Slayer at the St James
Just returned from seeing Slayer and Mastodon play the St James. Dave Lombardo is the bomb on the drums but Slayer still doesn't really do it for me - from both a lyrical ad musical standpoint.
It was quite surreal, and somewhat disturbing for the Christian in me to hear a packed out audience chanting "God Hates Us All" and "Hell Awaits" "The Angel of Death" "South of Heaven" as people yelled out their favorite song names - as if by some form of prayer they could influence the next song on the playlist.
As I entered the venue I ran into an old Fido-net friend Glenn from Wellington who was up for the concert and promptly lost him as he entered the pit and I was blocked by bouncers and sent upstairs to the 'grand circle' seated area. I think I've come to the conclusion that if the only tickets you can get for the St James are the grand circle - you might want to think twice about going - any sound the bands generate descend into a muddy mesh of static and feedback. For the most part you could hear everything, but it wasn't exactly the best sounding mix (I'm not surprised thou, the mix will be geared to those directly in front of the stage).
Still, the concert was great and Mastodon certainly impressed. One advantage of being in the grand circle area was that I had a clear view of Brann Dailor the drummer giving one of the best jazz based drumming set I've ever heard (albeit mixed up with metal all over the place).
Next up is Lamb of God on Wednesday...