A rowdy crowd gathered at The Plaza Live on Friday, April 8, 2016 for some really loud and fast metal at The Plaza Live in Orlando. The Plaza recently upgraded their sound system and it was put to the test. Of course, it passed with flying colors and sounded as perfect as noisy metal could sound. This would be my first time seeing Napalm Death second time seeing The Melvins. Black metal shirts, tattoos, piercings, and unique hairstyles were prevalent, as expected.
Melt Banana opened up the show. I think I have seen the end of their set one time, many moons ago, but didn’t remember much except for the crowd commentary after. They’re an interesting act for sure. Some say artsy, some say nonsense. Either way, they’re definitely captivating to watch. Guitarist Ichirou Agata played insane guitar riffs over obscure looped beats while Yasuko Onuki and her glowing handheld sound controller added sporadic vocal explosions, creating a wondrous and animated disorienting sound of psychedelic rock with random influences. It’s speedy but can at times get in a groove, and sometimes it’s just noise. But I appreciate it, whatever it is. To each their own. It’s like musical splatter paint art.
Here’s a shitty pic, in the name of Mitch.
I was most excited to see The Melvins. Singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne (also known as King Buzzo) and drummer Dale Crover came out on stage to a hair-raising roar from the devoted fan base. Quick history lesson for those who don’t know: the band was named after a supervisor at a Thriftway in Montesano, Washington, where Osborne also worked as a clerk. “Melvin” was despised by other employees and the band’s members found it to be an appropriately ridiculous name. Anyway, Buzz came out on stage with his crazy afro hair flowing with tremendous volume and sporting a captain hindsight superhero outfit covered in sparkling eyes. Steve McDonald was fresh on bass and made awesome classic rock poses and faces complete with the hair whipping.
The first few minutes of The Melvins was one of the noisest psychedelic warm-up intros I’ve seen in a while. It was a completely unsystematic everyone-solo moment that morphed into a nice groove, reminding you of where it was all leading up to in the first place. They’re like a maniacal sludge metal bar band with mean riffs that cause a frenzied demeanor, casually pressuring you to be physically invested in the show. I howled and bounced around in a way that just naturally manifested. Fists were pumped throughout the diverse crowd with passionate energy. The band seamlessly mashed classic rock, psychedelia, metal, and grunge to make it their own unique sound. The performance was crushing and I could have left the show at the moment and been satisfied.
But I wasn’t leaving–hell no. This was my first Napalm Death show and what a great set they played. I’m not familiar at all with their catalog, but they played old material that the crowd loudly supported. The British band originally formed in 1981 and for most of the band’s recent career, the lineup has consisted of vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, and drummer Danny Herrera. As usual with this type of extreme grindcore, singer Mark was very lively on stage running around, head banging, arms flailing, and going straight up crazy. He was very much enjoying playing to the room. And the crowd was just the same, as the pit opened up and crowd surfers got tossed off the rails, one almost knocking me down while taking photos. They really engaged the crowd and there was a definite sense of connectivity.
The punk was crushing and the metal was thrashing, complimented with an occasional cup or beer being kicked or tossed from the circle pit. Some political statements were made in between songs while other times the crowd was told that this next song is a sad song, or a serious song, or a happy song, or an angry song. I didn’t understand much more than a few words the whole set, but it made me think that a fast and noisy metal song can be a range of emotions while being all inclusive at the same time, whether you know what is being said or not.
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Napalm Death & The Melvins Live Review w/ Melt Banana by Richie Williams, The Sober Goat, edited by Matthew Weller.
Napalm Death & The Melvins Concert Photos by Richie Williams.
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- The Commission Beer Chamber
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