Tag Archives: mastodon

Graveyard, Clutch and Mastodon at House of Blues LAs Vegas 5/1/2015

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                    Graveyard was the opening act for Clutch and Mastodon and unlike many opening bands, they held their own with these power house metal bands. A lot of opening bands have people who like to leave during their performance, but as the people trickled in for the bands that will be playing after, they stayed to get the full experience of Graveyard. It was fight weekend so the fact that so many people were able to be there on time was amazing in itself (it took me an hour and a half to drive 2 miles).

                 Although the band did not do much on stage this did not detract from the sound. Instead of giving the typical headbanging movements or anything like that the band looked and sounded like CCR meets Chris Cornell's voice with a heavier edge. They played songs like "Slow Motion Countdown" and "Ain't fit to Live Here". It is unfortunate that they did not say what the name of the songs that they were playing. There really was nothing that had happened on stage. In fact all the their energy was more focused on making sure that they had perfect sound rather than putting on a theatrical performance.  They may not have played a full set but the 45 minutes that they were on were the perfect way to start off the show for the evening. They literally got the energy going from the crowd and as it became more and more packed during their set, the crowd was enjoying the wonderful music that was greeting them.

                After Graveyard had played Clutch came on and that was what most of the crowd seemed to really be waiting for. Everyone started to freak out as Neil Fallon came on stage starting with "The Mob Goes Wild".  Much like Graveyard there was not a lot going on stage except for Fallon, who to me reminded me of a Reverend preaching to his people about the importance of metal. His hand gestures correlated with each song. They do have amazing sound. This was my first experience with this band and it was amazing. All I could think was what the fuck have I been missing out on? Where the fuck have I been?

            Aside from the amazing sound they also played various instruments like the cow bell and even the lead singer joined in on playing the guitar. The band might have been like Graveyard and didn't move around stage but that was ok because sound wise they were on top. Clutch also graced us with some new songs off of their album that is coming out. What they have coming out in the future is going to be a great album and that is for sure one that should be on everyones list.

              The last band that come out on stage was Mastodon. They started off with songs like "Tread Lightly" and "Once More 'Round the Sun". These were great songs to start off with and much like the bands that played before them there was not much going on stage but the sound that they were creating was just amazing. The lights that were on the backdrop did however give it a very strange look. I was not able to stay for the whole set because my back was killing me but from what I did see they were killing it on stage. Honestly this was a super packed show and everyone was making sure to come back to see every band play. The theme of the night seemed to be more focused on the sound rather then a theatrical performance but that does not mean that it wasn't an A show, it just wasn't like watching Skinny Puppy. It was more like watching the Meat Puppets where the sound was more of the focus and it was well received.