@ The Troubadour, Hollywood
None of the opening bands sucked but none of them bowled me over. The first band had lots of energy and flailed around stage like so many emo/hardcore bands do but their songs were so bland I didnt even bother to find out who the fuck they were. Their female bass player was cute though. The Daughters, the sole opening act I was interested in seeing, came on next. They played their chaotic grind songs for the crowd and got a good reception but they annoyed the piss out of me. The singer was an asshole and the guitarist with the girl pants and drummer sporting cut off daisy dukes officially killed it for me. Planes Mistaken for Stars played right after but by now the crowd was aching for some Dillinger and I dont really remember much about them other than they were the only "Long Hairs" on the entire bill.
It didn't take long for the Dillinger Escape Plan to set up and storm the stage. They opened up with "The Mullet Burden" and the audience filled with scrawny art student looking dudes exploded into one giant mob. The band was amazing...all the rumors were true! From the moment they began the guitarist on my side of the stage didnt stop moving.Jumping off the amps, sliding across the stage, jumping into the audience and damn near kicking the entire front row every time he leaped on the monitor all while playing their insanely technical style of music. Their vocalist looked like a smaller version of the Incredibile Hulk but sounded just as brutal. He too spent some time off stage and in the audience and also encouraged the slew of stage divers to share the spotlight and sing a bit.
"43% Burn" made for the ultimate sing along and the new songs off Miss Machine that they played ( "Panasonic Youth," "Sunshine the Werewolf," "We Are The Storm," "Baby's First Coffin" and "The Perfect Design" I believe) all went down great. They also played "Hollywood Squares" and "When Good Dogs do Bad Things" off their Irony is a Dead Scene EP. The singer did a great job filling in Mike Patton's shoes on the the songs off said EP but the thing that amazed me was how the drummer could kick so much ass using a small three piece kit. They ended the night with another gem off Calculating Infinity, the monsterous "Sugar Coated Sour." The band said thier thanks and walked off stage immediately and despite the chants of "Dillinger!" they did not come back for an encore. By then I was exhausted and even more hungry than before so after picking my jaw up off the floor I left the venue and headed home. My ears were ringing for days after this show and I cant wait for them to come back and damage my hearing once again.