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Currently on tour for their newest album Emperor Of Sand, Mastodon’s return in Montreal on October 9th was anticipated by many fans. For this occasion, they were accompanied by the bands Eagles Of Death Metal and Russian Circles.

Even if the concert coincides with Thanksgiving, fans did not rush into the M Telus theater (formerly known as the MŽtropolis) when the doors opened. There was still a fair share of fans that were looking forward to seeing Russian Circles. Having only 30 minutes and a very limited area to perform on stage, the band got straight to business after acknowledging the reception from the fans. Even if the musicians do not move a lot on stage, Dave Turncrantz (drummer) compensates for that with his energetic performance. Their instrumental music was heavy intense and precise, but it did not get the crowd going except for a few diehard fans that raised their fists to the rhythm of their music.

The crowd got a whole lot bigger by the time Eagles Of Death Metal got on stage. Their eccentric style and energetic music got the crowd going instantly. The fact that Brent Hinds of Mastodon was on stage for the first song (“I Only Want You”) might have boosted the crowd reaction a little. As usual, Jesse is on fire and interacts constantly with the crowd, but once again, he sometimes takes too much time in between the songs. Their cover of “Moonage Daydream” (Bowie) and “I Want You So Hard” (Boy’s Bad News) were well received by the fans. Even if they only had 45 minutes, both Jesse and Dave Catching did their own guitar solo. As for Jennie Vee on bass, she opted to play a little bit of “Ace Of Spades” while the fans sang along.  This set ended with two inflatable air dancers being deployed, one on each side of the stage.

Now that the party is underway, the fans could not wait to see Mastodon and chanted their names with hopes of bringing them to the stage earlier than their set time. As one could expect, the band pushed their new album and played seven songs from it. They were strategically spread in the set so it did not feel like they were focusing on that album. The rest of the set was mainly composed of songs from the albums Crack The Skye and Blood Mountain. From the get go the band seemed very happy to be here and fed from the crowd reaction throughout their concert. Fans sang, pushed each other and were crowd surfing all night long. The highlights of the night were without a doubt “Megalodon”, “Mother Puncher” and “Steambreather”. Once again Mastodon was amazing on stage and fans loved every second of their intense progressive performance.