There is something about seeing The Dillinger Escape Plan (TDEP) on a stage that is simply too big for these guys. Same as with festivals, this band is more suited for smaller venues where you at least have a risk of getting hurt if you stand close to the stage. The sound wasn't that good (suprisingly, Meshuggah had the same problem) so a lot of the more intricate details fell apart. TDEP is known for their energetic performance, and the guys did their fair share of running around and climbing onto monitors. New drummer Gil Sharone is an adequate replacement for Chris Pennie, but to me he isn't an improvement. Maybe when he get's to write some new material. The band played classics like '43% Burnt' and also a nice selection of their recent material. While a TDEP show should be 'insane'', this one ended up being 'just enjoyable'. [Carn]

 

Meshuggah is more the band that is on its place at the big stage of the 013, but unfortunately also they didn’t have a very good sound. Because of the slower pace with which the songs are played this was less disturbing than with TDEP and the complicated polyrhythmic songs of Meshuggah stood their ground. Drummer Thomas Haake laid a tight basis for the ever mind blowing riffs of Thordendal and Hagström, but never the real fire of Meshuggah came to being. We’ve seen Meshuggah do so much better. Older songs like ‘Rational Gaze’ and ‘New Millenium Cyanice Christ’ just missed the motivation of a young band, although the audience still went nuts. From their just released seventh record ObZen especially ‘Bleed’ was amazing; it’s one of the best songs in their entire career. Unfortunately both from the new record and old records way too many songs were missing, because of the ridiculously short playing time for a club show of just 50 minutes. After ‘Future Breed Machine’ the audience was left disillusioned. The waiting is now for a real worthy Meshuggah club show after the summer. [Sledgehammer Messiah]