Mastodon brought the house down for the metal-faithful this Monday at the MTelus theatre. The established four-piece onslaught gave thanks to the Montreal crowd for joining them on Canadian Thanksgiving, and in return gave a legendary performance that a legion of metal-heads could well, only be thankful for.
Chicago-based Russian Circles started out the show with a tight four-song set of instrumental and menacing rock tracks. Composed of Mike Sullivan on guitar, Dave Turncrantz on drums and Brian Cook on bass, this trio produced looping, haunting ambient rock that Brann Dailor later commented on as “yeah – fuckin’ scary” when thanking the Montreal crowd after the show. Named for a type of hockey drill, the chilling tracks might have had some extra appeal to a Canadian crowd.
Eagles of Death Metal then took to the stage and brought a special guest with them to raucous applause from the crowd – Brent Hinds hopped in on a few early tracks to get the group fired up. From the looks of it, however, EoDM needed no help whatsoever. Jessie Hughes was bobbing and two-stepping around the stage as Dave Catching and his beard followed up with huge shreds. Eden Galindo picked up where Brent left off, filling in as another backing guitar, while Jennie Vee was killing it on the bass. Long-time EoDM member Josh Homme was missing in action this tour, but that’s not to say that the rock was any less capable of completely melting our faces.
Partially through their cover of David Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ the EoDM crew sported a three-way guitar duel between Jessie, Dave and Jennie. While the boys could put on a good show, the highlight was when a super-juiced bass solo from the lady in black set the M Telus on fire. Once the crowd was bouncing on their feet, Jorma Vik kicked in on the drums, a pair of strange inflatable figures were filled up with air, and the EoDM crew sent us off with ‘I Want You So Hard,’ the crowd singing along for the chorus.
Having gotten everyone in the MTelus good and ready for an avalanche, Atlanta-based Mastodon gradually took to the stage like some lumbering creature slowly emerging form the mist. Getting the crowd started with ‘The Last Baron’, and then ‘Sultan’s Curse’ from their latest album, ‘Emperor of Sand’, things really started to electrify when they set into ‘Divinations’ off ‘Crack the Skye.’ There’s a lot of footage out there of the vocals in the crew falling a bit flat when performed live. While having three singers (Brent, Brann & Troy) is undoubtedly one among many assets of the band, Mastodon does really lean into the production for their voices in the studio and fans online often gripe about inconsistencies when performing. Tonight however, it was not the case, all three singers really delivered to all of our pleasant surprise. Even the straining high pitched tones of Troy Sanders on ‘Oblivion’ came out well contrasted to the internet snippets. Whatever regimen the band is keeping this tour will hopefully stick so fans at future dates can enjoy the same quality delivery.
As Mastodon gained momentum through the set, between ‘Ancient Kingdom’ and ‘Bladecatcher’ they treated us Canadians to a little razzle-dazzle with a series of slick guitar solos. To top it off, Brann Dailor was especially killing it on the drums as Bill Kelliher, Brent and Troy took turns ripping up an impressive line of licks, cuts and shreds, all while leaning back and forth into the chanting crowd. Sanders himself kept up this stage presence through the entire show – arching his back and leaping around the stage as the fans roiled with energy. The crowd itself was packed more than typical MTelus/Metropolis shows, the front stage area really crushed against the fence with security ardently catching any crowd-surfers as they bounced from one mosh-pit to the other. Despite a few individual fans who were really keen to shove people around, it seemed like the floor was just too packed to bring about anything beyond collective swaying for some songs.
With the style of Mastodon’s songs, ranging from nail-biting shreds to haunting almost-rock ballads, the energy of the crowd likewise waxed and waned. By the end of ‘Roots Remain’ I felt like we had really transitioned the energy down a gear while also somehow making their show magically transition from metal songs about krakens and death shrouds to a poignant song about lost love. From this point, the band rounded up a few classics like ‘Mother Puncher’ off ‘Remission’ before closing the show with ‘Steambreather’, also off Emperor.
The real climax of the show and the shifting giant mass of the crowd seemed to hit about five songs earlier, with Mastodon’s biggest single to date ‘Show Yourself,’ followed up with ‘Precious Stones’ from the same release. The band has really seen a coup this year, and the crowd showed it all the way through. The Atlanta boys called it a night, but not before drummer Brann took to the mic to express his gratitude to the fans and to Montreal for being so amazing. With a few rehearsed ‘merci’s and some well-placed drumsticks in the crowd, he left the audience with a warm impression that few will find easy to forget as they start their week this Thanksgiving Tuesday.
Setlist(s)
Russian Circles:
309
Afrika
Harper Lewis
Deficit
Eagles of Death Metal:
I Only Want You
Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a Bang!)
Complexity
Whorehoppin’ (Shit, Goddamn)
Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M.)
Flames Go Higher
Moonage Daydream (Bowie Cover)
I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)
Speaking in Tongues
Mastodon:
The Last Baron
Sultan’s Curse
Divinations
Crystal Skull
Ancient Kingdom
Bladecatcher
Black Tongue
Colony of Birchmen
Ember City
Megalodon
Andromeda
Oblivion
Show Yourself
Precious Stones
Roots Remain
Crack the Skye
Chimes at Midnight
Mother Puncher
Steambreather
Review – David Loach
Photos – Steve Gerrard
