May 04, 2007 16:13
holy shit that show was good. as anticipated, i got there late. at 7:05, i was inside a classroom. by 8:05, i was in san jose getting on 85. by 9:05, i'd stopped for food and gotten to the warfield. all things considered, my lateness was fairly minimal.
i showed up right as against me! began their set. i didn't know if i would like them, because a friend of mine had said that he thought they were "all hardcore like earth crisis and shit." i think he was thinking of rise against....but anyway, i actually ended up quite enjoying their set. since my homies had seats and i'd somehow gotten a floor ticket, i didn't expect it to be a very social night for me, so i just took a spot toward the back of the main floor area and gave my full attention to the band. they're pretty catchy, and i would say that i had a really good time during their set, even though i was alone and didn't know any of their music. the crowd was pretty rad; most of them seemed to have no problem shouting lyrics and pumping fists. you know, essential rock & roll shit.
after their set, i asked around and learned that i'd already missed sets by both planes mistaken for stars (which i didn't care about at all) and cursive. i had kinda wanted to see cursive, just because i've heard good things about 'em, so that kinda upset me. i was just starting to think that maybe this really wasn't worth the $42 ass-raping that ticketmaster gave me when my friend matt pounces on me, shouting "holy shit, we FOUND you!" long story short, we exchanged tickets and did the necessary sketch things to smuggle me up to the assigned seats. so, i did get to meet up with my homies, and it was great, but still....forty-two bucks?
all doubts were squashed, though, once mastodon took the stage. within the first seconds of their first note, they dropped the black curtain that had been in back of the band, displaying a fucking HUUUUUGE curtain with the artwork for blood mountain on it. that incredibly epic rock moment set the tone for the whole show. their set basically kicked my fucking teeth in. i haven't seen a band shred like that in years. seriously, this band is my fucking slayer. (i really don't like slayer. mastodon is much cooler.) their drummer is not at all what i expected; a somewhat scrawny blonde kid with a just kidding haircut! based on his confidence and force behind the drumset, i expected more of a huge, brawny dude with sleeves and a mullet. oh, but speaking of mullets, one of their guitarists was totally rockin a mullethawk. the top was all hawked up, but then it kinda got flat in the back, but it stuck out right at the bottom. it was pretty much the scenest haircut i've ever seen. but back to the music...
they played all my favorite songs from blood mountain, as well as some earlier shit that i didn't recognize. thankfully for the newbie fans like me, almost their entire set was culled from blood mountain. it was such a different experience to see them bust it live. it was so much more...impressive. i mean, yeah, anyone can sound good in a studio, but how many musicians can keep it just as tight when they go out onstage? i'm sure the presence of a phenomenal drummer probably doesn't hurt, but...wow.
the crowd was amazing. at one point, the entire floor became a pit. fists were constantly pumping, big bald dudes were constantly putting up their "metal fingers" (which is a really weird, cheerleadery trend), and one dude even rushed the stage. at the WARFIELD, man. that's fucking hard to do. the band hardly said a word to the audience all night, except when they said that we "kicked the shit out of those assholes in L.A. last night," after which many of us retorted, "FUCK L.A!!!" good times.
before i'd gotten into the city, lilia had called me and said she was going to be there for the evening, too, and that we should meet up, so after the show, i went to the presidio, parked my car about a mile away from where i was meeting her and just walked through the city. it was a nice way to let my ears stop ringing, plus it's always just nice to take walks, especially by yourself. after some ecco-location cellphone shit, i finally met lilia and walked with her up to her new boy's house. i met one of his housemates, davin, as well as seeing folks like siobhan (lilia's housemate), lucius (the boy), and chirs (AKA chris, former resident of laurie's, and current housemate of nathan burkhart's...weird coincidences). lilia, siobhan and i went to a nearby diner where i had my first-ever cappucino. (it was dope. i think i pretty much love espresso in all forms.) we went back and i hung out with lilia and lucius in lucius' room, oggling all of the dopeasfuck sound equipment that he has.
i didn't get out of the city until after 3:00am, and didn't get into my bed that night until 4:20 (ha). subsequently, i've worked my ass off writing an 11-pager on ethnomusicological practices last night, a brief 3-page analysis this morning, and now i'm going to top it off with two dittos and a 2-pager, after which i'll finally be caught up on all my shit and i'll be able to head up to the bay area for some guilt-free DRINKO DE MAYO festivities with my token mexican best friend, christian martinez. if anybody feels like goin to a me-hee-can rally with us on saturday, call me.
heart
patrick