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Dillinger Escape Plan

live in New York
2005
live show

Review by: Brian
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Published on December 13th 2005

Bowery Ballroom is a New York City venue with a spacious floor area but an intimate enough stage size and thankful lack of a barrier. When the Dillinger Escape Plan headlines, you can only hope to be blessed with this type of setting.

The Flashbulb opened things up. It consisted of one sole man, his laptop, and guitar. As you might expect, what he played was an unpredictable array of electronica, a sort of fast-paced trip-hop style that found him occasionally riffing along with the beats. It was mildly interesting, but I almost nodded off standing up near the end of the fourth song. An abrupt Metallica sample drew some applause, as did the guy's obvious focus to his craft, but I wasn't having much of it myself. Boy would the Bronx have made this show...

HORSE the fucking Band was next, and what immediately drew my attention was keyboardist Erik Engstrom; in case you happen to be unaware, the guy is a dead ringer for Napoleon Dynamite sans glasses. He has, however, the hair and all to the point of incredulity. Luckily I was finally past it when the rest of the band took to the stage and busted into the first single off their recent The Mechanical Hand, "Birdo." Front-man Nathan Winneke had a sloppy, grungy stage presence that complemented the band perfectly; he looked like a displaced Guitar Center employee, but it worked somehow. "A Rusty Glove" founds its way into the set as well as a few others from Hand as well as a few unrecognizable cuts from R. Borlax. The band was pretty hilarious with the between-song banter, even if they were usually resorting to clever intepretations of the "where's your band?" response to deflect a consistent smattering of "boos." Engstrom's answer to "You look like Napoleon Dynamite's body double!" was a less thought out, stuttered "Don't be jealous because you didn't star in the most popular movie of the last 5 years...and play keyboards in a band." Where the band's best strengths where were in their energy; rarely do you see a live band with massive amounts of activity from every single band member. It was refreshing to see each and every one give it their all. Definitely an enjoyable performance.

A band who I'd heard plenty about but little of came on soon after, the immensely talented Between the Buried and Me. The metalcore (roughly) act has a few releases under their belts yet still look noticeably young, and was definitely one that turned out to fit in rather well on the bill; they're obviously operating under influence from the headliners, but add their unique flair of jazz touches, sporadic keyboard moments and clean singing. This is a band fully intent on putting their effort into creating creatively heavy music rather than an image, as for the most part, the nearly piercing and tattoo-less band members stood in place to make sure every chord was right on and that every song translated to the live setting affluently and flawlessly. That lack of moving around was made up by the aforementioned spot-on performance. Lead singer and occasional keyboardist Tommy Rodgers' hand motions were usually a bit grandiose, but his powerful and diverse range served the set well, and he made sure to give plenty of crowd participation in the vocal area. One solo from the left-stage guitarist was particularly impressive.

