classy. In all fairness, Brann did come to the main mic at the end of the set and thanked Toronto. Good job. Mastodon is fucking amazing, and have reminded me of why there are one of my favourite bands of all time. Top three...easily. Can't wait to see these guys again! How is it, I've only seen them twice now?
Alright, enough praising for Mastodon. The other headliner was Dethklok. If you don't know who they are, well they are a cartoon band. No joke. Made popular by Adult Swim's Metalpacalypse, Dethklok are a fictional band from the show who play the BIGGEST band in the world, even though they play death-metal. The show is actually hilarious and I highly recommend it for any metal fans, or even fans of rock music. The guy behind the voices and the music in the show has released two albums and decided to do some touring! These guys were absolutely awesome and I really enjoyed the set. It was very fun! In between songs, they would play clips from the cartoon relevant to the tour. It was just a really fun set. Gene Hoglan, a legendary drummer was playing the drums on the tour. It was nice to hear/see such a respected and talented drummer. The lead singer, did some live voice work before the last song and it sounded so funny. The set was awesome, played most of my favourites.
All in all, what an amazing show and night! Three fucking bands that I wanted to see. All of them amazing, and at a great venue with a good crowd. What a good time. I've gone to a lot of shows this year, more than any other year so I'm going to have ONE MORE ENTRY probably for 2009 in a few weeks...when I go see....get ready for this. SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!