Event:	High On Fire Tour 2008
Written by:	BitterCOld
Published:	23.01.2008

Archons, Savior, A Life Once Lost, High on Fire
Plush
Tucson, Arizona
1/20/08

The Venue:

Plush - never thought I'd see a metal show here. It's a bar in the 'cool' part of town near the college - attracts students, hippies, gutter punks. Always figured the bar was targeted towards the more preppy kids at the University. Split into a front bar, with a stage in another room. Soundproofed fairly well - you can hear the bands better on the sidewalk than front room. The venue itself is fairly small. Can probably hold 50-100, which is a ballpark of what packed it later that night. Guinness and other good beers were on tap for $2.50 each - pretty cheap. I approve.

Archons http://www.myspace.com/archonsmusicnow

Once again, second show in a row I arrive late to (thanks, lack of parking!) - I missed part of their set, including the all too critical announcement of who was actually playing, which would come back to haunt me later. They were a power trio in the Motorhead mold with Chad Hartgrave on bass and vocals, Jeff Doom on guitars, and Scott Driscoll pounding the kit. A very fitting opening band for High on Fire - they powered through some straight-forward, fast-paced aggressive dirty metal in the same vein as Motorhead or the headliners. I caught four songs and enjoyed them thoroughly, enough so that I wanted to buy a CD. I hope they make it out to the Old Pueblo again some time.

Saviours http://www.myspace.com/saviours666

Saviours were next up and like the Archons before them, were a great fit for a High on Fire show. A four piece that played a solid set of upbeat metal with mixed in a bit of a Sabbath or Cathedral like groove at times. Frontman and guitarist Austin Barber was noticeably baked during the set - not that it hindered their performance. They, like Archons, were enjoyable, and I certainly would love to catch them again.

At this time, I decided to pick up some schwagg - buying a High on Fire t-shirt and "Surrounded by Thieves." I was tempted to pick up the High on Fire hot sauce, as I do so love some hot sauce on most of my meals (hellfire and damnation is my current favorite, fwiw)? but had to budget my coin for another round of beer and I was also impressed enough by the opening act that I had to buy one of their discs. As I mentioned earlier, I missed their announcement of who the hell they were. Most shows I have been to have the same merch set up. The headliners one side, with the rest of the bands in order of appearance on down the table. I sauntered up, asked the merch guy for his recommendation and picked up the newest album not by Archons, but by A Life Once Lost, "Iron Gag."

A Life Once Lost http://www.myspace.com/alifeoncelost

Minutes after my CD purchase, I am enjoying a nice Guinness when the next act takes the stage and announces to all, "We are A Life Once Lost, we are from Philadelphia" before proceeding into a frenzied set of Metalcore. ("D'oh!" I thought to myself and drank to the sorrows of my wrongful purchase). They played hard, they played with enthusiasm. Vocalist Bob Meadows - who looks completely unassuming offstage - was quite animated and theatric on stage (in a good way) twisting about. A good chunk of the crowd got into it at this point - rather than headbanging as before, there was some moshing action. All in all they were damn good at what they did.

The catch?

Frankly, I'm not a metal core guy. I have nothing against it, it just doesn't move me. If it is your thing, check them out. I'm neutral on the music, but was moderately impressed with their performance. Given my ambivalence to the style, that's a moral victory for them and a testimony to their stage show.


Now a stroke of luck! While waiting for ALOL to clear their gear off stage, I was hanging back by the bar and noticed something on the floor? a fiver! Exactly what I needed to pick up the Archons disk. Oh happy days!


High on Fire http://www.myspace.com/highonfireslays

During the set up, I managed to park myself up front against the stage, dead on in front of Matt Pike's mic. The venue filled and the intensity grew as High on Fire took stage and proceeded to level the place. With Des Kensel on drums, Jeff Matz on bass, and Matt on guitar/vocals, they laid down a deafening cacophony. Literally. By the end of the set, my right ear was ringing and pretty useless. (I didn't fully recover hearing for another 24 hours or so after the show.) While Jeff was fairly stoic on bass, Matt Pike was quite animated on stage - egging on the crowd, "I hope everyone here is drunk or stoned! It's a holiday tomorrow, so you got no excuses!*" and "I want to see you get crazy, you're all about to get Fury Whipped!*"

The aforementioned and quite baked Austin from Saviours was about ten feet to my right, just staring up at Pike, in stoned awe - which pretty much mirrored my own reaction, wondering how the hell he could pound away on that 10-string and make it look so damned easy.

There may or may not have been a pit (I had my back to the crowd being just arms reach from Pike) but there was certainly plenty of happy fun pushing and shoving as the crowd thrashed about in a frenzy to a 60-75 minute set that included (from what I can recall) "Rumors of War", "Blood from Zion", "Blessed Black Wings", "Cometh Down Hessian", "Death is this Communion", "Razor Hoof", "Waste of Tiamat", and "Fury Whip." They closed the set with a ripping version of my personal favorite track of theirs, "Devilution", capping off a brilliant set and a long, fun night.

If you ever have the chance to catch them, do so. They don't screw around - they will melt your face. And deafen you, if you stand too close! Oh, don't make the same mistake I did. Bring an extra $7 for the official High on Fire hot sauce.


*Actual wording my vary, but that is the spirit of what he said. I was still a bit tipsy and half deaf!