THE FACELESS ARE THE BEST LIVE BAND EVER! NO, WAIT, CYNIC ARE THE BEST LIVE BAND EVER! NO, NO, WAIT! MESHUGGAH ARE THE BEST LIVE BAND EVER!!!
Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 11:07am by Axl Rosenberg
So, as Vince mentioned, we went to see the Mesuggah/Cynic/The Faceless last night. It should go without saying that the show was killer – still, having never seen Cynic or The Faceless live before, I was somewhat unprepared for just how killer the evening turned out to be.
First of all: The Faceless. Look, if some people don’t like this band’s music, c’est la vie. Different strokes for different folks. Whatever. But anyone who thinks that this band doesn’t consist of top-notch, ridiculously gifted musicians is a moron. Seriously: there’s just no arguing that these guys don’t know how to play their instruments, and play their instruments better than pretty much anyone (Also, they’re all, like, ten years old or something, so that just makes them seem even more incredible.). Seeing them live, it becomes apparent that there’s no studio chicanery with these dudes; they really can play that shit, note for note. There was a moment – I think it was during “Legion of the Serpent” – when guitarists Michael Keene and Steve Jones and bassist Brandon Giffin were all playing identical parts, their fingers dancing up and down the fretboards in perfect unison… and it was just an amazing thing of beauty to watch. They only played for half an hour, but I could’ve watched this band all night. (Side note: Michael Keene’s guitar glows under black light. I know that sounds cheesy as hell, but it’s actually really, really cool. But I digress.)
Of course, if The Faceless had played all night, I wouldn’t have gotten to see Cynic. I don’t know quite to say about this band; whereas I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from The Facelss, I kind of assumed that Cynic were going to be incredible, and somewhat muddy sound mix aside, they were. I heard some people complain that they noodled too much, but – c’mon, it’s Cynic. They’re the kind of band that can somehow seem incredibly metal even though their live show is somewhat laid back – but that made them a perfect respite from the unrelenting heaviness of the two bands on either side of them. Hopefully they’ll come back around soon and play a full headlining set, because they really are a sight to see.
And then, finally, there was Meshuggah. They were filming a DVD apparently, and played a whopper of a ninety minute set. I’ll be honest: as much as I love this band, it was almost too too much. After awhile, Meshuggah’s music can all kinda blend together, and after about an hour, I needed a break. But I recognize that my need for a breather might just have to do with the fact that I’m rapidly turning into an old man; I don’t think the crowd, which was like a solid wall of mosh, relented in their enthusiasm for a second. It was a pretty excellent capper to an amazing night.
Unfortunetly, the tour plays it’s last show tonight in Maryland, so if you didn’t get a chance to go, well, you pretty much blew it. Make sure you get off your ass and go see these bands the next time they come to your town.
-AR
I f***ing hate North America. And that’s that.
Caught this show in Chicago on Sunday. Fucking…awesome.
Man, I saw Meshuggah earlier this week and they were mediocre at best. They are only one step above Fear Factory. The Faceless and Cynic were way way fucking better.
I drove to Chicago from Michigan and it was worth every minute of drive there and back. I’ve seen the Faceless 2x before, so I guess their live set just doesn’t have any novelty for me anymore. I went solely for Cynic and was lucky to see around 10 songs – more than enough to satiate my raging boner of a man crush on Paul Masvidal, no homo.
I was not impressed with The Faceless drummer’s bass drums. His hits were sloppy. He clearly wrote parts for the album he still can’t play.
Wow. Lots of Chicago peps here. I too was at that show. I seemed like I was one of the only people into The Faceless. The singer even acknowledge me during a song. Def a Cynic and Meshuggah crowd on hand. I have to say I liked Cynic, but didn’t appreciate them as much because I am only familiar with TRACED IN AIR. MESHUUGAH, SIMPLY DESTROYED. Easily one of the best live bands I have ever seen and this is coming from someone who has been to well over 200 shows!
I was at this show last night, too.
The Faceless totally wrecked shit up– vocalist Derek Rydquist was was awesome and on-point, and especially when seeing them, you realize how awesomely intricate and metal their guitar work is.
Kudos to all three bands for making their basses audible!!
And yeah I’m only barely familiar with Cynic, and they were solid, but I did not share the crowd’s zeal for them. Also I must have been standing next to their biggest fan, for not only did he and his creepy girlfriend know all the words, they were smiling from ear to ear for a solid 40 minutes while Cynic played, all the while dancing– not headbanging, just kinda bouncing back and forth like a 13 year old girl listening to Britney Spears or something…
AND YEAH MESHUGGAH CRUSHED!! Jens Kidman is such a good frontman– he’s just intimidating and weird and silly enough to totally win over the crowd for the full 90 minutes.
I saw these guys on the first show and it was great. Unfortunately, Disneyland hates fun, so they banned the Faceless from playing at the House of Blues there, but Cynic ranks just below Iron Maiden for best live performance I’ve seen. I’m not a huge fan of Meshuggah, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a great time rocking out to their set.
^Forgot to say:
I guess not seeing the Faceless there doesn’t really matter, because I’m going to be seeing them twice in March :)
After this review, I’m now even more jealous of those that were able to catch one of the shows on this tour. I would have been at the NYC show in a second, but had my typical shit luck and happened to be visiting family in Florida when the NYC show went down. Goddamn “adult” commitnents that I can’t weasel my way out of in order to see metal show. I swear, whenever there is a show that I reaaaaaly want to see, a conflict will somehow always arise and take a shit in my oatmeal. Well enough bitching. At least I have seen the mighy Meshuggah in the past, but am a virgin to the live shows of both The Faceless and Cynuc.
Am I the only one thinking that Between the Buried and Me and Sikth would have made this a great show?
This show sold out weeks in advance in San Francisco. It’s too bad because they could’ve filled a larger venue easily.
In response to Drakodan’s comment, no other bands were needed.
I was at the first show of the tour. I was somewhat disappointed that The Faceless had been banned, but I had seen them before. Cynic was an amazing live band! It was great to say I’ve been apart of their first show in the states in over 15 years. Meshuggah broke the sound barrier and built a better one playing their set! To top it off, I met Paul from Cynic during Meshuggah’s set and he got my ticket signed.
In the end, MESHUGGAH AND CYNIC= unforgettable live experience.
Cynic and Meshuggah rocked Vancouver pretty hard a couple weeks ago, but Faceless got caught up at the border.
Saw Meshuggah, Cynic, and The Faceless in Maryland on Friday. Holy shit-balls, I got my moneys worth for a sold out show like that. My one friend who is a total oddball burnout, complained about the sold out crowd. But yet he was won over by all three bands, and it was a huge debate over which bands we loved more. Totally great time, and hands down this was the best metal tour so far in 09. Meshuggah JUST CRUSHED live, and made my ears ring for two days straight. I went nuts when they played Sane.
seen faceless three times now, didnt enjoy it once. cynic and meshuggah killed at this though