Mastodon played in Simpsonville last night on the Unheavenly Skye tour with Coheed and Cambria and Every Time I Die. I didn’t stay for Coheed and Cambria, I saw them once on an extremely 2003 tour with AFI and Thursday and that’s enough for me. I was surprised that 1. They are still a band and 2. That they are apparently bigger than Mastodon. Actually, I’m surprised to learn that they are bigger than Every Time I Die.
ETID was exactly on time as I got to the venue at maybe a minute after the 6:30 start time and they were already playing. I’ve seen them several times over the years on various tours. I’ve never really been into them that much but they put on a good set. Hearing some of the old songs brings up some nostalgia for my 20s, although I was glad to view them in complete safety now.
Mastodon was next. On this tour they are playing their Crack the Skye album in sequence so no surprises in the set. If you like the album you would like their show as they obviously very capable of performing it perfectly, or else why do this tour. I like it but would have been 10 times more excited for a Remission or Leviathan tour. That said I enjoyed the set a lot and I’m glad I caught it.
They didn’t say much to the crowd but had some trippy video graphics going behind them. Once Crack the Skye was finished I was glad to get a little bonus in Blood and Thunder, Crystal Skull, and Ember City.
After the set drummer Brann Dailor warned people to stay out of groups of 325 people because he read on Wikipedia that one out of every 325 people in Simpsonville will fall victim to a crime, so find a new group if you are the 325th person.
And that’s it, I liked the venue, as far as big amphitheaters go. Free parking, seemed like plenty of space to pack a lot more people in, I didn’t buy anything so not sure about that but as you can see in the pictures I had an unobstructed view of the stage.
Entreaty 