Show Review: "Ahh, My Nose! Ahh, My Face!"

Main Act: The Dillinger Escape Plan
Opening Acts: Barefoot Barnacle, Heavy Heavy Low Low, The Bled
Venue: El Corazon

El Corazon’s opening acts suck. When I saw Team Sleep in December the opening acts sucked and once again, I’ve suffered through two hours and fifteen minutes of varying crap to get to a (blackened) coin of silver. But it was worth it. Barefoot Barnacle are a local Instrumental Grindcore band and Instrumental was the best part of that equation. I didn’t hear them play so much as I felt it, like being kicked in the face by a horse again and again. Definitely not an experience I’m eager to repeat. Again, the best part was the lack of a vocalist’s screaming in my ear. The bass player was funny, though I don’t think he intended to be, leaping about like the bald-headed spasmodic that he was. They didn’t play long and they were easily not the worst band to play that night. Heavy Heavy Low Low won that disgraceful title. They are the worst band I have ever seen live and I’ve seen Strata live so that’s saying something. I cannot stress this enough. Worst. Band. Ever. Dear god they suck. That night was the night of bands who wished they were the Dillinger Escape Plan opening for the Dillinger Escape Plan, which allows for great contrast. Fuck that, if I could have skipped H.H.L.L. I would have. Poor musicianship, disdain for the crowd, and the worst, most slobberingly drunk frontman in the world come together in the ugliest manner possible. I forgot to applaud when they left the stage, and I should have because that was the best part of their performance. After their set, I moved to a higher vantage point from which I could view everything happening on stage, which is how I like it, away from the crazy moshing nutters. The Bled trooped onstage and tried to rock us with “We’re not the DEP, but we’re trying” and to be fair, they did not suck as much as H.H.L.L. What saved them from being a total waste was their frontman, because he was funny. He made jokes, thumb wrestled crowd members and was generally a nice guy; he respected the crowd. Still, when they got off stage, I was relived, and excited. Dillinger would be on soon.

When the DEP hit the stage they hit it like a comet and suddenly, the hours of dehydration, wannabe bands and exhaustion were worth it. They didn’t say a word, just launched into “Panasonic Youth.” For the next fifty five or so minutes I was wowed again and again as the bands caterwauling intensity consumed the room. I came to this show looking for some kind of a Black Flag experience and with Greg Puciato and Ben Weinman acting like modern day Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn on Math Metal, I think I got one. Puciato would throw himself across the stage, into the crowd, onto his band mates, wherever. And all this he did with a broken wrist he had duct taped. Duct taped. That kind of badass you don’t buy in a store. The rest of the band was equally mad, leaping every which way without missing a note. Weinman actually scaled a stack of amps and then played from up there for a little while, before shimmying across an I-beam and leaping into the crowd. Overall, it was one of the best shows I’ve been to in a while. The energy was great and while there were screaming lunatics, they weren’t screaming in my ear for once… or maybe they were and I was screaming to loud to hear them. What makes the DEP such an impressive live act is their ability to replicate their recorded sound in a live setting as well as they do. A few personal highlights include the following: “Panasonic Youth” - after all the anticipation and waiting and hoping that they would play this song first and then they come on stage and do was the greatest release you could ask for at that show. “Milk Lizard” - while being one of their more straightforward rockers, the song is still awesome and sounded even better live. “Baby’s First Coffin” - was the first DEP song I ever heard and it was cool to hear it live. “43% Burnt” - I’d never heard it before, but the energy the in room shot up like a rocket when they played it, and it was good, really good. It was great show, and I won’t forget it anytime soon.

-Setlist (not in order)-

-43% Burnt
-Sugar Coated Sour
-Fix Your Face
-Lurch
-Black Bubblegum
-When Acting as a Particle
-Nong Eye Gong
-82588 (I think)
-Milk Lizard
-Panasonic Youth
-Sunshine the Werewolf
-Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants
-Baby’s First Coffin
-When Good Dogs Do Bad Things