Mudvayne

House of Blues, Anaheim

Ok. So it's one of those kiddy bands that I'm way old to see, but I went anyway. I'd seen their mugs or masks or made-up faces, or whatever, spread all over the guitar mags and even saw then on one of the late night shows and they seemed pretty good. Downloaded a couple of their CD's and actually kind of liked it. I don't really know what this music, if you want to really call it music, is like. Lots of bass and drum beats, not a lot of guitar to speak of, which kind of makes one wonder why they kept ending up on the covers of guitar mags. Hmmm. Anyway, I liked them enough to brave the sold out show into kiddie-land and spend a night wondering what the hell I am doing. But seriously, they are a visual treat, and put on a really good show. They've got lots of energy and it comes across and they seem to be dedicated enough to put on a great performance for the audience. I liked the freaky-looking bass player myself, lol, the skinny-little fuck. They weren't wearing the masks or make-up that night, I think they may have given it up now. The singer, played up the emotionally distressed, disturbed, depressed, you name it, act reasonably well, while the guitarist in goggles just kind of played and stood there. Oddly, there seemed to be less music in their performance than there is on their CD's. Maybe the music didn't transcend the live performance or something, but after having listened to them for like two weeks straight and getting into their discs, I was kind of disappointed by the musical aspect of the evening. Something was lacking ... I can't really put my finger on it, but it seemed a whole lot less music and a lot more performance, if that makes any sense. Nonetheless, the visuals made up for it and turned it into a pretty nice evening. Not a lot of moshing, and the only thing that got hurt that evening was my pride as I realized I was like the oldest guy by far there that night. If you like Mudvayne, they're worth the price of admission to see; if you don't know them or don't like their music, don't bother; and if you're old, be prepared.

You can find Mudvayne's homepage here.