The moment everyone had been waiting for soon arrived. Projected onto a screen prior to the Dillinger Escape Plan taking the stage was a short clip from an old silent movie, which seemed to give instructions to a young woman on how to fall asleep. When it appeared the woman was asleep, the text read "Good. Now I am going to open your eyelids." Hands appeared, and did such, gently. "Are you asleep? Good," the screen read, and it quickly counted down to "one," as the text showed, and DEP walked out onto the stage. I was expecting an immediate transition from the end of the projection footage to a song to break the silence, but it was not in the cards. A transition less sloppy and more akin to the one I'd hoped for would've created quite the volatile start, but after ringing their guitars for several seconds, the band launched into "Panasonic Youth" and barely stopped from there. With the end of the long tour looming, the band usually seemed a step off with a noticeably more dissonant sound almost all throughout, and yet, they were still incredible. Though the dissonance created a unique separation from the record, every performer took to his instrument like a body part. The light show was most effective for the opener and used sparsely afterwards, but during "Panasonic Youth" it helped kick things off well. Greg Puciato moved about the stage plenty, but was outshone a bit by the spastic, impulsive movements from one of the guitarists. At least, until, during the breakdown of one song, Puciato picked up the cymbal stand, brought it the front and smashed it with a drumstick, turned around and proceeded to slam it to the stage. He charged towards the front of the stage with a manic, hazy look in his eye only to turn around and throw it to the projector screen. I honestly couldn't tell where it would end up. While some projecting problems made the set a bit laughable (see: Windows desktop icons floating above the drummer's head, cursors unintentionally on Puciato's nose), the static lines and odd, greyscale cloudy skies during slower parts of songs gave the set an eerie aura. "Sugar Coated Sour" (towards the end), "43% Burnt," The Mullet Burden," "Sunshine the Werewolf," "We Are the Storm," "Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants," and "Baby's First Coffin" all definitely found their way into the set list, definitely among a few others I'm sure to be missing. "Unretrofied," interestingly, was not played, nor was an encore. While the screen flashing the Dillinger Escape Plan logo during the last song was a bit cheesy, and the second-long flash of a red font stating "Buy merch" at its endpoint was amusing at best, it couldn't help detract from the powerful finish to an intense set and its final few anguished, manic screams and ruptured chords.

The Dillinger Escape Plan is an act not to miss, even when they're weathered from weeks on the road. Hopefully you caught this on one of its legs and somehow managed to get out with both of yours intact.

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Posted by captaincrackhead on 2005-12-19 16:46:50

"people who listen to DEP are homosexual frat boys"

This is true, they fucking suck. One of their songs is on the game "Smackdown vs RAW 2006" and it is fucking terrible. Glad to hear that there are plenty more bands doing the same fucking sounding music

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 16, 2005 at 3:56 PM (EST)

people who listen to DEP are homosexual frat boys

Posted by fightattack on 2005-12-15 18:10:47

Well, I guess I forgot to add that it was still a pretty amazing show.
;)

Posted by fightattack on 2005-12-15 18:10:09

I saw this tour in Seattle.
I had never seen Dillinger live before.

My only complaint is that Greg is almost completely emotionless.
I mean, I understand that sometimes you might not 'feel it' . . . but it was like the guy was on aggro-autopilot. I kinda think it's just his personality rather than a lackluster performance.

I mean, he did throw a full water bottle full speed into the wall, and then toss one of the monitors against a wall - but he didnt even look pissed off or like he was really experiencing the music . . .

The other members, for the most part, looked way more intertwined with the music.

Posted by Anchors on 2005-12-15 13:24:41

Owned.

Posted by inagreendase on 2005-12-15 02:01:29

dillenger is the new slipknot, only this time for scene kids.

You intern for Eulogy.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 15, 2005 at 1:21 AM (EST)

Here is a band to blow your wad over: Lack of Interest. They've been around forever and their new record is the best thing to come out in 2005. Check them out at www.deepsixrecords.com.

Posted by k-dubs on 2005-12-15 00:30:43

dillenger is the new slipknot, only this time for scene kids.

Posted by GreenVandal on 2005-12-14 22:27:46
My Score:

I agree with the last statment. The Bronx are fucking sexy.

Posted by the_other_scott on 2005-12-14 20:01:56

the bronx are better than metal

so that should settle the argument

Posted by GreenVandal on 2005-12-14 17:47:10
My Score:

oh Toledo. You sure live up to that CRAZY part. *hardy chuckle*

But seriously, can we start blowing our wads and wadettes all over a different band?

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at 3:48 PM (EST)
My Score:

There should be at least a two picture minimum for all live reviews.

Posted by LaidToWaste on 2005-12-14 13:56:53

I wish that guy would tell that to the lead singer of Dilliger Escape Plan, poser metal? maybe you should listening to something other than Strapping Young Lad

Posted by Godfather on 2005-12-14 13:33:25

opeth

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at 1:18 PM (EST)

"Poser metal for upper middle class wimps. This isn't metal, it's tight pants jock rock for post-emo faggots"

I really don't think the Dillinger Escape Plan will be losing sleep over 'not being metal', they don't even listen to metal.

