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Live Reviews : Mastodon, Gojira and Baroness @ Palace Theatre, Melbourne 25/02/2014

By on March 1, 2014

It’s that wonderful time of the year again when Soundwave Festival hits Australia. Alternative music fans rejoice for this is the time in which an absolute plethora of international and renowned local acts make their way down under for the annual festival. As so many bands conjugate to the southern hemisphere for Soundwave, the announcement of additional sidewaves usually involves the creation of insane lineups to be released upon the Australian public. Tonight was no exception with Mastodon, Gojira, and Baroness, three of the most critically acclaimed and influential metal bands of the 21st century, teaming up in easily one of the biggest bills of 2014. What made this even more exciting was the promised tweet from Soundwave Festival promoter, AJ Maddah, that each of the three bands would receive a full headline set on the night. The anticipation was certainly very high, as evident by the stretched line of punters snaking deep into the alleyway of the Palace Threatre, well before the doors even opened.

Mastodon, Gojira and Baroness

Upon entering the Palace, the sheer size of the venue and the amount of packed fans that have turned up so early demonstrated the pulling power of this lineup. Rare is it that a venue is nearly entirely full before the first band of the night performs. Reasonably priced t-shirts ensure that the merchandise stall isn’t empty the entire night. As the crowd continues to make their way to the bars and towards the front of the stage, Baroness has the task of starting up tonight’s proceedings. Taking to green tinged stage, the four-piece from Georgia are met with a hefty applause. Opening with the instrumental track ‘Green Theme’ from their 2012 effort ‘Yellow & Green’, the melody is both beautiful and exciting, a perfect introduction to the night. John Baizley, frontman and only original member, looks stoked to be playing. He shares smiles with his band and audience alike. Kicking in with ‘Take My Bones Away’, Baizley demonstrates his wonderfully booming voice, sounding both powerful and completely catchy. His voice perfectly fitting of his down-tuned guitar tone, the crowd nodded their heads in appreciation with a select few opting to sing along. It was inevitably going to be tough for any band opening up the show tonight, and although the crowd seemed to react positively yet laid back, Baroness’ stage presence was something to be enjoyed with guitarist, Peter Adams, bassist, Nick Jost, and Baizley all moving around the stage and truly enjoying what they were doing.

In a set primarily consisting of material off of ‘Yellow & Green’, Baroness’ plough through their set, which disappointingly is only thirty minutes long, hardly a headline set. ‘A Horse Called Golgotha’ from their ‘Blue Record’ was the particular highlight from their set as Brent Hinds of Mastodon joined them on stage. It must be realized that Baroness have been through a lot since the release of this record, and that through the loss of original band members and a very serious van accident, Baroness are not the same band they were on their earlier records. From being a sludge group to keep an eye, to being an influential tour de force of hard rock and mesmerizing acclaim. Baizley and crew demonstrate a new found maturity and vibrant approach to their sound. It sounds far more purposeful, a lot richer and Baizley’s passionate performance only paid homage to his new sound.

Unfortunately, closing with Eula from “Yellow & Green” felt lacklustre and anti-climactic, finishing on a quiet and abrupt note. The crowd was left craving for more, which due to time constraints could not be permitted. With the amount of material Baroness has under their belt, it felt like a very safe end to the set and that didn’t demonstrate as much power and awe the start of their set commanded. Baizley and audience alike were satisfied with their performance, thanking the crowd swiftly for coming out early and asking everyone to enjoy the night, the crowd now growing even more restless for the night still ahead.

By this point, all three levels of the Palace Theatre were full and all you could hear was the chanting of “GOJIRA! GOJIRA! GOJIRA!” well before they took to the stage. As the French experimental metal outfit took to the stage, they were welcomed with a roaring applause. Opening with “Explosia”, explode is exactly the way to describe how the four-piece brought their songs to life and how much their audience appreciated it. Inspiring the first moshpits of the night, Gojira played their set with pure talent, technicality, and animosity, it is undeniable to see exactly how they have broken through the metal scene to become one of the most awe inducing live groups from critics and fans alike.

