In “war torn” Portland, thousands braved the harsh streets to convene at the Moda Center’s Theater of the Clouds for Mudvayne’s L.D.50 25th anniversary tour.
Opening for the evening was Vended, a newer band out of Des Moines, Iowa. Although newer to the scene, Vended has a deep metal pedigree. Two members, lead singer Griffin Taylor and drummer Simon Crahan are the sons of Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and Shawn “Clown” Crahan. In fact, much of the way Griffin delivers his performance seems to be modeled after his dad’s “in your face” style of vocal delivery. Vended’s songs were powerful and visceral. I’m excited to see where this band goes.
Static-X, the Evil Disco kings, were the main support. Xero, carrying the torch for Wayne Static who passed away in 2014, does an incredible job vocally and helps deliver a performance that pays tribute to his predecessor while giving the fans a healthy dose of Static-X. They played a 14 song set covering all the big tracks like “Bled for Days”, “Terminator Oscillator” and “Push It”. I’m still holding out to hear “Hypure” live, but any Static-X live is good by me.
Mudvayne took the stage, opening with “Dig”. If the crowd wasn’t turned up enough beforehand, they found a new level of energy. Notably absent was guitarist Greg Tribbett. Greg is taking some time to mourn the loss of his wife who passed away due to cancer just before the tour kicked off. Mudvayne played a 15 song set, with singer Chad Grey often injecting anecdotes about the role of music in unifying the “metal family” and saving him from a challenging upbringing. He described his introduction to Metal music and that first Motley Crue tape he received. In the later portion of the set, Grey climbed over the barricade and into the pit, spending a lot of time shaking hands, high-fiving and connecting with Portland’s finest. It created a very intimate, tight, and personal experience.
Their stage setup was simplistic in the sense that there were no pyrotechnics, LED panels and such. They simply had a large lighting array arranged around the back of the stage. The performance was intense and although this tour is a celebration of the L.D. 50 album, they aren’t playing the whole album in it’s entirety, instead opting for a more balanced set list. The end of the set goes hard though with a three song mosh friendly frenzy, so save a little energy for that. You’ll thank me later.
