The show wasn't scheduled to start until 10 PM, which is very odd for an all-ages show, but since we know Gene we headed down early to check out the sound check and hang out for some pre-show partying. We got there too late for Meshuggah's sound check but that was no big deal to me as I was primarily there for the mighty Strapping Young Lad. When they opened the doors and started letting the general public in I was notified that Meshuggah wasn't permitting "pro photography" so I couldn't shoot during their set. Upon hearing that I hunted down Meshuggah's tour manager to rectify the situation and was graciously presented with an all-access/photo pass. The way I look at it is that if I can convince Wendy Dio to give me a photo pass I can convince anyone, with the sole exception being Manowar!

At around 9 PM I secured a spot front and center for optimal shooting, by 9:55 the place was pretty packed and people were impatient from having to wait around for such a long time (doors opened at 8). Once Strapping Young Lad's intro started and Devin and company took the stage everyone forgot about the wait as they were loudly pummeled by their opening track, "Dire Consequence". Devin worked the crowd like a master with his vast array of facial expressions, hand gestures, and humorous between-song banter. Devin and Jed were a great guitar team and were very much in synch, something often lacking in two-guitar bands when playing live. Byron was his usual bass monster self, headbanging like a madman while pounding out his heavy bass lives. As expected Gene was the ultimate drum god, playing his parts perfectly and effortlessly while constantly showing off by doing stick twirls and flips. Munash did a solid job on the keys but seemed to be a little lacking in confidence. This is understandable as he is relatively new with the band. A few more shows and he should realize that he does a fantastic job! The sound was incredible from where I was positioned, louder than hell and clear as a bell, all of the instruments were mixed just right. An incredible set from the B.C. masters of metal, they should be HUGE! My only problems with the set (not necessarily SYL's fault) were some tramp who was crowd surfing for way too long while under some bizarre sexual trance and the exclusive use of red lighting throughout the set. The girl stopped crowd surfing long enough to dry hump Devin's monitor for an entire song but then went right back to it. I wonder what her mother would have thought.

Strapping Young Lad set list:
Intro
Dire Consequence
OMFG
SYL
Relentless
Rape Song
Rainy
Devour
Last Minute
Aftermath
Detox

Velvet Kevorkian/All Hail the New Flesh was on the bands printed set list (last song) but they didn't play it.

I can't think of very many bands that could go on after Strapping Young Lad and still impress me, Zimmers Hole comes to mind but other than that I draw a blank. Even though I'm not much of a Meshuggah fan I decided to do the right thing and stick around to check them out rather than just hanging out in the bar or on the SYL bus. I hate to say it but I wasn't very impressed with their performance. While they are obviously excellent musicians the majority of their songs are just too discordant for me to really get into. To me it often seems like each member is playing a completely different song rather than playing together as a band so the music just doesn't flow well. Sound for their performance was outstanding and the lighting was some of the best I have ever seen in the usually minimalist Graceland: the various colored lights bouncing off of their hallucinogenic screens and strobes made for a very visually pleasing experience. The robotic/monster type performance by the vocalist was also pretty entertaining. Crowd reaction to them was great; the floor was one big pit for the majority of the show and very responsive. Meshuggah put on a decent show but it's just too much to compete with SYL when they play as well as they did at this gig.

Meshuggah set list (approximate):
Stengah
Perpetual Black Second
Rational Gaze
Sane
Sickening
Closed Eye Visual
Obsidian
Glints Collide
Elastic
New Millenium Cyanide Christ
Suffer
Future Breed Machine

Photos from this show can be found in our Photo Gallery and in the Concert Photos section at http://www.blizzardbeast.com/