Dillinger Escape Plan

Note: This post contains no Tool content (aside from a few Tool shirts I saw at the gig). For those that can’t handle that concept, please move on!

Last night I was lucky enough to head into town with a mate of mine and check out a band I’ve been meaning to see in a small setting for some time now. The Dillinger Escape Plan are a band I’ve been a fan of for a while now, and it seemed that every time they did their own tour here I missed the gig for one reason or another. I was the lucky enough to check them out at Soundwave in 2009, and they put on a great show there, so I expected big things here.

This year, they toured playing a local small venue here called Fowlers Live, and I made sure I didn’t miss it this time around! Also on the bill were American metallers Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster and Periphery.

The gig was all ages, and the last one I went to at Fowlers started really early, so this time I made sure I was there not long after the doors opened so I could catch Periphery. They jumped on stage at about 7:30pm, which personally I think is far too early, and played to a crowd of maybe 100 people. They put on a good show though, and seemed quite into it despite the lack of crowd response (there were a few die-hards jumping about).

They played about 5 songs I think, all of which I think I recognised form their debut album. Having 3 guitarists on stage was a little different – looked like there wasn’t much empty space on the already small stage! I had a quick chat with the guys after the show as well, the seemed like really cool guys, and were genuinely happy to be give the chance to play Down Under. I’m sure we’ll see them again soon. I’m not sure these guys are really at their best yet, but I feel there’s potential for these guys to be a pretty good band.

Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster were up next, and I’m not really a fan of theirs. Unfortunately for them their set didn’t change my opinion of them, so we hit the bar for a few Pale Ales.

Thankfully by the time Dillinger came on, the crowd size had increased somewhat, and it actually felt like their was an audience in front of the stage for once. DEP seemed to have made an effort to bring their lighting rig with them, as the stage was filled with many more lights than are usually present at a Fowlers gig. No fancy ones swinging from the roof though.

Dillinger Escape Plan hit the stage at about 9:30, and played for just shy of an hour. Basically, they kicked ass. The set list was more or less as you’d expect – a range of classics from all of their albums, with the highlight for me being the final song Farewell Mona Lisa. As is expected at a DEP gig, they well full of energy, leaping all over the place, slinging guitars around and jumping into the crowd – all while a seizure inducing lightshow was on display.

Dillinger I felt where at their best when they played songs which varied the tempo from blisteringly fast, to more mellow and slowed down sections. Mouth of Ghosts was a great example of this, and while I love the full on aspect of DEP live, my favourite parts of the set where the more mellow sections such as this.

The only criticisms I would have is that the sound was cranked partway through the set, and what started sounding pretty good, became a bit of a distorted mess in the end. Could be just my old ears though…

Overall it was a great night, Fowlers is a cool little venue, and I always enjoy seeing bands there. I thought the ticket prices were perhaps a little too expensive (after booking fees it was just under $70), though if I were a Maylene fan I probably would have thought otherwise. The crowd size was disappointing. I thought DEP would be more popular than this, but I guess Tuesday nights aren’t really conducive to big shows in Adelaide (or any other night I suspect…). Shows starting this early suck as well, but being as they’re all ages on a Tuesday night, I guess that’s understandable. Though I was happy with the lineup for the night, I wished there was a local support act – local music needs all the support and exposure it can get.

Didn’t have a great night with the camera tonight, Dillinger’s light show was a little tricky for my Nexus One, but here’s a snap of Periphery:

On Saturday my brother and I went along to the Adelaide leg of the Soundwave Festival. After hearing a few complaints about excessive lines in Sydney I was a little apprehensive, though in the end there was no need to be. Apart from the one time I went to get beer, there were virtually no lines at all.

We arrived at the venue at about 1:30pm, and basically walked straight in. We did a quick lap of the venue to check things out. They layout seemed a bit odd, in that with a pair of binoculars you could probably stand in one spot and view four of the six stages. Initially we thought that this may cause a bit of a sound problem, however at no point did the sound from one stage encroach on that of another – at least not for any of the bands I saw.

The first band we checked out were Unearth on the metal stage. I’d only heard a handful of their songs before the show, and we were pleasently surprised by how good they were. Pretty much by the numbers metal, but was well executed and they showed a good amount of energy.

Next, after spending 15 minutes in the beer queue we headed over to the main stage and caught a glimpse of Underoath. The sound was pretty crap, as the wind had picked up at that point, and we didn’t really want to get near to the stage. They we’re pretty boring, and we didn’t hang around for more than a couple of songs.

Poison The Well played next on the metal stage, and much like Underoath their sound was a bit average. I’ve listened to a couple of PTW albums and generally like them, but was a little disappointed with the set, I just couldn’t get into it.

We grabbed something to eat after then, and headed over to the small stage where Minus The Bear were playing and shade was plentiful. Minus The Bear sounded pretty good, better than I expected and I immediately regretted not seeing a bit more of their show. We also caught a glimpse of a band called Hello Goodbye, who sounded terrible. In fact throughout the day, we didn’t hear a single band on the stage under the big top who were any good…

Eventually we made our way back to the main stage for Dillinger Escape Plan. I’d heard a lot about the energy of this band, and enjoyed their set. As expected there was plenty of jumping, climbing, bottle throwing and screaming. A highlight of the set was the version of When Good Dogs Do Band Things sans Mike Patton. This would be a band I expect would be great to see in a smaller venue, rather than on a big outdoor stage.

Bloodhound Gang came on next, as expected they played a range of their greatest hits, which was ok and funny in parts, but I left at one point to go see what else was going on. The answer was 36 Crazyfists, who were ok, but not much more than that. Came back to Bloodhound Gang just in time to see the bass player do the beer chug-regurgitate-re-chug routine. Cheap laughs were the order of the day it seemed.

I decided to just chill out and get a decent spot for Alice In Chains, but to do that I had to hear Billy Talent. These talentless fucks played their Walmart brand of pop-punk for what seemed like an excruciating hour or so. Eventually they got the hell off stage.

Alice In Chains came on, then kicked ass from start to end. The new singer William Duvall seemed to fit in quite well, and they played a set which contained pretty much all of their hits from over the years. Overall I was blown away with how good they were, and they were definitely the highlight of the day for me. They didn’t play any new material, which was a little disappointing, but the set had a great energy to it, and the crowd seemed to enjoy every minute of it. The only minor disappointment was that the vocals were lost in the mix, but otherwise it was almost the perfect set. I have a feeling this could be one of those rare cases where a singer replacement actually works.

Nine Inch Nails were the last band of the day, and probably the band I was looking forward to the most. Even though I’m not a huge fan of their music, they are a live band as good as any I’ve seen, and tonight was a great example of that. The set, mainly made up of their hits from over the years, was extremely energetic. The lighting show was cool, though I was disappointed it was a much more sedate affair than the Lights In The Sky Tour.

Both Trent and Robin seemed to have instrument problems throughout the show, with their guitars, keyboards and the stage crew all receiving a fair amount of abuse. A definite highlight of the set was when the guys from Dillinger Escape Plan joined them on-stage for a version of Wish. Overall I was impressed by the NIN show, though there were a few points in the set when the played songs which aren’t really favorites of mine.

Overall, it was a great day, and a great festival. The smaller crowd meant it was much easier to get around, and get close to the stages, and I much preferred the day to the last few Big Day Outs I’ve been to. My only criticism would be that I would have liked to have seen Lamb Of God, but being at the same time as NIN made that a hard choice. Alice In Chains were probably the act of the day, but Nine Inch Nails were a very close second. Looking forward to next years event!