Savage Imperial Death March Tour

“Welcome to the Savage Imperial Death March Tour! Who's ready to die for art?!” These were the words out of the mouth of Dale Crover as Melvins took the stage. The response was cheers from about 999 flannel wearing Bernie Sanders supporters and one battlejacket wearing Trump supporter. I'm sure you can guess who that was haha.

No argument here: the SIDM Tour is hands down the weirdest tour of the year. There was even a weird vibe entering the venue. Instead of being greeted by Metro's famous marquee bearing the names of the headliners, we were greeted by a purple “R.I.P.”. Yep, the artist known as Prince passed away the day before and the overall mood was glum. Sure Prince wasn't "metal" by any stretch of the imagination, but I have yet to meet someone who didn't like the guy and his music. Having been a lifelong fan, I was pretty down, but this show did a good job lifting my spirits.

The first act of the night was Japanoise rockers Melt-Banana. To say their set was strange was an understatement. If you aren't familiar with their sound, imagine a mix of noise rock, grindcore, and a Pokemon episode. That's Melt-Banana. Ear piercingly loud (the loudest of the night in fact), they played a set slightly under a half hour but managed to mesmerize all in the audience. They should seriously consider giving an epilepsy warning before their performances though. So many lasers and strobes!!!

Next up was everyone's favorite sludge metal weirdos, Melvins. I've had an unhealthy obsession with Melvins for years now and was actually supposed to see them last summer. Unfortunately, a month of summer school prevented me from that. Now I finally got to see them and man was I blown away! The explosive riffs. The thundering bass. The crushing drums. King Buzzo's hair!!!! All of it combined creates a sludge oozing feast for the senses. Melvins played a set of hits, deep tracks, and covers. Amongst those covers were a couple Red Kross songs since bassist Steven McDonald are touring with them at the moment. The place went nuts! As if that wasn't enough, Shane Embury joined in on bass to close the set with “Night Goat” and a rousing rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”.

To close out the night was Shane's main band when he isn't playing surprise shows with Melvins, Napalm Death. At this point I had gotten all the way up to the barrier and was right against it. This was a good thing because had I not been holding on to it during their set, chances are I would've died. Holy crap what a pit! I didn't know hipsters could mosh that hard! Of course there were a ton of metalheads and punks scattered in the crowd too, but I was surprised that a mainly hipster crowd got that crazy. This pit put Cannibal Corpse mosh pits to shame! The perks of being that close included having Barney Greenway holding the mic right in my face during “Suffer the Children” and “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”. Now I can tell my grandkids I sung for Napalm Death for 30 seconds hahaha. All joking aside, Napalm Death ruled. All killer, no filler. Nonstop grind madness!

The best part of the night was meeting Barney afterwards. It's awesome that he hangs with his fans to take pics and sign memorabilia. Very down to earth guy.