GOJIRA/MASTODON – MEGA-MONSTER TOUR – MGM MUSIC HALL
By Joe Perusse
Gojira & Mastodon with Lorna Shore Mega-Monsters Tour August 20, 2023 MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Night two of my Boston area concert week brought me to a beautiful, relatively new venue in Boston, the MGM Music Hall at Fenway. I was already going to be in town so when my son, Jagger asked if I wanted to tag along to the Mega-Monsters Tour with him I was happy to oblige.
Leading off the night was Lorna Shore, a death core metal band form New Jersey. I must say whenever I have been to a show in Boston, the crowd never disappoints especially at these smaller intimate venues. Tonight was no exception. As soon as the band hit the first note for opening song “Sun//Eater” the circle pits exploded and the crowd surfing began and it didn’t stop the whole night except for band changes.
“Cursed to Die” and “Into the Earth” were followed by “Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames” which brought out the cell phone lights from anyone not moshing. “Pain Remains II: After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear” and “Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire” closed out the set as the floor became one giant circle pit. A strong six song set to start of the show. Adam De Micco (Lead Guitar), Austin Archey (Drums), Andrew O’Connor (Rhythm Guitar), Will Ramos (Vocals) and Michael Yager (Bass) make up the band.
Mastodon, a heavy metal band from Atlanta was up next in this co headlining tour. Their set was the longest of the night at 17 songs and the crowd was ready for the challenge. Opening with “The Wolf is Loose” the crowd was right back at it going crazy in the pits. Clapping along to “Crystal Skull” had Troy Sanders (Lead Vocals/Bass) impressed with the early energy. “Megalodon” and “Divinations” led into the first pyro appearing for “Andromeda”.
Mastodon also had a stellar light show to go with the set. “Sultan’s Curse” and “Fallen Torches” had more pyro and I could feel the heat on my face. Brann Dailor (Drums) took over the vocals for “Pushing the Tides”. Brent Hinds (Lead Guitar) blazed through a solo leading into “More Than I Could Chew”. After “Aqua Dementia”, “Steambreather” and “Iron Tusk”, Dailor came back to vocals for “March of the Fire Ants”.
“Mother Puncher” was next, followed by “Circle of Cysquatch” in which the monster made an appearance on stage. “Crusher Destroyer” followed and the the place went nuts for the final song of the set “Blood and Thunder”, singing along and moshing relentlessly. Bill Kelliher (Rhythm Guitar) rounds out the lineup. I haven’t seen a crowd this amped for so long in a while, but Boston seemed up for one more band.
Tonight’s closer was Gojira, a heavy metal act from France. As soon as the curtain dropped for “Born For One Thing” Mario Duplantier was pounding the drums, pyro ignited the stage and the circle pits were going full force. I’m not going to mention pyro much more, just assume if Gojira was singing, pyro appeared at some point during the song. “Backbone” had the crowd jumping up and down and “Stranded” saw streamers released from the sky. Plenty of smoke filled the air for “Flying Whales” and Duplantier’s brother Joe (Vocals/Rhythm Guitar) thanked the crowd for all the support over the years and how it was nice to play in Boston and not Worcester.
“The Cell” had the crowd singing along, a beach ball appeared above the pit and featured a great base line provided by Jean-Michael Labadie. The crowd clapped along to lead into “The Art of Dying”. Mario Duplantier’s drum solo was next. Half way through he held up a handwritten sign saying, I can’t hear you, which I thought was pretty funny as the crowd was constantly nuts. “Grind” followed and then “Another World” with great riffs form Christian Andreu (Lead Guitar).
The beach ball returned for “Silvera”. Where did it go all this time? “Amazonia” and “The Chant” closed out the main set. The encore was “The Gift of Guilt” featuring thunderous drums and firework streamers from the ceiling. A great end to a great night of music and the Boston faithful kept the energy up the entire night.
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