Wednesday, May 24, 2006

There are those nights that you go see see a friend’s band and you tell yourself: this headliner that I’ve never heard of has about 30 seconds to absolutely blow me away or I’m going home. That's what happened last night. An hour later I was standing in line to pick up MuteMath’s disc.

Mashed in prog-rock somewhere between the Police and Radiohead (yes I know that Radiohead sucks, but think of Angels and Airwaves but not as cheesy), this was quite possibly the best show I’ve seen this year. The drummer rocked out so hard he literally duct-taped headphones on his head and the front man, Paul Meany, used the whole stage and even their merch table to rock out (not a bad way to show the kids to where it is, either).

The picture above doesn't do it justice. Even at about two-thirds capacity, these dudes tore down the house. Judging by the line that stretched the length of the Downstairs Middle East, I wasn’t the only one they impressed. They’ll be playing most of the Warped Tour so if you’re headed there, be sure to check them out.

-- Miike Johnson