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.

Man, talk about an extraordinary show Saturday night (April 4th 2009)… I must’ve seen Morrissey , The Smiths around 18 times by now… And as far as Morrissey solo, this ranks way up there as far as best performances. Yes, everyone knows the Aragon is acoustically challenged and the like…. Yet Morrissey insists on playing at this venue most of the time, and I bet if you ask him, he loves it for the charm, the history, the bells and whistles…

If you know anything about Morrissey, you know the excitement leading up to the actual performance… Such as the song selections from the mixing board before the opening act, the video montage before Morrissey hits the stage and so on. It’s important to reflect on this, besides the actual performance, because Morrissey gives out little clues about his likes and wants, and he treats this with the utmost thought into his overall presentation.

When walking into the venue of the Aragon, and approach the dance floor; For the next 40 minutes all you hear is spoken poetry. Not poetry slam like Mark Smith at the Green Mill (Which, by the way is an extraordinary time if you have not gone), but old English, UK-ish stuffy yet pertinent spoken word…. Unfortunately, not many standing early on got it… Too much jostling for position in front of the stage and so on… So no one could really hear this… But if you paid attention, you’d understand why he presented this… It’s obvious that he cares deeply about words, and poetry – and lyrics – and how important they are, as much as actual music. Then comes your typical mix of music before the opening band, for maybe a half hour consisting of rockabilly, show tunes and the like. Even this is given care, with thought in mind… What stands out in this mix is Tom Jones, singing The Bond theme “Thunderball”, circa 1965, and it was played Loud with a capital “L”. Now why you may ask? Lots and lots of reasons… First and foremost – a crooner with a booming voice, octaves all over the place, fearless in approach, balls out singing, and, still singing to this day… and even though Morrissey is nothing like Tom Jones, he has an affinity for this type of music, whether male or female.

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