MUDVAYNE – L.D. 50 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR – MOHEGAN SUN
By Mia Palazzo
Mudvayne is one of those bands I grew up listening to and always love hearing when they come on, but never really put on myself. That changed after the first time I photographed them in May of last year. I was still pretty new to photography then, but those pictures ended up being some of my favorites I’ve ever taken. Even now I still look back at them with a smile on my face. Because of that, when they announced they were playing Mohegan Sun Arena, I knew I had to photograph them again.
Sadly, we weren’t able to photograph the openers at this show, but a huge shoutout to both Vended and Static-X. They both put on exceptional performances as always.
Back to Mudvayne. This was the L.D. 50 25th Anniversary tour, so of course they opened with “Dig.” If there’s any song by Mudvayne that can get me, and probably everyone else in that entire room, hyped in the first five seconds, it’s “Dig.” This song is the band’s most iconic by far and immediately had the entire arena, from front to back, including almost every photographer in the photo pit, singing along.
After that iconic opening, the next two songs were really just me trying to remember to take pictures of every member of the band, not just vocalist Chad Gray. If you’ve ever seen Mudvayne, you know that man moves, and not just around the stage. During the second song, “Internal Primates Forever,” he climbed down onto the barricade and locked hands with fans, singing into the crowd. His music is his passion, and he shows it in his performances.
By the end of the first three songs, the crowd was in a flurry. The mosh pit widened on the arena floor and crowd surfers were pouring over the barricade. The rest of the show carried that same energy, playing more songs off L.D. 50, then transitioning to some of their biggest hits like “Dull Boy,” “World So Cold,” and “Determined.” Around this point in the set, Chad took a moment to acknowledge how important future generations are for metal music. He pointed out a couple of kids in the crowd, and one specifically he addressed,
“Front row of a Mudvayne concert at 12 years old. Girl. You’re fucking awesome.”
A moment that I thought was truly so pure. The set closed with “Not Falling” and “Happy?” Before Chad left the stage, he peeled off his facial prosthetics and threw them to fans in the crowd, including a young boy sitting on a man’s shoulders.
Views: 545
