Metalocalypse Tour with Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge and High on Fire
Nov. 21, 2009
San Jose State Event Center
Better than: Getting your ass whupped by Glenn Danzig's cartoon twin.
It takes a pretty stellar concert lineup to coax even the most fanatical San Francisco music fan all the way to San Jose on a Saturday night, but the promise offered by the final stop of the Adult Swim-sponsored Metalocalypse Tour made the trip to the South Bay a no brainer. If sets from Oakland's own sludge maestros High on Fire and the mighty prog-metal juggernaut that is Mastodon weren't enough to entice, a headlining performance by Dethklok - the Cartoon Network's animated death metal equivalent of Spinal Tap - sealed the deal.
Unfortunately, a preposterously punctual start time dashed any hopes for a headbanger's trifecta. Despite leaving SF prior to sunset, we missed all but a song and change of High on Fire's brief 30-minute set. Given guitarist Matt Pike's iconic status as a founder of the South Bay stoner-rock legends Sleep, you'd think his band might get the benefit of a tour-closing hometown line-up shuffle. No such luck. In fact, friends who were waiting to enter the venue at the 6:30 p.m. start time said you could already hear the band playing when the doors opened. WTF? The trio still garnered an enthusiastic response from those who managed to make it in time to catch their locomotive crunch and Pike's authoritative guitar fury.
The Fiery Furnaces, Cryptacize, Dent May
Slim's
Nov 21, 2009
Better Than: The dance party in your living room.
Perhaps it was the youth factor of an all-ages show, but I can't think of the last time I've seen so many genuinely happy people all in one place, and actually dancing no less, than at Friday's Fiery Furnaces show. At the tail end of the US tour for last summer's release The End Is Near, the band -brother and sister team Eleanor and Matt Friedburger, joined by tour drummer Bob D'Amico and bassist Jason Lowenstein--put on a flawless performance that left fans pretty damn giddy.
The Fiery Furnaces took the stage promptly at 10:45 p.m., and as soon as they played the first note of "Rub Alcohol Blues," the kids down front began their convulsing. The band kept the energy going with "Charmaine Champagne," "Duplexes," "Automatic Husband," and "Ex-Guru." Neither Friedburger uttering a word between songs until "The End Is Near," which was dedicated to "a good friend" by Eleanor. The Furnaces performed at least two songs off each of their eight albums, but in typical fashion, most of them clocked in under 3 minutes, helping the group burn through over 16 songs in just about an hour.
Notoriously cantankerous Matt appeared a bit bored during the set, keeping his gaze fixed on Eleanor as if he expected her to fumble over one of her furious lyrics at any moment. Luckily for his sake and ours, she didn't. Eleanor spent much of the set with her hair in her eyes, calmly and effortlessly spouting lyrics to the sometimes-manic songs without breaking a bead of sweat in the otherwise steamy Slims. Finishing with "Worry Worry," The Friedburgers left the stage for a brief moment--mostly to refresh their beer---and then gave a three-song encore without even giving the audience a moment to ask for one. There were no complaints, however, as fan favorite "I'm In No Mood" was followed by "Asthma Attack," and "Here Comes The Summer" brought freakishly large smiles to faces. Unsatisfied with one encore, the Furnaces appeared for another, playing two more songs just as people began filing out of the venue.
