Sometimes, and especially at heavy shows, the smell emanating from the venue precedes the noise that escapes it. A steamy, slammed and sold-out metal gig on a Thursday night may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but make no mistake—it’s an interesting excursion regardless of the music on display. To be fair, it’s not expected that a co-headlining Melvins/Napalm Death show is going to be a hot ticket for the majority of Boca readers, though our intrepid arts and entertainment team stops at nothing to bring you dispatches from the more bizarre side of South Florida’s events calendar. Luckily for us, the “Savage Imperial Death March Part II Tour” lived up to its name.
For a double-bill of bands that are described with genre tags like “sludge metal” and “grindcore,” the crowd in Fort Lauderdale’s Culture Room was relatively sedate on Thursday night. Sure, there was all manner of headbanging and even a bit of moshing at points, but the sold-out crowd skewed old enough that it made for a relatively tolerable experience no matter which corner of the venue one was packed into.
As with any double-headliner show, there was a demarcation among the crowd as to who the true main act was. The Melvins were my choice for the band of the night, but they took to the stage first, just a few minutes after 8:30, cramming roughly a dozen tracks into a blistering hour-long set that was tightly wound and surprisingly choreographed for a group with such punishing sonics. With transitions seemingly built into the set and a few moments of showmanship that were befitting a group with more than decades as road dogs (even if they felt a bit rehearsed), the foursome showed why it has long since outgrown its Pacific Northwest roots and survived decades that were not kind to its contemporaries.
Known for its changing lineups and personnel experiments—this is a group that has at times toured with multiple bassists and no guitars — the configuration for this tour included two drummers, an arrangement that made for slightly sloppy-sounding yet wholly powerful versions of Dale Crover’s legendary drum tracks. Bassist Steven McDonald, of Redd Kross fame, was the most natural showman of the group in his white suit, tossing picks to the crowd and even handling lead vocals a few times. Frontman Buzz Osborne was enigmatic as ever, sporting his customary smock-like garment and shock of curly hair, easily commanding the crowd whenever he didn’t have his back turned to the audience to manipulate feedback facing his amps.
Highlights included a few tracks from the band’s 1993 major label debut Houdini (let’s all take a moment to appreciate that such an unapologetically abrasive group was ever signed to a major label at all), and favorite “A History of Bad Men,” a song that sounds like a descent into evil on record yet somehow come across live as one of the set’s most accessible moments.
After a brief changeover, Napalm Death began its set shortly after 10. Although the English grindcore stalwarts remain not quite my cup of tea, there was an impressive showmanship to the group that belied its age, and the slightly diminished crowd (a fair amount of attendees seemed to make their exit after the Melvins wrapped up) appreciated singer Barney Greenway’s rousing anti-Trump stage banter.
Though the Culture Room remains an objectively subpar venue—sightlines are limited, and facilities are lacking, to say the least—it retains a special place in my own heart, and surely in those of other local concertgoers. South Florida is lucky to have a space like this for shows like these—the ones that aren’t for the faint of heart but that reward those willing to brave the steamy, smelly, sardine-packed conditions to have their ear drums rearranged by punishingly loud rock music.
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