Show Review

Mastodon with Against Me!, Cursive, These Arms Are Snakes Date: May 15th 2007 Venue: Kool Haus (Toronto, Ontario) My journey to Toronto began with one of the biggest torrential downpours this province has seen this year. Well, we didn’t actually see the storm, just the traffic it caused. So after a long and painful drive, we arrived at the Kool Haus just in time to miss These Arms Are Snakes.  Judging by the amount of sweat I saw on those boys as we walked by the band area, I’m guessing they lived up to their legendary intensity and insanity on stage. It made me truly sad to miss them for what is now the third time. Next up came Nebraska’s Cursive. Dressed in what very well could have been their finest wedding suits, they delivered their brand of artsy rock in fine form. Truly a solid unit, Cursive combines the standard rock guitar/bass/drums lineup with trumpet, saxophone, organs and keys. Alongside the band’s edgy and catchy riffs, they include dreamy atmospheres which sit extremely well with those parts. If one thing can be said for Cursive, it’s that they are certainly a unique act, and I couldn’t help getting a slight nostalgic feeling of fifties era music from them. Cursive played a forty-five minute set, which featured songs from their newest albums, and surprisingly, even a few from 2000’s Domestica. Combined with Tim Kasher’s spirited vocal delivery and energy, Cursive were a pleasure to watch. Following Cursive were the punk/hardcore outfit Against Me! At this point I began to realize that whoever organized this tour was a believer in the idea that variety shows are the best ones you can see. Against Me! seemingly single-handedly brought half the crowd themselves, which also left the crowd divided into the punk lovers and the punk haters. They charged through a forty-five minute set of their material infecting the crowd with their energy and enthusiasm. After this explosive set, a large number of people left the venue altogether. A divided crowd, indeed. Finally, it came time for the almighty Mastodon to take the stage. After a long interlude between the bands Mastodon finally hit the stage. A psychedelic introduction of noise and chaos and suddenly the band exploded into action, immediately plowing into their set they ignited the venue with their energy. They displayed their technically proficient blend of prog-rock and metal with grace and ease.  Without stopping once within the first four or five songs, the band said practically nothing the entire time they were onstage, opting instead for eerie segue ways between songs. This is fine with me, because some bands truly talk way too much on stage. Mastodon is one of those rare bands where you can’t quite figure out who the singer is. In fact, Mastodon really doesn’t even have a full-time vocalist.  Instead, all of the band mates contribute to the vocals (except the drummer). This results in an intense layering of aggressive screams, roars, and yes—even sometimes singing. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of Mastodon’s performance is the drumming of Brann Dailor. His mastery of off time fills and time changes is awe-inspiring. Mastodon delivered in fine form and left us all wondering what the fuck happened.  They were thankied us earnestly for being there, and it was over. The only real issue with Mastodon’s performance was the sound tech’s decision to put the stage-left guitar through the stage left speakers and the stage right guitar through the right. Everything else was, of course balanced. For the whole show everything was balanced, but this decision left those of us standing on the left being deafened by just one of the guitars. For a band like Mastodon, where the dueling guitar assault is so integral to their sound, this was a poor decision in my opinion. So standing in the middle one had a perfect sound, but a few steps to the left or right and the sound became terribly unbalanced. Sound techs need to learn that not everyone there is perfectly in the middle like they are in their little booth, because often at shows you don’t have a choice as to where you stand.  So as I was enjoying one guitar I completely missed entire solos and leads that were blasting through the speakers on the other side. Besides the unbalanced sound of Mastodon, the show was a success—and by success I mean it successfully brought together fans of various genres in one venue. Normally they may not ever see these bands. But did it split the crowd? Maybe. Author: Phil Bond [ Back to Shows Index ]