Posted by crazytoledo on 2005-12-14 13:13:51

STFU.

BTBAM are better than alot of metal bands now aday.

And if your going metal, you should stick with Melodic European Death Metal.

Posted by sallyjesse on 2005-12-14 10:54:51

really, go get some Rhapsody. real Italian fantasy metal people.

DEATH TO FALSE METAL!

oh yeah, and hangnails to all you scene dorks who have so graciously invaded the metal scene with bands like Between the Burried and Me and Shadows Fall. ug

Posted by k-dubs on 2005-12-14 10:31:12

fuck this shit, HORSE the band rocks.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at 12:54 AM (EST)

I remember when I first played DEP for the local metalheads right after "Calculating Infinity" came out. They told me it was such shit and utter crap - now they probably have DEP carved into their forearms.

Posted by thirtyseconds on 2005-12-13 19:41:58

"Poser metal for upper middle class wimps. This isn't metal, it's tight pants jock rock for post-emo faggots"

He he... funny. Disagreed though

Posted by benz on 2005-12-13 19:31:29
My Score:

I saw this tour going through Philly (at the first unitarian church, best venue ever), and it was fucking awesome.

one of the first times i loved every band that played (including Flashbulb, who deserves more credit than he gets)

Fucking insane.

-benz

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 6:47 PM (EST)

wanted to go to this show so bad. sucks it was 18

Posted by skaboom on 2005-12-13 18:13:36

"Poser metal for upper middle class wimps. This isn't metal, it's tight pants jock rock for post-emo faggots"

I think it is safe to assume this retard has never been to a DEP show.

Posted by etwiels88 on 2005-12-13 16:05:57

and FUCK BTBAM. Their new cd is shit. Their live show is shit. And everything associated with that band is boring and overrated beyond belief.

Posted by etwiels88 on 2005-12-13 16:04:04

No way any other DEP show on this tour could've been as good as the Philly one

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 3:54 PM (EST)

Poser metal for upper middle class wimps. This isn't metal, it's tight pants jock rock for post-emo faggots

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 3:52 PM (EST)
My Score:

MIKE JONES!

-opivy

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 3:51 PM (EST)

if only Hella was on this part of the tour

Posted by crazytoledo on 2005-12-13 13:54:17

And Anyways:

BTBAM > HTB > DEP > 99.9 % other bands.

DEP is prob in my top 10 or 15 favorite bands. Behind BTBAM, HTB, Darkest Hour, God Forbid, and the Absence of course. And a few other bands here and there (Millencolin).

Posted by crazytoledo on 2005-12-13 13:52:21

Kind ofve true. I was kind of just stating that mainly because the reviewer is trying to make it seem the BTBAM is only around because they heard DEP and tried to emulate them.

Posted by inagreendase on 2005-12-13 13:25:58

It was merely poiting out that BTBAM didnt say, 'hey DEP is sweet, lets make a band like them.'

I give this attempt at saving face a D at best. You said it pretty black and white that it's more likely BBTAM influenced DEP, you can't back out now son.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 1:24 PM (EST)

I love dillinger...but they need a new set list. I saw them earlier this year in NY, and I saw them in boston last week, and they played pretty much the exact same thing. Greg even brought the ride cymbal up to the stage and played it the same way....and now I read this review and it's still the same setlist. I know the songs are complicated to play, but they should at least try to mix it up once in a while.

Posted by sallyjesse on 2005-12-13 13:02:43

I"M SICK OF DILLANGER ESCAPE PLAN.....

mike jones??

Posted by crazytoledo on 2005-12-13 12:22:06

It was merely poiting out that BTBAM didnt say, 'hey DEP is sweet, lets make a band like them.'

