I went to see Meshuggah last night in Brighton which was quite fun. I set off from work at 5:30, dropped Hannah off home, and headed down to Portsmouth in the lovely rain to pick up Ben. An interesting journey later (with Ben talking rubbish for most of it, as normal), and we were in Brighton.
The Satnav took us to a seafront road, where we parked and walked up to the parallel road above. We walked along there for some time, until we thought “nah, it can’t be along here…” so turned back, and got in the car. We drove towards the city centre and found a venue, which turned out to be the Engine Rooms, not the Concorde 2. So we turned around and followed their directions right back to where we first were, and had we have driven a little further down the road we would’ve found it the first time…
Anyway, we got into the venue after a little wait in a ticket queue to pick up our tickets, and ordered a fine glass of cider (or should that be “plastic of cider”?). I fully appreciated the outside smoking area (I love this venue just for that), and while Ben checked out the first band (Trigger the Bloodshed), I had a quick fag. The sound was pretty atrocious, I couldn’t hear any guitars, just bass, kick drum and the odd vocal line. I got a few photos (see my Facebook), but I was never sure if I liked them or not due to the bad sound…
A fag and coke later (driving, ya see?), and Meshuggah cracked open the can of fury. The place was rammed near the front, and I hazarded getting nearer to take some pictures. Some succeeded, but I was ill-placed in the inner ring of the “mosh pit”, so I got a bit battered. After a few pictures, I barged my way to the back and started enjoying the gig where I could watch the band without huge drunk men ramming into you… it was an enjoyable set, a little too loud for the venue maybe, and the sound wasn’t a huge improvement on Trigger the Bloodshed. Still, it was Meshuggah and they were top notch, and with a close down of Future Breed Machine, it was home time… or so I thought.
We hung around outside the tour bus waiting for the band, we managed to chat to Mårten Hagström for a bit and Ben got a picture. Ben (in the drunken state he was) wanted to stay and meet Fredrik Thordendal, so we waited in the rain for about half an hour until he came out. We got a snap each, and Ben drivveled on for a few minutes about how he loves Fredrik, and finally we set off home in the pouring rain. Multiple floods and several aquaplanes later, we were home and tired, and I drove back home to settle down in nice warm bed.
