trail of dead concert
this is what happens when every band member has their instrument cranked up to 11 for the entire show. at the annex, a small venue that wasn’t even really all that full, trail of dead put on a show that rocked the socks off of me and everyone else in the room. with two guitars, a bass, and two drum kits pummelling out the noise, trail of dead played amazingly loud songs, and not-quite-amazingly-so, but-certainly-loud-as-well songs. if i have any complaint on the evening, it’s that everything was so loud (have i mentioned yet that it was loud?): a fair amount of detail was lost in the distortion. that complaint was more than made up for, however, by the quality of the songs that they were singing, which they were not able to completely mask with feedback, and by the sheer energy with which they played. i’ve been in more energetic crowds, but i’ve never seen a more energetic band, one that jumps around and thrashes on stage as if for their very life. the set was pretty equally mixed between new and old songs, and they did manage to play two of my favorites from their back catalog (”another morning stoner” and “totally natural”). the bassist even flipped out and destroyed his bass, along with a few other instruments, on stage near the end of their set. the crowd, and one girl in front in particular, started yelling at them to do encores, conrad keely sort of laughed and asked what instruments they were going to play with. they reassembled enough of their gear (”who has the kick? you can have it back, we just need it for the encores.”), and played a few more high energy songs.
this was a great show. if you’re a fan of rock music that kicks you in the teeth, make sure to see these guys next time they’re in town.