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Fri 9 Oct – Gojira, Burst, Zoroaster
I have missed Gojira twice. Not once, but twice, all within the same timeframe of a year. Considering that I would call myself a "big fan" of Gojira, that's a terrible, terrible ratio without excuse, especially considering that I missed out on one of them to see Eagles of Death Metal (decent band, to be sure, but Gojira is so much better, even if they were opening for the decidedly average In Flames).

So, feeling disgusted with myself, I held onto some money and decided this would be the time to see them. My friends got with me in a car and we drove to Logan Square Auditorium, parked and went up the rather thin staircase up to the room. We entered, and Zoroaster was playing. Some local thrash band named Diamond Plate had already played. I hope nothing of value was missed.

Anyway, Zoroaster. They were around the end of their setlist when I caught them. They're apparently a sludge/doom metal band. Neither sludge or doom metal is really my thing, but they sounded ok, if pretty repetitive, until the end of their last song, when the lead singer just sang "UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" for about 10 minutes with some very drone-sounding noise in the background. I have no idea what the fuck was up with that. Sucked.

Next up was Burst. Sounds like a progressive metal band with metalcore vocals. (No, not like Between The Buried and Me.) I'd gone to the concert with low expectations, not liking the one song I'd tried on Last.fm and having heard they were some sort of sludge/metalcore abomination. I'm happy to say that they were a lot better than I expected. I don't know the songs they played, but they were all good. Some heavy parts, but largely nice, mid tempo guitar and drum work. Pretty calming, in a good way. I'll be checking their work more. :)

Around the middle of their playing, they said that this was their first and last time in Chicago, saying that they enjoyed The Bean (Cloud Gate to you non-Chicagoans) and the Willis Tower, the last which invoked an audience-wide correction that it was the Sears Tower, because us Chicagoans are pissed they the name has been changed by Britfags. >:( Apparently they also got caught up in a fire at the Blue Line train line, and had to walk the rest of the way. I'm happy that they got the full experience of Chicago, public transportation fail and all. :D Shame that they're breaking up after their tour here, they were great.

After Burst, came the band everyone had come to see: Gojira. Soon as Joe Duplantier's head popped up to the far right of the stage, the crowd went wild and screamed "GOJIRA! GOJIRA! GOJIRA!". They had even more love for Mario Duplantier, the badass drummer of the band, screaming his name several times throughout the concert. Then all the members came up, they grabbed their instruments, and started to play.

Their setlist was, in order:
Oroborus
The Heaviest Matter in The Universe
Backbone
Lizard Skin
Ocean Planet
The Art Of Dying
Mario's Drum Solo
Remembrance
Flying Whales
Where Dragons Dwell
Toxic Garbage Island
Vacuity

In short, the entire concert fucking rocked. The entire crowd was into it, especially for the songs Oroborus...and Backbone...and Heaviest Matter...and Ocean Planet...and Flying Whales...fuck, they were into it the entire time. The band was into it too, especially the bassist Jean-Michel Labadie, who seemed to spasm with every bass note he played. His shirt was completely soaked in sweat, and his bass guitar was dripping with sweat, and everytime he headbanged/spasmed his sweat would splash onto me and the others near him in the front row. Somehow, I find nothing wrong with this.

In the middle, Mario D played a drum solo, consisting almost entirely of tom toms, bass drum and snare, almost never hitting the cymbals. How the fuck he managed to keep up that rhythm for around 5 or so minutes is beyond me, but it was amazing nonetheless. After that came the other five songs. They played them, it was fucking awesomeness all over again, and they even got in one of my favorite songs ever, Where Dragons Dwell, in it. Unfortunately (and this was my only problem with them the entire show), they extended the last three minutes of When Dragons Dwell by about another 7 minutes. It was still cool, but the crowd (and me, inevitably) got a bit tired and bored of it. Then the band "left", as bands always do, and the crowd demanded they play more songs, and they got back on stage to play Toxic Garbage Island and Vacuity. The crowd knew these songs and all were in perfect rhythm for headbanging/singing/etc. Great song to end a great show.

After the show, I lunged for the setlist at my end and grabbed it just as another guy was reaching for it. Oh, lucky me. Gojira slapped hands with everyone in the front rows, and signed stuff for everyone. I grabbed a pen from my pal and every member of the band signed my setlist. Joe also gave me a green pick, which I shall forever cherish. The band didn't leave after that, though. They stayed and hung with the fans for a long time, signing autographs/pictures/dollar bills, taking pictures, making conversation. Although I didn't see the bassist, so I'm guessing he drunk a gallon of water and passed out. In any case, the band was really cool and down to earth, something you don't see a lot of in bands these days.

Overall, this was one of the best concerts I've attended. I've been to around 10 shows, and so far, I can only think of just one or two others to equal this, and none to surpass it. A memorable experience, to be sure. :)

GojiraBurstZoroasterDiamond PlateTerra IncognitaThe LinkFrom Mars to SiriusThe Way Of All Flesh