HALLOWEEN ARRIVES A LITTLE LATE TO CHICAGO

The “Scorched Earth and Take No Prisoners Tour”, better known as any Rob Zombie show, arrived into Chicago on a Sunday night. Yep, an F’n Sunday night! Not a Saturday night as Chicago deserves, but a Sunday night!! This had to do with the Pixies being in town at the same venue for a three night stand the day before. I bring this up because as much as there was crowd enthusiasm as in any Rob Zombie show, it could have been SO MUCH MORE…coulda’ woulda’ shoulda…this will not be a bitchy whiney session, believe me..( Rob always brings it over the top no matter what day of the week it is).

Rob, being ever the showman that he is, brought his ghoulish theatrics with a snap-crack band to promote his ever evolving brand of over the top theatrical metal spiked with 1960′s visions of monsters and demons.
Rob is meticulous when it comes to presentation and true showmanship. Nothing is ever left to chance, except maybe some of the exchanges and banter in crowd interaction. Chicago is a special place to him, the kind of town that truly appreciates his kind of mayhem- knowing full well that by the end of one of the evening’s first numbers, “Superbeast”- the wall of heat coming off of the main floor from the gigantic swell of the moshing is a scary sign of things to come. Let there be no doubt- no one on this planet punishes his audience with such an onslaught of sight and sound like Rob Zombie.

Hop-scotching between three risers at the lip of the stage, dreadlocks flying in the breeze of constant motion, Rob works the crowd from one end to the other constantly during each and every song, making absolutely sure that no one on the main floor stands in boredom. Nothing punches up this show more than John 5..in my opinion, the most underrated guitarist currently playing live today. Razor-sharp in attack and scope, capable of blasting out blistering riffs at a moment’s notice- he’s a sight to behold live, just as much as Rob.

Overall- a very satisfying evening. Again- to get the best possible shots of Rob and his cohorts- I gamble and proceed to the main floor. Like Tool at Lollapalooza- huge mistake..or so I think. I’m dinged and banged from head to toe. Smacked on my head too many times to count- I simply don’t care. As much as Rob is the cosummate showman- I’m the same way with my camera and vision. It’s absolutely worth the punishment to achieve visual success in my photography. I don’t venture out to the pits as much as I used to- only for viable forward thinking artists do I do this. And as much as I think that I’m nuts for doing this- the rewards of visual proof are more than satisfying in every way.

Calm, cool and collected…like four bookworms convening in some garage outside of Boston to start making some music. That’s the vibe to start this second of three shows at the Aragon Ballroom..they come out nonchalant…all casual..that says a lot for these four talented individuals; Black, Kim, Dave and Joey…to have such a hugely influential back catalog like this..and to start the show with four obscure off-kilter B-sides..well- that says a lot. I mean, “Dancing the Manta Ray”? The crowd gears up in excitement…to this?!? Kind of quiet in response…so even that the show starts off with this, the band is genuinely enjoying uncovering these little nuggets, and twisting them around to play live. Have to say that the vibe from the crowd is odd and off-beat…simply polite applause between songs. And then BAM!! On the giant L.E.D. screen backdrop: The word “DOOLITTLE” appears in all its glory….the venue goes absolutely nuts!! And for good reason…no other album by the Pixies garners such credibility. Hugely, and I mean HUGELY influential, and so varied in scope and style, down to the imagery by Vaughn Oliver and 23 Envelope, “Doolittle” encompasses everything you could hope for in songwriting, storytelling and downright weirdness. From the hysteria of its opening track “Despair”, to its end in “Gouge Away”, the album as a whole still sounds fresh and forward thinking to this very day.

At the completion of this song cycle…SHOCK and AWE!!! All four members bask in the crazy nutty applause, proceed to the lip of the stage, hold hands and then take a couple of bows. Who would’ve thought? After all, these four individuals are not known for their camaraderie…but who can blame them? They just completed a song cycle that was mesmerizing to witness live, and from where I was standing people were getting emotional witnessing this union onstage…It says a lot about this band and its unique place in the alternative indie rock pantheon..that people still care, that they want to see and hear their favorite musicians from another by-gone era and relive a true storytelling time…I for one get it along with the other 5,000 strong participants.

I’ve loved this band from its inception on 4ad back in the day (a label I did a ton of work for by the way)…and feel quite happy and satisfied having witnessed and photographed this spectacle…

Mastodon, Dethklok, Converge, High on Fire
Aragon Ballroom
Sat Oct 17 2009

Let’s see..pick one….Dethklok, Mastodon, High on Fire, and Converge…. I pick Mastodon, MASTODON, M-A-S-T-O-D-O-N!!!

Yeah, I know, High on Fire, Converge are on the bill, and they’re ok. (I’ll take High on Fire over Converge as of now). Converge?!? What’s there deal? Constant vocal grunts and shouts over sharp distained metal chords? This grows old fast 2 songs in…and this is a 7 or 8 song set! What’s with all the hype over this band? I’m trying to get it, to keep an open mind…yet I don’t get it, nor do I wish to…

Then there’s the headliner Dethklok. Again, just ok..I get the catoonish campy slick dire-faced metal based on the characters from the Cartoon Network show..but this bill is odd, because personally, Mastodon should be the headliner. Mastodon define the essence of forward thinking, dynamic metal. Thought provoking intelligent metal, in the vein of Opeth, with a smattering of Tool, what with the vivid imagery and ball-busting music to back it up…not many bands have the panache to pull this off, albeit convincingly…Mastodon is one of them. Mastodon went completely NUTZO in presenting their latest epic live- that being the completely awe-inspiring “Crack the Skye”. The beauty of this album live, even in the bizarre confines of the Aragon Ballroom, was positively a sonic and spiritual overload of the highest order.

Visually striking, the band provided an L.E.D. backdrop, depicting the intricate imagery from their latest album, involving what I perceive is the LSDish Russian mystic Rasputin, floating inward and outward through space and conceptual dreams, astral projection and other out of body experiences. Combine this with heavy blue and red lighting on the musicians, and this show becomes an absolute journey from beginning to end.

Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher flank stage left and right producing incinerating notes of guitar interplay that’s an absolute shock and awe to behold..then you have the mighty Brann Dailor on drums, whose blistering fills and complex timing are a sight to behold and witness live. This band is tighter than tight, with Troy Sanders on bass and singing his lungs out to help produce this sonic onslaught.

And after their mind-melting performance of “Crack the Skye”, Mastodon proceeded to fill the remainder of their set with tracks from “Leviathan” and “Blood Mountain”…they ended their set with a blazing cover tune from the Melvins, a song called “The Bit”. It’s cool that they dig the Melvins, a band which also has the tendancy to blow the roof off whatever venue they’re playing in… Clearly, the night belongs to Mastodon. This band will blast through anything and anybody. The sonic mind-melting bone-crushing onslaught tells me that it’s going to be fun watching them develop their live show, similar to Tool’s, in which it will leave the average concert-goer a convert and drained at the end of their set both mentally and physically. It’s only a matter of time…these guys are that bright and thought provoking.