Posted by the_other_scott on 2005-12-13 12:08:24

i was going to go to this show, but the bronx cancelled so i was over it

Posted by skaboom on 2005-12-13 11:56:52

DEP are the kings of tech-metal.

BTBAM formed in 2000, DEP in 1997. Calculating Infinity, the single most influential album of the entire genre ever, came out in 1999.

Posted by Anchors on 2005-12-13 11:48:16

I cannot fucking believe somebody just said that Dillinger Escape Plan is influenced by Between The Buried and Me. Wow.

Posted by crazytoledo on 2005-12-13 11:29:34
My Score:

Probably the best show of 2005. One of them at least.

they're obviously operating under influence from the headliners

More like DEP and HTB were influenced by BTBAM, considering that BTBAM has probably been around longer and have always done their thing.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 11:23 AM (EST)

Overated mosh crew garbage. I'll be out back listening to R.A.M.B.O

Posted by skolarx on 2005-12-13 10:53:25

but was there fire breathing?

they actually did that in detroit, in a very old flamable building...

Posted by xrobotcorex on 2005-12-13 08:19:57

The Pittsburgh stop of this tour was the best because Greg from DEP got smacked upside the head with a guitar, and looked like a fucking serial killer with blood running down his face. Totally awesome.

Oh yeah, The Flashbulb is awesome, and the dude is a really nice guy.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 4:16 AM (EST)

fuck this i want a dillinger four review

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 3:33 AM (EST)

I saw the Portland show too.. Hella should have had a longer set.. and the new supporting dudes on keys and bass kind of blow ass. But it was still one o f the best shows I've seen.. when he threw that fucking box fan? that was sweet.

Posted by givemeamuseumandillfillit on 2005-12-13 03:21:19

I wish i was there, i could care less for the bands on the bill (bronx and hella who didn't play are awesome though...)..but seriously, seeing dillinger going into their choreographed "we're so spazzy"-routine while windows icons were swirling around the stage must've been the best thing ever... I'd laugh my ass off.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 2:51 AM (EST)

Hella's drummer is absurdly good. The only reason to watch that band, I was amazed as hell watching that guy.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 2:29 AM (EST)
My Score:

Saw this show in Portland, excellent performance by all bands, except one which was on part of the tour: Hella. Now they have the drummer from Team Sleep and he is pretty damn talented, but their band which was a sort of technical hardcore band with lots of drums and lots of guitar that they seemed to play pretty fucking fast, it was a barrel of noise that lasted 40 minutes, but dep was after them so it was still okay.

Posted by Anchors on 2005-12-13 00:42:04

Man, DEP has ben touring fucking forever. I saw them October 6th, and they had already been on the road for a while.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 12:34 AM (EST)

Bowery Ballroom is one of the better venues in Lower Manhattan. It's like what Irving Plaza should be but fails so miserably. Too bad this show was sold out before I got tickets. But I love the in-between song banter from HORSE. Last time, Nathan was talking how pus came out of his penis due to a string of underwear stuck inside his urethra.

Ramo
(Next time Napoleon D...next time)

Posted by Godfather on 2005-12-13 00:27:26

this kinda reminds me of a pantera concert six years ago.....i was in the upper seats looking down at the moshpit and there were herds of, what looked like giants, galloping in circles....i could have sworn i had died and gone to hell....it was totally awesome

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 12:24 AM (EST)

flashbulb is better than everyone on this bill except , dep , of course

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 12:15 AM (EST)

I saw this show in Seattle, it was absolutely killer. Although it sounded like DEP outplayed this reviewed show, because they came out and played so suddenly the place almost collapsed and hardly let up the entire way. Plus, while like half the place left after an encore didn't seem in the cards, a constant Dillinger chant brought out an unscheduled encore, and it was an amazing fucking performance, although I forget the song they played. Awesome fucking show though.

Posted by formerly-blade-runner on 2005-12-13 00:06:23

im guessing this show would've been pretty loud, eh.

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