Arts & Entertainment
 

Night of intricate music dampened 

Poor sound quality, apathetic crowd turn great musical ability into mediocre show

By Dusti Rhodes
The Daily Cougar

Besides a good band that plays good music, two things can help make a live show more enjoyable: quality sound and an enthusiastic crowd. On Monday night the Engine Room's sound system laid the first to rest and fans did not exactly help create an exciting atmosphere.

Despite these two setbacks, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Locust and Your Enemies Friends all put on great performances that demonstrated their technically driven musical abilities.

The Dillinger Escape Plan has played Houston many times before and always manages to put on a show that is as interesting to see as it is to hear. Their shows are as much about the music as they are about the delivery and neither is spared for the other. The band members make use of every inch of the stage and when that is not enough the lead singer jumps into the crowd and uses them as a stage extension. 

Despite the poor sound, their jazz infused, intricate metal sound was executed perfectly and woke up the previously bored looking stiffs also known as the crowd.

The band gave such a great performance that the first two bands were almost forgotten, but should not have been because they proved to be just as interesting.

The Locust, a noise/metal group from San Diego, took the stage masked and anonymous -- for they're sporadic yet careful throughout their sets. For those who have never seen The Locust, they never show their faces on stage; a comparison to Slipknot could be made here, only this band is anything but terrible. 

The lanky foursome performed in all white and masks with large black dots for eyes on either side of their head. Even their mouth holes were covered and watching them perform each of their fast paced, technically composed freak-outs was as disturbing as it was intriguing.

The sound once again prohibited audiences from hearing many things, but mostly the bass. After each break, one could hear fans shouting "turn up the bass" or other recommendations for the sound man, who had not seemed to master the art of balancing treble and bass before the concert. The sound that did come out could be compared to someone screaming into a coffee can -- audible but not exactly pleasurable.

The audience didn't offer much assistance for The Locust's performance either. In past shows there was much banter between the band and their fans, a tradition started by the band's fans that derived from the earlier days when the group's music was not well-received to say the least. The crowd, more or less, stared blankly at the group and some tried to sing along to words that were not even sung.

Your Enemies Friends was one of the best bands of the night and were hopefully not lost in the hype of the main acts. This is not to discredit the aforementioned groups in any way, but this band is one of the greatest rock acts out right now. 

Some would compare the group's heavy garage, keyboard-infused rock to the Murder City Devils but Enemies' style is less trance-like and more thoughtfully contrived. The group has not been to Houston for almost two years but returned with a new keyboard player and an explosive sound that captured the audience's attention hopefully enough for it to remember to check this group out when they return in the future. The band will release their new album, <I>You Are Being Videotaped<P>, this month on Buddyhead Records.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Locust, Your Enemies Friends

The Engine Room

1515 Pease Ave.

The Verdict: Cool bands, lame crowd, great music, bad sound.

 Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu