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Mastodon/Machine Head/Black Tide, July 10, 2008, Roseland Theater, Portland, OR Mastodon, Machine Head and Black Tide are currently part of the Rock Star Mayhem Festival tour along with Slipknot, Disturbed and 26 other bands, including DragonForce and Walls of Jericho. This past Thursday night, the three bands convened in the Roseland Theater for an off date, which served as a rare example of Portland receiving the best opportunity it possibly could have instead of getting screwed. More often than not when a killer metal tour is assembled, such as the Black Tyranny tour that featured Machine Head and Arch Enemy last September, it passes by the city. On top of that, festival tours that mostly exhibit decent or shitty commercial rock bands, such as the aforementioned Rock Star Mayhem tour, will go to Columbia Meadows in Deer Island, which is twenty miles north of Portland. However, in this case, the only three bands on the Rockstar Mayhem tour that can be called badass metal bands played in the middle of downtown Portland. Black Tide kicked off the evening with a blistering set that showcased five songs from their debut album, Light from Above, and a cover of Metallica's "Hit the Lights." Prior to this performance, I was a bit concerned for them since lead vocalist/guitarist Gabriel Garcia is 14, or maybe 15, the rest of the band isn't much older and they've only been touring for approximately a year. However, they gave off the impression that they had been touring for many years from a musical standpoint. Specifically, Garcia's voice sounded great, and much lower and rougher than it does on Light from Above, the riffs and solos played by Garcia and guitarist Alex Nuņez absolutely smoked and Steven Spence's drumming was nothing short of insane. That was especially true during set closer "Light from Above" when he simultaneously played drums and keyboard. All things considered, Black Tide already has the potential to take the metal world by storm, and should become unstoppable once they have more experience on their side in a few years. Set list: "Black Abyss" "Shockwave" "Show Me the Way" "Hit the Lights" "Warriors of Time" "Light from Above" Up next was Machine Head, who proceeded to destroy the place and not look back from the second that "Clenching the Fists of Dissent" kicked in. From there, they played five more of their songs, and a tremendous rendition of Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name." Speaking of "Hallowed Be Thy Name," all I was concerned about regarding Machine Head's set was if lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Flynn could handle the vocals for it, and if his voice would sound blown out in general since he's been screaming his ass off for nearly 15 years. Thankfully though, he held his own throughout the show in that regard, and absolutely annihilated on guitar, as did fellow guitarist Phil Demmel. Even though they only got to play seven songs, Machine Head played for nearly an hour since all of the songs were at least five minutes long, and two of them cracked the ten-minute mark. Above all else, Machine Head made every second of their time count. Set list: "Clenching the Fists of Dissent" (The Blackening) "Imperium" (Through the Ashes of Empires) "Aesthetics of Hate" (The Blackening) "Old" (Burn My Eyes) "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast) "Halo" (The Blackening) "Davidian" (Burn My Eyes) Prior to their set, I had no desire to see Mastodon, and I probably would have left after Machine Head if I had not been there with a friend who I hadn't seen in two months. On top of that, I figured that Mastodon would not be able to match the level of energy presented by Black Tide and Machine Head, and that their set would drag on in comparison. However, I must say that leaving then would have been a huge mistake since Mastodon delievered a truly spectacular set. In fact, the only gripe I had with it was lead vocalist Bret Hinds' vocals since his screams sounded terrible, and his singing was nearly inaudible. In terms of guitar playing though, the guy absolutely owned, and did not pale in comparison to the jaw-dropping performances by Black Tide and Machine Head's guitarists earlier in the night. As a result, it seems a bit odd that Hinds is one of the band's two lead vocalists since he does more than enough as a guitarist, and fellow vocalist/bassist Troy Sanders handled vocal duties more often, and sounded much better. As a bassist, Sanders covered a lot more ground than the average metal bassist who simply holds down the foundation since he mostly followed Hinds and other guitarist Bill Kelliher, who rarely ceased to go all over the place. Then there was astounding drummer Brann Dailor, who basically played nothing but fills, but managed to make them work at all times. Sure I'm still not a big fan of Mastodon since they sound boring as hell on CD, but because I saw them tear it up on stage, I now have a ton of respect for them. All in all, this show truly was a perfect one, and I hope that anyone who is interested in Mastodon, Machine Head or Black Tide will get to see them live soon.
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