Mastodon -- Lawrence, KS -- May 16th, 2010

I have a DVD of Andrew W.K. and it shows a clip of him performing somewhere on Sept. 11, 2002 and he says something about how we shouldn't remember the fallen with a moment of silence, but a moment of the loudest, most raucous noise we can muster up to celebrate their lives and accomplishments. For about 5 hours tonight in a college town in Kansas, Mastodon, Between The Buried And Me, Baroness, Valient Thorr and a ton of fans inside Liberty Hall honored and celebrated the fallen Ronnie James Dio with as much energy and noise as they could produce.

For some reason, I had some apprehensions about seeing Valient Thorr. Dunno if it's the combination of not liking the song of their's on Guitar Hero or being turned off that they have a shtick where they're aliens, but they were really fun and a great way to start off the show. They related what all their songs were about to the passing of Dio and then gave a really positive light on the whole drab situation. To describe Valient Thorr would be to imagine if AC/DC had formed in 2000 or if Motorhead was from Georgia. Equal parts rock and metal, the whole thing was a lot of fun, even if their sound wasn't the greatest.

Baroness got the first real big response of the night, and they blew my expectations away. Undoubtedly the heaviest band of the night, they would sound even better in a bigger place with better sound equipment. I was loving their set a lot. I recognized the songs they played off the Red album and even some from the Blue album, which I am really itching to hear more of now. I can only hope that they'll be back and soon.

1. Bullhead's Psalm
2. The Sweetest Curse
3. Isak
4. Jake Leg
5. Ogeechee Hymnal
6. A Horse Called Golgotha
7. War, Wisdom, and Rhyme
8. Swollen and Halo

Between The Buried And Me (BTBAM) is definitely the odd man out on this tour. Too progressive and too "core" for some in the crowd, but most of the people there loved it. They left a kinda bad taste in my mouth (at least live) after I saw them open for Children of Bodom in 2008, but they were much better this time around. All the members are brilliant musicians, especially the bassist. During Disease, Injury, Madness he had a solo which was just mind-blowing, probably the best bassist I've ever seen live. Would love to see them play a longer set.

1. Fossil Genera – A Feed from Cloud Mountain
2. Prequel to the Sequel
3. Backwards Marathon
4. Disease, Injury, Madness
5. Mordecai

Mastodon comes around these parts often, and the crowd tonight let them know just how much we appreciate it. After weeks of hearing about Brent being too drunk to play and storming off mid-set, leaving some shows to get cut short, he was absolutely brilliant tonight. The Mastodon I saw tonight is a band that deserves every ounce of praise they get and is standing on the edge of bigger and better things. The solo's on The Czar, The Last Baron, and an improvised solo before March Of The Fire Ants showed just what Brent can do, and the rest of the band was insane. They gave so much energy and the crowd gave it right back with crazy pits and tons of crowd surfing. One of the best performances I've heard from them.

At the end of the night, Brann came up to the mic from behind the drumkit to thank the crowd, and the last thing he said was "Rest in Peace, Mr. Ronnie James Dio." The crowd went absolutely nuts one last time, and thus ended the greatest celebration of a fallen legend's life that I've ever been witness to.

1. Oblivion
2. Divinations
3. Quintessence
4. The Czar
5. Ghost of Karelia
6. Crack The Skye
7. The Last Baron
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8. Crusher Destroyer
9. Crystal Skull
10. I Am Ahab
11. Circle of Cysquatch
12. Iron Tusk
13. March Of The Fire Ants
14. Blood And Thunder