Coheed and Cambria and Mastodon are out on the road together on “The Unheavenly Skye Tour,” each celebrating a different album but with a common cause … to rock the local fans. And so it was they found themselves in front of a packed house at The Masonic in San Francisco on a Tuesday night, no small feat given that Judas Priest was holding court right down the street for their second of a two night stand. The show kicked off at the obnoxiously early hour at 6:30 pm for openers Every Time I Die, but kudos to the San Francisco audience for making an effort and the already-crowded floor was ready to dance to their generous 40 minute set.
As the crew made quick work of the stage, much of crowd filtered into the lobby bar for refreshments where the unavoidable glare from the sun (still high in the sky) came as a bit of a shock as people checked their watches. The sun was not even close to setting and Mastodon was about to take the stage to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their fourth album, Crack the Skye. Between the psychedelic LED screens and the wafting of weed, the crowd was lulled into a mild stupor as the band played through Skye sequentially. From there they finished the set with a handful of select tunes including “Black Tongue” which resulted in several “hold my beer” moments as the fans perked up and dashed into the pit.
The evening wrapped with Coheed and Cambria, on tour supporting their latest (2018) concept album, The Unheavenly Creatures. Taking the stage, Coheed launched right into “Prologue,” the opening track off the album—similar psychedelic visuals on the LED screens as Mastodon, but with a much different reaction from the San Francisco crowd. Make no mistake, the same people who were only 45 minutes earlier passing a joint were now rocking the hell out and singing along to Coheed’s special brand of nerd metal, which actually had frontman Claudio Sanchez putting down his guitar for a moment to perform raucous rendition of “Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant.”
While not a touring matchup that would immediately come to mind, the Coheed/Mastodon, yin/yang of progressive metal made perfect sense in retrospect, packing The Masonic for an evening of music that would not result in FOMO over the other options that night.
COHEED AND CAMBRIA
MASTODON
EVERY TIME I DIE
MASTODON SETLIST
Oblivion
Divinations
Quintessence
The Czar
Ghost of Karelia
Crack the Skye
The Last Baron
Bladecatcher
Black Tongue
Mother Puncher
Steambreather
COHEED AND CAMBRIA SETLIST
Prologue
The Dark Sentencer
Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant
Unheavenly Creatures
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
A Favor House Atlantic
The Gutter
True Ugly
No World for Tomorrow
Gravity’s Union
Mother Superior
The Suffering
Old Flames
ENCORE
The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)
Welcome Home
