“You don’t stay in the music industry for 25 years because you love the music industry. You do it because you love music.” – Robb Flynn
Truer words couldn’t have been spoken that night by the lead vocalist of Machine Head. The metal band from Oakland, CA formed back in 1991 and released their first studio album Burn My Eyes back in 1994. The album was a huge success for them and they went on to release 8 more studio albums, live DVDs and two live albums. The most recent album they released was Catharsis on January 26, 2018. Over the years the band member line up has changed leaving Robb Flynn as the only remaining original member. After the band toured for Catharsis they took a break and decided to head back out to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Burn My Eyes. And they had some special surprises for the fans attending this tour. First, it was just Machine Head with no supporting acts. Three hours of Machine Head music. Second, the band would play the entire album of Burn My Eyes in its entirety. Machine Head is Robb Flynn (vocals, guitar), Waclaw Kieltyka (guitar), Jared MacEachern (bass), and Matt Alston (drums). I was fortunate enough to review their show at House of Blues Orlando on January 26th.
It’s rare to get a band willing to play a full three hours without support bands. The last band I saw to do that was Rush, so I was excited to get a full three hours of Machine Head music. We were told there would be a short intermission between sets with the second set being Burn My Eyes. There was a solid crowd waiting patiently for the band to take the stage. The lights dropped a track of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Diary of a Madman” played as the band took the stage. And when they did take the stage there was a huge roar from the crowd. You could tell these were true hardcore fans of Machine Head and the smile on Robb’s face showed how pleased he was to see such a great crowd. They kicked off their set with “Imperium” from their 2003 album Through the Ashes of Empires. With thunderous drums and heavy ripping guitars, the fans immediately started moshing and jumping on the floor. Robb’s guttural voice echoed through the venue. They followed up with “Take My Scars” from The More Things Change… from 1997.
Metal Head was full steam ahead rocking the fans out with a selection of great music. Robb was quite impressed with the mosh pit asking them to “open that circle pit up!” and urging them to mosh harder and faster. He asked at one point how many hardcore original Machine Head fans were there and about less than half the crowd cheered. When he asked who was there seeing Machine Head for the first time, the majority of the crowd roared, which made him smile and say, “Welcome to the Machine Head family!” I was very pleased to hear them play “Locust” and “I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)”. What really thrilled me was having them play “Aesthetics of Hate” and giving Waclaw the opportunity to perform a phenomenal guitar solo with a spotlight focused on him. There are not enough metal shows that include guitar solos. I don’t know why these seem to have disappeared from the format of shows, but it was great that Machine Head let Waclaw show off his guitar shredding skills.
Robb then came out with an acoustic guitar to talk to the crowd about various things, strumming the guitar every so often to keep the one-note going. During this, he explained the story on how Machine Head had been banned from House of Blues Orlando after their 2014 performance stating that the management didn’t appreciate their outspoken views on war, politics, and such. But, the powers of be changed somewhere and invited Machine Head to return and after 16 years of being banned they were thrilled to play on the House of Blues Orlando stage once more. This drove a huge cheer from the crowd. It was at this point where he talked about how we gather together for the love of our music and to forget about things in the real world for a while. During this time is when Robb also stated “You don’t stay in the music industry for 25 years because you love the music industry. You do it because you love music.” Right after they broke into “Darkness Within” from Unto The Locust. Robb led the House of Blues Orlando crowd into a “Ohhhhhhhh” held out note and got them to continue it for at least two minutes. It was so cool to watch and see a huge grin on his face, to which he thanked the crowd for doing it.
They finished off the first set with their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” from The Blackening and then “Halo” also from the same album. During the end of “Halo” they fired off confetti into the crowd along with firing off the fog machines on stage for a glorious sight and wrap to their set. Robb announced they were taking a 10-minute break and for the crowd to stay where they are. Their full setlist from Set 1 was:
- Imperium
- Take My Scars
- Now We Die
- Beautiful Morning
- Locust
- I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
- Aesthetics of Hate (with guitar solo)
- Darkness Within
- Catharsis
- From This Day
- Ten Ton Hammer
- Is There Anybody Out There?
- Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden cover)
- Halo
It was now time for Set 2, which would be the entirety of Burn My Eyes. I was thrilled to get to hear this album from cover to cover live. This album sold over 400,000 copies when it was published under Roadrunner Records in 1994. At the time it was Roadrunner Record’s best selling album for a debut band. The album tracks speak up to unfortunate events like the L.A. Riots and the Waco siege along with raising awareness to physical, mental, and substance abuse. It is a masterpiece of music and lyrics and now the crowd would get to hear it from beginning to end live. But, for those who didn’t know, the other surprise Machine Head had that night was performing Set 2 would be original guitarist Logan Bader (replacing Waclaw for this set) and original drummer Chris Kontos (replacing Matt for this set).
They all walked out bare-chested (though Robb still had on his denim vest) to a track of “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies” which is track 10 of the album. So if they were playing over the speakers, what would take it’s place during the play of the album? They kicked it off with “Davidian” the song about the Waco siege of 1993. It’s a solid song the Machine Head was on fire with Robb belting out lyrics, Logan doing jumps as he played, Jared going hard and heavy on the bass, and Chris banging out the drum notes. It ran goosebumps up my arm. They immediately followed into “Old” keeping the vibe going in the venue. The crowd was absolutely loving this with the hardcore Machine Head fans moshing in the pit hard. Robb once again urged them to open the pit up wanting to see the biggest circle pit ever. He was also pleased to see how many women came out to see them. He said the tour so far has been “a sausage fest” and he appreciates seeing the female Machine Head fans coming out to party on a Sunday night. He asked for the women in the crowd to scream and nodded and smiled at the loud screams from the ladies.
I found myself headbanging and singing along to them along with the fans standing near me. I could feel myself smiling through this set getting to experience this unique opportunity. Robb called out for the crowd surfers since he hadn’t seen any all night and they started showing up fast. Between the mosh pit and the crowd surfers the energy from this House of Blues Orlando crowd was magnetic. It was as the fans kept feeding off each other’s energy and that kept feeding Machine Head to play on through the night.
When they reached the track where “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies” hit, the band had a surprise for the fans. Chris Kontos started it off with a little drum solo of Rush’s “The Rhythm Method” paying homage to their drummer Neil Peart who passed away on January 7, 2020. I felt my eyes water hearing those notes as I am a huge Rush fan and knowing I’d never hear Neil play that every again live. Chris started off a drumbeat that sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until I heard the guitars did I recognize it as Metallica’s “Sanitarium”. They ripped out that song with all of them doing a great cover and then jumped into a short bit of “Angry Chair” by Alice in Chains. Machine Head jumped into Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy” which really had the crowd moving hard and then switched into Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls on Parade” which got the crowd even more hyped up. But, the crowd truly went nuts when Robb said “Who doesn’t like some SLAYER!?” and performed some “South of Heaven” and finished with “Raining Blood”. It was by far one of the best musical medleys I’ve ever seen performed.
Machine Head finished out the set with “Block” and thanked the crowd from coming out, got a picture of the crowd, and then started throwing out handfuls of guitar picks, drumsticks, and signed drumheads. I was lucky enough to get one of the picks that was unique for this Florida show. Their full setlist for Set 2 was:
- Davidian
- Old
- A Thousand Lies
- None but My Own
- The Rage to Overcome
- Death Church
- A Nation on Fire
- Blood for Blood
- I’m Your God Now
- Sanitarium/Angry Chair/Seek & Destroy/Bulls on Parade/South of Heaven/Raining Blood
- Block
You can find Machine Head’s music and merchandise HERE.
Three hours, 25 songs, and a crowd filled with energy and enthusiasm. I cannot describe the level of excellence of this Machine Head performance. THIS is what a metal show should be. This was definitely one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Do yourself a favor and catch them if they are on tour by a city near you.
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