Okay peeps. Here's the skinny. If you love theatrical stage performances, this is a band you need to see. If you hate the music, you still need to see them. If you love the music, even better. Mushroomhead is something to experience.

Unfortunately what could/would have been a packed house, Lamb of God and Machinehead were in town the same night so it was the hardcore MRH fans that showed up, which could be considered a good thing I suppose. For the 150-200 people who showed up they were given an incredible show. Now while my reviews are usually long and very detailed, there is really no reason to make it a long one. My mission in this article is to tell you what to expect to see when going to a MRH show.

The first thing that comes to mind is that they ARE the metal version of the Blue Man Group. Their show MUCH outpaces their studio stuff, kinda like you get with Gwar or Lordi. Then band is garnished with war paint, masks, rusty butcher tools, spikes and other things of the ilk. The band features two singers, one of which sings the harmonic stuff who dresses like a deranged slaughter house worker (he reminded me of a grungy cenobyte from Hellraiser). The other singer screams, growls, and raps. He was the most "normal" member of the group sporting only warpaint. They have one guitarist who struts a 7 string Ibanez and a horrid mask with his beard jutting through it.The bass player sports an old Dean bass and a pig mask that reminds me of Jabba's palace guards in from the Star Wars movies. The bands "main attraction" for me, turned out to be the two keyboard players who were dressed as cops and wearing masks that looked like the comic book hero, Spawn. These two dudes had keybords mounted to car springs which they used to thrash the keyboards around with. On songs where they weren't needed at the boards they would come to the front of the stage and bang on up-tipped bass drums with sticks and would bang and twirl the sticks in unison, as if in a Satanic marching band. The bass drums had water poured on top of them and the undersides were uplit so when they hit the heads it looked like explosions. These special bass drums also served as platforms that the band members could stand on.

As far as the sound, they are heavily digital and put out a great mix that the sound guy put at a great volume. Hell, even ole' Berube took out the earplugs for a few songs. Their live show sounded just like their CDs. If you don't know the music, I would classify them as a tad poppy, but they are pretty metal. They don't have shredding guitar solos, nor do they have super complex songs, yet metal fans of most genres seem to enjoy them when they need a little pep. They bring in tons of extra lighting and smother you with fog machines. The stage is set with props and extra high risers in venus that can accomidate (which Jaxx can!). Quite simply the show was great. I was thrilled to get entertained. I score em as a 9 out of 10. I don't give them the extra point simply because the intensity level was a little too constant, as I wished they gave you a song here and there to just chill. If you really want a clue as to what to expect, click the photo link I have listed below and see what they look like. You will understand.

In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the 1349 / Goatwhore show March 29th!. Stay tuned.

Go to the BGR gallery (CLICK HERE) and check out my pics from last night's the show.

BE SURE to check out our friends at JAXX NIGHTCLUB! www.jaxxroxx.com

If you would like to attend a Jaxx show please let me know. I might be able to drag you along with me.

Comments Questions or Concerns? Hit me up! This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

And oh yeah...

Peace and Metal Grease!

berube