Concert Review: Down

On Tuesday night I went to see a band playing at The Village in Little Rock that I've always wanted to see but never gotten the chance, Down. For those either "not in the know" or just really don't give a rat's bum about hard rock, Down is a "supergroup" of sorts. I hate that term but it really applies here for metal fans. The band is comprised of lead singer is Phil Anselmo (Pantera), guitarist Pepper Kennan (Corrosion of Conformity), guitarist Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), bassist Rex Brown (Pantera) and drummer Jimmy Bower (Crowbar). They probably reek of pot and whiskey, definitely have lots of hair and plenty of tats and together they play a brand of brutal, swampy, stoner metal/doom metal that nobody played before they came along. Lots of bands now have the sound, but not like these guys.

Let me get a pet peeve out of the way here... unorganized or poorly planned venues. Once again, this is a Tuesday night and some of us have jobs, so I enjoy knowing what's going on so I can plan a bit. This one said doors open at 7:00, show starts at 8:00. No prob. I've got tickets at the window so I get there at 7:45, hoping to miss any line. There's a 400 foot line still outside the venue, it's 35 degrees and rainy. Totally craptacular. People are getting in 1-at-a-time... then they're being searched. It's taking forever. I hate this sort of thing. But anway... I'm in, and frozen, 30 minutes later. Didn't matter I guess because the show started closer to 8:45. Why not just say 8:45? Whatever. Petty complaints. All for rock n roll.

This venue on the inside is awesome though. It's an old movie theater that's HUGE and has theater seating in nice comfy padded seats, plenty of room and good sized pit area in front of the stage. There's no opening band because Down is showing some sort of mini-movie documentary thing, with clips of them being rock stars at various tour stops, throwing chairs out windows and guzzling beer and stuff. Intermingled with this stuff is older videos of bands rocking out to get everybody in the place warmed up. They play Skynyrd, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, AC/DC and KISS in all their bad hair and tight pants glory and people get into the stuff, but it runs a bit long. It was probably 45 minutes to an hour and I thought it was cool for about 20 minutes. I did love AC/DC's "Long Way To The Top" and KISS' "She" but again, way too long. The last video they play is Down's video for "On March The Saints" and then the screen drops and there they are, like a big shovel smashing you in the face... Down has arrived in Big Rock.

Nothing fancy, it's just 5 guys in jeans and black t-shirts ripping into their song "Underneath Everything" as the entire building just explodes. Mosh pits instantly fire up and the human electricity in the place could light up an Arkansas trailer park. Phil's voice is dead-on and the band sound's very tight. Phil looked and sounded very clean, as he's been known to have some demons through his career, I think that's an important part of why they sounded so perfect.

It's sort of funny that they played KISS' "She" before the show I was thinking, because these guys are the exact opposite of KISS. KISS was about style over substance, about distracting from the music with lights and flare and choreographed moves... Down is guys who are pretty much standing stationary with their hair covering their faces ripping through songs. Rex moves around a bit and Phil is busy slapping hands with people in the crowd and moving around, but there's nothing fancy about this performance at all. It's stripped-down hard rock. It's Down's music that's the draw, and people were eating it up as they tore through "The Path", "Lysergik Funeral Procession" and "Pillars of Eternity" without missing a beat as the moshers threatened to blow the roof off the place. Kirk and Pepper aren't a guitar combo like say Judas Priest has, who switch off a lot of leads and rip through speedy, flashy solos together on the axes. These 2 just have a sort of big wall of crunch coming from them, like 2 big swamp gators with a deer caught in their death roll. It's made more to crack ribs than slice you up. And speaking of rib injuries due to sound, Jimmy is a beast on the drums, both entertaining to watch and hear.

There was a bit of talking between songs, but Phil mostly thanked the crowd and got them to sing along. Everything was kept to a minimum except the music and they kept the set mixed up pretty well between old and new stuff. Phil said something about mixing up the songs a lot on the tour because he didn't want the people on MySpace and YouTube getting on them for playing the same set list every night. That's pretty pretty cool I think because they've got 3 CDs of good material and it'd be a shame to see them stick to the same 15 or so songs every night. Still, they'll alway be cool stuff left out when you have a catalog like these guys. For me, disappointing omissions would have to include "Temptations Wings", "New Orleans Is A Dying Whore" and "Stained Glass Cross". The biggest surprise inclusion was "The Seed", which Phil said they almost never play. A big highlight was at the end of "Bury Me In Smoke", as roadies took over the guitar duties at the end as the guys in the band shook hands with the fans and showed their appreciation. The crowd was as loud and active at the end of the show as at the beginning. It was one of those shows I just really wasn't ready to have end. They gave me an hour and a half; I've have take two and a half without glancing at my watch.

Hey, I know it was my first show of the year... but I've got a contender for concert of the year already. That show will be tough to top. I'd go see them again tonight if they were here.

Set List (as best I can remember anyway)

1. Underneath Everything
2. The Path
3. Lysergik Funeral Procession
4. Pillars of Eternity
5. 3 Suns and One Star
6. Lifer (dedicated to Dimebag Darrell)
7. On March the Saints
8. Ghosts Along the Mississippi
9. Learn From My Mistakes
10. N.O.D.
11. Beneath the Tides (my favorite Down song)
12. The Seed
13. Eyes Of the South
--- doobie break ---
14. Jail
15. Stone the Crow
16. Bury Me In Smoke