Mastodon -- Pittsburgh, PA -- April 15th, 2012

[petrovar]

Venue: Stage AE
Source: Me

I've been waiting for this show since it was first announced. Two of my favorite bands on one bill and Ghost opening.

After grabbing some drinks and hitting the merch both for a little bit, we hit the floor and Ghost was just coming on a little bit before 7pm. I'd been interested to see what the deal was with Ghost. People love them or hate them it seems. They played about a half hour and I must say were highly entertaining. The tunes were great and the imagery was really dark and theatrical. I don't have a set, but I assume they played what they have played all tour. 8/10

Next was Opeth .

The Devil's Orchard
I Feel the Dark
Slither
Windowpane
Burden
The Lines in My Hand
Folklore
Demon of the Fall
The Grand Conjuration

Opeth was mindblowing! I saw them on the Heritage tour last year. As good as that was, this set was even more epic. I FINALLY got to see Windowpane live. I'm really glad the set is more varied from last time. Having the two heavy songs at the end really worked well. I still wish they would make their sets 50/50 with heavy to soft songs, but it was still awesome. When Mikael growled for the first time in the show during Demon, the crowd gave a huge round of applause. 9.5/10

Finally, Mastodon closed the show.

Black Tongue
Hand Of Stone
Crystal Skull
Dry Bone Valley
Thickening
Octopus Has No Friends
Blasteroid
Stargasm
The Hunter
Crack The Skye
All The Heavy Lifting
Spectrelight
Curl Of The Burl
Bedazzled Fingernails
Aqua Dementia
Blood And Thunder
The Sparrow

I have seen Mastodon around 8 or 9 times. I've been a huge fan of theirs for years. Having said that, if this type of setlist is what they are going to do going forward, I'm gonna pass on seeing them. The performance wasn't bad by any means, but there are WAY too many Hunter songs being played. I like the album, but I love the Remission/Leviathan days. 5 or 6 of the Hunter songs could have been cut out for Iron Tusk, March of the Fire Ants, Mother Puncher, etc. During the middle of their set, I kind of lost interest. The songs made me lethargic. During Blood and Thunder, the floor exploded and a huge pit broke out, but I wasn't really into it at that point. I think they are a different band now and for the most part those days are gone. 7.5/10

Overall it was a fun night and well worth the money and effort to drive to Pittsburgh from Cleveland. Merch was $30 for t-shirts, $50 for an Opeth hoodie. They had wristbands, flasks, CDs, etc. The shirt designs for Opeth were new compared to the Heritage tour. Decent designs for all bands, but nothing that really blew me away.

[WOLVERINEKILLS]

I'm seeing this show tonight in Knoxville. I am glad they are playing several songs from The Hunter and hearing several from Heritage is a good thing too in my opinion. It is dubbed the Heritage Hunter Tour for a reason

[petrovar]

Originally Posted by WOLVERINEKILLS

I'm seeing this show tonight in Knoxville. I am glad they are playing several songs from The Hunter and hearing several from Heritage is a good thing too in my opinion. It is dubbed the Heritage Hunter Tour for a reason

True. Since I absolutely love Heritage, I'm glad on the Opeth end they played several of those songs. And if I was into the Hunter more I would have been cool with it. Again, the performance was spot on. I just miss hearing more of the old songs. Have fun.

[InFlamesOfBirchmen]

Stargasm FTW! Easily my favorite song on The Hunter. Its could've fit in on the Crack The Skye album.

[Blitzkrieg Witchcraft]

I'm seeing this show in Dallas on Thursday. I hope Deliverance makes it back into the set.

[Northern_Shaman]

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg Witchcraft

I'm seeing this show in Dallas on Thursday. I hope Deliverance makes it back into the set.

Don't get your hopes up. I just watched a live clip and Mikael said the reason they're playing DOTF instead of Deliverance is because they were going slightly over their allotted time every night with Deliverance.

...I'm fucking stoked to finally hear Demon of the Fall though!

[fletchzer]

DOTF & Deliverance would be a killer closing pair of songs.

[TonyD]

This will probably be my 8th-10th time seeing Mastodon coming up, I don't know why you'd be disappointed by hearing more new stuff unless you really don't like the album. Super excited to hear Stargasm.

[illuminatus917]

I think it's awesome they're closing with The Sparrow. That would make the show worth it right there, just to go out on that note.

[Northern_Shaman]

Originally Posted by illuminatus917

I think it's awesome they're closing with The Sparrow. That would make the show worth it right there, just to go out on that note.

Agreed. I think the Mastodon set looks absolutely fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again.

Stargasm, All the Heavy Lifting, Dry Bone Valley = .