Live: Neurosis and Mastodon Blow the Doors Off a Temple

It was the perfect setting for a metal showdown: a dilapidated Masonic temple in Brooklyn. Even better: this was the first area show in four years from Oakland experimental metal band Neurosis. The group — fronted by Steve Von Till, wearing what looked like red doctor's scrubs (or a mental patient's pajamas — your pick) — turned in a skull-fucking set that ranged from full-blown thrash to quieter, tuneful dirges ("Season in the Sky" was a highlight). Equally good were Atlanta dudes Mastodon, who opened for Neurosis with a satisfyingly long string of tunes from all their albums. While they didn't unleash any new songs, as fans were anticipating, it was one of the few times they'd performed "Hand of Stone" and "Trilobite" live. And despite the muddied sound (and two false starts at the beginning of "Aqua Dementia"), the four-piece still managed to sync up for some tricky lock-step grooves on jams like "Sleeping Giant."

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter