The Warfield December 14, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas Heavy Metal!!! I hadn’t been to a rock show of this caliber in…well, ever. But I have been listening to Mastodon so much these last few months that I wasn’t about to miss them, so off to event I went. And I do mean it was an even – The Lizard Man, one of those freak show guys, was the host, the whole thing was sponsored by Jagermeister with tons of posters and promo items everywhere, and there was even a barely clad stripper on the stage at one point (it was a family event, after all – I saw one whole family there, all with matching Sammy Hagar perms, it was pretty cute actually). The whole thing had been sold out for ages, and the fans were pumped – most of them expressed this by having their shirts off and displaying their prison-style tattoos at any chance (didn’t see any topless ladies, mind you, but it’s not like there were a lot of them there anyways). But all that is just peripheral compared to the music, most notably Mastodon – who fucking killed it. Seriously, they were as tight as Montgomery Burns at a charity event. They kinda stood out, not only from the other bands, but the crowd as well – but they were so impressive I have no doubt they won over quite a few of the hashers who were there only to see Slayer. They played a number of tracks from both of their full lengths, “Remission” and “Leviathan”, and every time they started a new song I would get as excited as a child on Christmas morning. If you have any love of the rock at all, check these guys out either live or recorded, it’ll blow your mind. There was a time in my life in high school when seeing Slayer was all that ever would have mattered. These days, although I don’t actively follow the band anymore, I still knew they would put on a good, enjoyable show, and that’s exactly what they did. The music was just pummeling, and the entire floor of the Warfield was one swirling mass of bodies. They played a lot of newer tracks that I didn’t know that sounded good, but I definitely felt that 14 year old in me stir when they launched into “War Ensemble” and a couple of other classic tracks of theirs. Say what you want about most of the folks who might identify as “metal heads”, but they know how to have a damn good time…and I had a damn good time myself. --- ©2004 playinginfog.com |