Mastodon – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 3rd December @ Roundhouse, Sydney NSW

Mastodon
Roundhouse, Sydney NSW
December 3, 2024
Support: Kerry King

Back in 2007, Kerry King’s band at the time, Slayer, toured Australia on the back of their Christ Illusion album and brought with them, for their maiden voyage down under, the mighty quartet Mastodon. Supporting Slayer is understatedly described as somewhat of a daunting task and doing so can be met with verbal abuse, bottles of unknown yellow liquid thrown at you and a chant that goes something like “SLAYER!!! SLAYER!!!” How did Mastodon go that fine evening at The Hordern Pavilion? They silenced the swarming Slayer crowd and absolutely destroyed.

Then Slayer came out and levelled the place.

17 and a half years later Mastodon are back and this time it’s Kerry King’s band that are in support. I arrive ten minutes before KK is set to start and for some reason there’s a heap of room in front of the stage. The balcony is packed, the beer garden is chockers but there heaps of room on the pit floor. I make my way to the front and I’m so close that when the show starts I can see the sweat on Kerry’s head. It occurs to me that in all the years of seeing Slayer, this is the closest I’ve ever been to the great man.

They hit the stage to a dead cold Sydney crowd and rip into ‘Where I Reign’ and I’m hoping that this isn’t how the punters are going to show up after having not seen the man for five years. But after ‘Trophies of The Tyrant, ‘Residue’ and Two Fists’, all off of his debut solo album From Hell I Rise, the place starts to fill and the pit starts to move a bit beyond the one man wrecking ball that is doing laps of the roundhouse. One bloke up the back yells out ‘SLAYYERRRR’ and now Kerry knows what its been like for all those poor opening acts that got bombarded by irreverent and staunch Slayer fans over the years. They storm through ‘Rage’.

Horns raise high when the opening riff to Slayer banger ‘Repentless’ starts and the few blokes hoping that this would just be a Slayer reboot are appeased. They follow it up by doing a cover of ‘Killers’ by Iron Maiden in honour of the late great Paul Di’Anno and KK vocalist Mark Osegueda absolutely shines on this song. I have to say that his between song banter is a bit rubbish, (I think he screamed out “SYDNEYYYY” 68 times) but his singing and stage presence is top notch. His vocal delivery is inch perfect and he doesn’t stand still for a second.

By this stage it’s getting bloody warm in this joint as monster bass player Kyle Sanders intelligently takes a break from stomping around to cool off in front of a stage fan. They rip into ‘Idle Hands’, Toxic’, ‘Crucifixation’ and ‘Shrapnel’, all of which get a vigorous response from this now very warm and enthusiastic Sydney mob, but when they kick off with the all time Slayer behemoth ‘Raining Blood’, this place loses it’s collective shit. I cop a brunt so hard I nearly end up on Paul Bostaph’s drum riser, whose performance has been faultless as expected and watching Kerry trade licks with the great Phil Demmel is a sight to behold.

I’d heard tales of Demmel filling in for Slayer on occasion, but to witness these two play side by side in person is something of a divine moment for me. ‘Raining Blood’ leans into ‘Black Magic’ and its all a bit of a holy-shit moment. In 2007 I remember the lads in Mastodon air-guitaring side stage to Slayer, and I look left to see both Brent and Bill doing the same all over again 17 years later. The place is now fairly churning and by the time they finish with ‘From Hell I Rise’ I’m fairly certain that the sweat in my shirt isn’t my own.

An honour to witness this band’s debut Aussie show and at 1hr and 15 minutes, this isn’t an opening slot, this is a co-headliners set. Will definitely catch these legends this weekend at Good Things.

After a two beer break and a catch up with mates out in the outside area, Mastodon storm the stage to a raucous and lively crowd. They launch into ‘Blood and Thunder’ and I’m like “Holy fuck they’re playing Leviathan in full!!” The packed crowd belt out ‘WHITE! WHALE! HOLY! GRAIL!” and this is a very different group of punters than the one that started tonight. ’I Am Ahab’ begins and all the signed 20th anniversary commemorative Leviathan drumskins being sold at the merch tent makes perfect sense. Every track gets love from the audience and for most of this audience, it looks like the album that’s engrained in their psyche. Every word and every riff gets sung at high volume.

Drummer Brann Dailor sounds like the soundtrack to war. The endless drum fills and pummelling rhythms are as impressive as always. Troy Sanders is going off like it’s 2004 all over again. At one point I look up in the bleachers to see his brother Kyle watching and think to myself how cool it has to be, both of them playing a gig with Kerry King on the other side of the planet. Insane.

Bill Kelliher is fucking fit. He looks a million bucks and watching him trade licks with Brent Hinds, who is hell bent on being a nuisance, kicking over amps and mic stands while flipping off fans while throwing picks away from them is a masterclass in itself. Aside from this band producing some of the most unique, intelligent and memorable music of the last 20 years, its their musicianship that impresses me the most. Musicians should bow down to this lot. Tonight they are at the absolute top of their game.

The closing licks to ‘Joseph Merrick’ phase out and Brent thanks us quietly for listening. The pleasure is ours, you stone cold legend. The crowd hushes, wondering whats coming next as the opening beats of ‘Crystal Skull’ hit and the surge of bodies jams me hard into barricade. My shirt is drenched by this point and not just because it’s a swamp in this room. ‘Black Tongue’ is followed by ‘The  Czar’ and this pit has a pulse. Even the mob camped out on the balcony, saving themselves for work tomorrow, have their horns raised while singing along. The mob in the pit don’t care though. Fuck tomorrow!

‘Pushing The Tides’ off of their latest album Hushed and Grim is delivered beautifully and for me, this is the best I’ve ever seen Mastodon perform. They’re jet lagged, exhausted and wired, and Brent may be in a bit of a shit mood, but they are absolutely destroying this joint. They close out the set with ‘More Than I Could Chew’, the almighty ‘Circle of Sasquatch’, the glorious ‘Motherpuncher’ and the Emperor of Sand classic, ‘Steambreather’. Brent exits quickly, Troy and Bill piff a few picks into the pumped audience before leaving to let Brann, holding a handful of drumsticks to talk candidly and humorously for a few minutes to this thankful and exhausted audience. He sends the sticks flying into the audience, the ugly lights come on and he exits to (I think) ‘The Crying Game’ by Boy George.

An absolute triumph, a show I’ll remember for a long time, one that sets up for what is going to be a huge weekend. If you missed out on tonight, then get your arse to Good Things. The performance by these two insane bands alone is worth the price of admission. Get amongst it and ill see you in the pit.

Review by Duane James @duanejamestattoo

Photo Gallery by Jess Fonti @jessfonti.jpg
Please credit Wall Of Sound and Jess Fonti if you repost photos.

‍