Last week the co-headline tour of Primus and Mastodon came blasting through Birmingham, AL. The heavy hitting lineup made their stop at the BJCC Concert Hall. A modern designed venue built in the 70’s, it is one of the most comfortable places to see a show. The 3,000 person theatre has plenty of bathrooms and concession stands on multiple levels with giant fiber optic light fixtures that give a surreal feeling when walking around looking for your seat. Although it’s one of my favorite places to see a show it’s not the first place that I would expect to see a hard rock show but the metal heads filed in and rocked out.
All Them Witches kicked off the night right on time playing for a late arriving crowd. Their condensed set showcased the highlights from their entire catalog. I guess due to the anticipation of the co-headliners there wasn’t any real crowd participation for the opener to begin with but that changed towards the end of their set.
Next up was Atlanta’s own Mastodon. For those of you that haven’t seen Mastodon live then you are missing out. They’re a Grammy award winning heavy metal band with all the mind-numbing volume and guitar shredding you could ask for. Their accomplishments speak for themselves but to see them perform in person made it clear what the buzz was all about.
The band members are Brann Dailer (drums, vocals), Troy Sanders (bass, vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitar, vocals) and Brent Hinds (guitar, vocals). Brent Hinds grew up in the Birmingham area going to concerts at the BJCC so that night had to have been pretty special for him.
The final band to take the stage was Primus. A genuine spectacle in every sense of the word. It was a solid Primus set that had Les Claypool and the boys primed for the Birmingham crowd and showing off tracks from throughout their career.
Check out a few shots from Mastodon’s set by Art Husband:
