We walked in during Judgement Day's set - an electric violin, a cello, and a drummer, playing with the ferocity of a metal band.  It was really good, really random, and about the sort of band I'd always thought dredg should have open for them.  Torche were up next - they've lost a guitarist since the last time I saw them, which makes their acoustics a little easier to pick out.  Some of their songs suffer a bit for not having a dedicated rhythm guitarist, but not noticably.  Their attitude has ratcheted up a notch or 10 in the rock silliness department, and now involves a lot more facial hair.  Torche were definitely the odd band out - there were a few metalheads, but it was mostly dredg-obsessed fans looking for something more epic.

It's amazing to me that Gavin from dredg can still be as emotionally connected to songs from El Cielo as he was when I saw them play in basements and bowling alleys in Chicago 6 years ago.  Their set focused mostly on songs from their upcoming album The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion.  Most of the dedicated fans in the audience had heard via myspace, youtube, and whatnot - dredg has been working the songs into their sets since Coachella last year at least.

New for this tour, though they added a song called "Lightswitch" for which they brought Judgement Day back on stage to play strings.  They then played "Delta"  and "Matroshka" while they had the opportunity to include strings.  Seeing 6 people on stage to perform such lush arrangements makes more sense when you hear dredg's albums, especially those recorded at skywalker ranch, with the production budget of a major label.  That's what makes it so much more amazing when it's only the 4 of them, and they carry all of the instrumentation of the album in a live setting.

Saturday was the first metal show I've been to here.  The show was outside at Mohawk, which is great, I love being able to smoke at shows, especially metal shows that I can't convice the wifest to attend with me.

Clouds opened up, and they were actually the band that drew me to the show.  I saw that at SXSW, and they were fantastic there.  The new album (We Are Above You) just came out, and they just put on way too good a show to not go see them again.  There's something about their swagger that very few of the "stoner metal" bands do well.  I also really love the 3 lead vocalists.  I wouldn't say any of them are exceptional in their own right, but it's fantastic hearing them play off each other, and trade leads and harmonies.

Clouds - Slow DayTorche's Meanderthal album is a strong contender for the best metal album this year, it's full of great pop hooks, catchy songs, all wrapped in a fuzzed out metal package.  I'd been warned that their live show isn't so great, though.  The first song, from one of their earlier EP's, was definitely worth a warning.  The vocals were pretty much absent, and any sense of song was obliterated in a haze of badly mixed, overly loud wall of fuzz.  As they moved on to songs from the new albums, I got a little more used to picking the vocals out of the mix, and the stronger songs punched through the din.  I can certainly see why these guys don't make friends with their live show.  The singer has a shit-eating grin on the entire time, almost like he's unaware of the fact that people can't tell how fun the songs are.  It was a great set, though, and still worth seeing, if you like the album.

Boris came on last.  I'll have to admit that I really only see Boris as an amusement.  None of their songs grab me, and their noise is to up-front to just put on and immerse in, the way you can with, say, Sunn O))).  They led off with songs from smile, which were enjoyable enough, but I got bored quickly.