Pummelling their way through an eight song set, Gojira never let up their energy once. Particularly amazing was set staple ‘Flying Whales’ from their 2005 opus ‘From Mars to Sirius’, a song which many know Gojira for, the four-piece sounded monumentally chaotic throughout its thunderous finishing moments. Lighting and strobe effects perfectly complimented the drumming abilities and stop-start changes of Mario Duplantier, so ecstatic with his performance and their reaction decidedly stage dives shirtless into the audience at the end of their set.

Bravely, guitarist and vocalist, Joe Duplanter, breaks the language barrier quite well, engaging in the most stage banter for the night. He jokes with the audience about being lazy and is corrected on calling an alligator a crocodile, but on a serious note was his introduction to ‘L’Enfant Savage’, in which he places emphasis on how unhappy and mundane people can become in their lives. With that in mind, he urges everybody to “stay kids” and to not “grow up”, advice in order to remain happy in a world where society places pressure on us all to go against our will. The crowd lapped every last minute of their 45 minute set, with the band receiving the loudest and most deserving applause for the night as they left on a flawless note.

The four hairy headliners took to a hero’s welcome back to a Melbourne stage, with Mastodon ripping into ‘Black Tongue’ in what would be a set heavily dominated with 2011’s ‘The Hunter’. Things kicked into gear as the boys from Georgia cracked out the banjo laden ‘Divinations’ from 2009’s ‘Crack the Skye’, pushing the boundary between a blues jam fest and a progressive riff-filled spectacle. Dropping a couple of older track into the mix, ‘Crystal Skull’ opens up a fairly impressive pit of flailing limbs, while, unfortunately, ‘Tramples Under Hoof’ brings the energy, however the sound feels a little muddled and inappropriately mixed. But this issue doesn’t seem to faze the masses who have encrowded upon every inch of the Palace.

Mastodon continues to generate interest in the crowd, playing a proportionate mix of new and old. The wonderful thing about watching the four-piece perform is the way the band completely bounces off of each other. Guitarists, Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, stand tall and complement each other perfectly. Their riffs travel beyond fluently throughout their hands, making it a joy to look upon. Enigmatic bass player, Troy Sanders, who is front and centre, jumps around the stage in a flurry of cheeky smiles and unrelenting energy. All members of the band share vocal duties at some point during the set, making it feel fresh and keeping your attention focussed on every individual member, with a substantial amount of cheers reserved for ‘Oblivion’, in which drummer, Brann Dailor takes vocal duties and never misses a single hit. Mastodon has been doing what they’re doing for a long time now, and it’s clearly evident how much they enjoy what they do through their live setting.

In a retrospective of their discography over ninety minutes, Mastodon cover more than enough material to make fans happy and truly deserve their headlining position on this bill tonight. Older numbers such as ‘Iron Tusk’ and ‘March of the Fire Ants’ demonstrates to the crowd both the progression in the band themselves, but also that they appreciate their fans that they’ve supported them since their early days. Finishing on ‘Blood and Thunder’ from their 2004 epic ‘Leviathan’, Mastodon know how to write a metal song. It’s undeniable in their riffs that this is what metal should sound like. Finishing on a humble note, drummer Dailor takes to the microphone to share an appreciative thankyou and shared the news that a new album is in the works.

As the punters filed out of the venue back into the streets of Melbourne, it felt like a quiet relief to be away from the sweaty gathering of the Palace, no one could leave disappointed having seen what they had just experienced. It would be long times before anyone could easily forget this show, seeing three of the most influential metal bands of these times demonstrate exactly why they’re relevant. No one could deny the importance of all of tonight’s drawcards, each deserving of a headlining slot respectively. But no one could leave disappointed in what is probably never to be repeated again.