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I knew Buried Inside was going to be amazing, but they were actually able to make me more excited about their set when I saw that they had a gong onstage. I had no clue that they were going to exceed the already high expectations that I had for them.
Their half hour set never dragged or was dull, and there was never an absence of sound. They had ambient music playing during the short breaks they took for tuning and hydrating purposes, all building up to the start of the next song. Their whole set sounded like one huge build up to the end, complete with a climax that left my jaw at my feet.
All five of these guys are amazing at their instruments, but their bassist and drummer impressed me the most. They were both constantly doing crazy shit that I could have watched for hours. I definitely wouldn't have minded watching them play all night, as their live set was 100x more intense than their album, which I didn't think was possible.
Big Business also featured a talented bassist and drummer. In fact, that was all this duo consisted of. They had a tough act to follow playing after Buried Inside, but they did an admiral job with their set. Their drummer was utmost impressive, as the guy went nuts during their set. Their singer, who looked like a cross between former NBA star Bill Walton and the guy who played Billy in "Gremlins" (probably because the three of them had longish curly hair), had great stage presence and did a kick ass job singing and talking dramatically, despite the fact that he had a cold (which was evident during the whistling part of "O.G.").
The Bronx sounded alright at the beginning of their set, but their set tended to drag on as it went on. Their 45 minute set didn't seem to end, and the fact that I was quickly becoming insanely tired wasn't helping any. Their punk rock and roll sound was a hit with the crowd, but their set couldn't end soon enough for me.
I was really stoked to see High on Fire, but I my tiredness was getting out of control. As I was sitting down near the stage during their set, I kept briefly falling asleep and having these surreal, life like dreams that seemed so vivid, so terrifying and so out of the ordinary that I'd wake up scared. I'd doze off four or five times a song, but I could still hear the music High on Fire was cranking out. Mike Pike is a wizard at guitar, and he was a lot of fun to listen to, but I feared falling asleep to my death on the ride home, so I decided to leave about halfway into their set, sadly.
Written by: RF