Last night I smoked an enormous joint and then went to be serenaded by The Civil Wars for an hour and a bit. They're amazing live, it must be said. Brilliantly simple but the chemistry between the two of them in the songs is pretty mesmerizing. I liked them so much I bought tickets to their next show in October five minutes after I got back to the hotel room. Great night.
Gojira- Fuckin incredible. They were so tight and had incredible energy.
Meshuggah- I have wanted to see these guys live for ages. As soon as the four-count to Rational Gaze began when they came on, I lost it. New Millenium Cyanide Christ? Hell yeah! Perfection in human form.
Trivium- Decided to watch them before Mastodon. I don't like them, but they got the crowd moving.
Mastodon- Once again, fookin fantastic. A whole hour of straight 'Don, they didn't waste a second. My bro got pissed off because they didn't even say hi in between songs. Brent was high as fuck. However, they played way too many Hunter songs. I would have liked to have heard at least one from Remission.
Dillinger Escape Plan- Greg sang all of the first song while being held up by the crowd. It was an intimate atmosphere, you could feel the insanity in the music. Like nothing I have ever seen.
Slipknot- Saw one song while waiting to head off to Devin. I did what I always wanted to do: yell "YOU GUYS SUCK". I like their first album though.
Devin- Need I say anything? Second time round, front row, goddamn it he played Bad Devil!
"A moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me."
Went to the Presidents of the USA last night, great gig, played their first album in full, it's always good to see bands having fun onstage and not taking themselves too seriously
Meshuggah last night. Took my mum. Our heads were melted! They played for 1 hour 40 minutes, much better than the 45 minutes in Newcastle last time. Amazing setlist, with some really spooky atmospherics at times. Awesome.
Support was Animals as Leaders, a band I was aware of but hadnt checked out yet. They were really good, and got a massive response. Will definitely check out an album of theirs.
Blind Guardian at PPM Fest in Mons, Belgium. I enjoyed the show, and I liked the setlist more than the last time I saw them (2010 in Minneapolis), but they still haven't played And Then There Was Silence in front of me yet. But I'll be seeing them at least twice more this summer at festivals.
Sleep! That was some massive stuff, ridiculously crushing guitar and bass sounds. Occasionally had the air of being just another routine gig on a tuesday night (is this the first proper tour of the reunion?), so there was the risk of it getting too monotonous. But they kept it up and a full two hours went by easily!