Rx Bandits

live in Dallas (2009)

thegimper

I entered the doors to see half the kids wearing Mighty Mighty Bosstones shirts, while the other sported shirts of the Deftones variety. I must be at the Rx Bandits / Dredg tour. I sat through Good Ole War, a band I wasn't familiar with at all before the show. They had some catchy, melodic music that could make the crowd dance. What more could you ask from an opening act? Towards the end of their set Matt Embree walked on stage and started to jam with them. Essentially, what I took away from this is that Matt Embree is talented.

I downed a few more overpriced beers and tweeted Steve Choi telling him to open with their Scholars' cover as I waited for them to take the stage. The curtain rose on the stage and the audience was surrounded with four wailing percussionists. The Dredg fans were hoping Slipknot made a guest appearance. Actually, it was each member of the Bandits wailing in perfect rhythm across their drum skins. The drum showcase really highlighted the band's talent for more than just the instrument they're assigned to play on the album.

They opened with "Decrescendo," clearly mocking my opening song requests as they sang to the audience, "Did you hear what you wanted? Did you get what you wanted now?" My only complaint about the show was that at least half the set was songs off the then-unreleased Mandala album, but as they are on tour to support that album I can't really fault the band. There was one surprise as they played "All the Time" off Progress, as the Bandits are not known for playing any songs pre-Resignation. Needless to say, the crowd went nuts.

Despite no longer having any horn players, the band did a solid job of playing their older songs and having them hold up without any brass. The band closed with "Only for the Night" and the members of Dredg came out and played on the many drum sets. This prompted frontman Matt Embree to put down his guitar and dance like his was seeing String Cheese Incident at Bonaroo. But once Matt picked up his guitar, the band finished the song and left the crowd realizing that the Rx Bandits still put on one of the most impressive live shows of any touring band today.