Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
According to Wikipedia, a mashup is “a creative work, usually in a form of a song, created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, typically by superimposing the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another, changing the tempo and key where necessary”. If Spinning Platters were to mashup the genres of music (as opposed to song) seen during our Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago, a new genre mashup of alt-progressive-technical-death-metal-hardcore-pop-punk would have to be created.
What started out as a photo pass for alt-metal giants Deftones and progressive-metal masters Gojira turned into an entire weekend of photographing concerts, with each of the three shows being musical opposites of the others!
Although Deftones and Gojira did perform here in San Francisco at the beginning of this tour, Spinning Platters was unable to attend and thankfully was granted access to cover this amazing event near the end of their tour.
Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island in Chicago is very similar to America’s Cup Pavilion at Pier 27/29 that was in San Francisco in 2013. Both are temporary structures, built (every Spring for HBP) on a parking lot near a waterfront (Lake Michigan!), with port-a-potty restrooms, uncovered and removable seating sections on the floor (pavement), bleacher grandstand seating sections in the back, and a remarkable view of their respective City skyline in the distance. Huntington Bank Pavilion is typically open from June to September. Apparently Deftones and Gojira kickstarted their 2022 season a week early, and considering this tour was postponed twice over the past two years, it was an amazing way to begin and definitely worth the wait!
As the first band to perform here this season, Gojira wasted no time in winning over the sold-out crowd and raising the bar for anyone else who dare stand on this Pavilion stage over the next couple of hours and the next few months. More than a few times did they employ the smoke cannons, which seemed to elevate the point in whatever part of the songs they happen to be playing at those moments. Gojira utilized some of the lights on the overhead rig; however, because the sun didn’t fade until the end of their set, unfortunately, the lighting did not really shine through. Alongside those smoke cannons were another bright set of stage lights located to the left and the right of the drummer on the backline riser, and these were really the only special effects they would have.
Not that Gojira needs it. Joe + Mario Duplantier, Jean-Michel Labadie, and Christian Andreu (temporarily replaced by Aldrick Guadagnino; he went home to France to be with his first newborn child) could perform on a stage with no production and let the crushing music speak for themselves. Their current album Fortitude is a masterpiece. Four songs of their hour-long twelve song set were dedicated to Fortitude, and the other eight songs were equally as powerful. Gojira is easily a headliner in their own right, and hopefully this tour convinces them to give another go through North America sooner rather than later!
Gojira may be a tough act to follow, but Deftones intro music and very heavy bass pulsated through the entire venue as to say, “Here we are now, did you miss us?!” The stage began to fill with smoke and made it difficult to see the band emerge, and by the time the smoke lifted, singer Chino Moreno had already run out off the front of the stage on top of the aforementioned bass speakers and began his patented screaming, and guitar players Stef Carpenter and Lance Jackman, new bass player Fred Sablan (ex-Marilyn Manson), drummer Abe Cunningham, and DJ Frank Delgado each took their spots on the stage and rarely moved from them for an intense 90-minute-long master class that every single person there waited two years for. Deftones performed something from every record but was surprisingly very light on their latest release Ohms, which were the bookends of the main set, the first and last songs of their setlist.
Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of Deftones + Gojira.
As Spinning Platters was en route to Huntington Bank Pavilion on that Friday night, a text message was received with a last-minute photo approval for the following night at Riviera Theatre, to see pop-punk icons New Found Glory, with hardcore-punk bands Four Year Strong and Be Well.
In 2012, New Found Glory did the 10 Years of Sticks and Stones tour, so it’s only fitting that in 2022, they tour behind the 20-year anniversary of the album containing two of their most popular songs that have become “staples across a couple generations of pop-punk fans” (Alt Press 2015). All Time Low and The Story So Far, popular pop-punk bands, have even taken their names from lyrics of two other songs from this album. So it’s safe to say that a really good size Saturday night crowd was going to show up to take a stroll down memory lane! Not only did New Found Glory perform Sticks and Stones in its entirety, but they came back for 6 more songs plus 2 cover songs that they did in 2007 for a covers album.
Supporting New Found Glory was Four Year Strong and Be Well, who features members from Bane, Only Crime, Darkest Hour, and Converge.
Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of New Found Glory and Four Year Strong.
Thankfully, Spinning Platters has both friends in Chicago and on the tour to help facilitate an extremely last-second photo and ticket request…
After receiving these messages mere hours before doors, there was one more show to attend! Suffocation, combined with support acts Soreption, Contrarian, and technical death metal pioneers Atheist, pummeled the brain and boggled the mind with their ferocious and collectively highly technical playing styles.
Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of Suffocation, Atheist, and Soreption.
The next day was Memorial Day, 90° and way too hot for our San Francisco blood, and it seemed like the majority of the locals had the day off… so what better way to wrap up a full weekend of alt-progressive-technical-death-metal-hardcore-pop-punk than by playing tourist as well as having a local institution… traditional Chicago-style deep dish pizza that can only be acquired in the windy city of Chicago!
See more photos of all of your favorite Metal musicians at Alan Ralph‘s photo portfolio.
