THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN + A Life Once Lost @ Le National

By Alex Robot - No Sleep Til Bedtime - 12/21/2007

The Dillinger Escape Plan is a band that I've now seen live four times, with one of these concerts (at the legendary l'X) being among the greatest shows I've ever seen. While this, of course, keeps my expectations rather sky-high, the fact that they've yet to fail me live (or on record) means that my faith, going into the show at Le National, was pretty unshakable.

After (unfortunately) arriving too late to catch what I heard was a great set by Genghis Tron, I settled in the lobby to wait out A Life Once Lost's generic death-rhythmery thing (rhythmarole?). Lobby highlights included much mockery at ALOL's expense by CJLO's hit comedy duo Korgull The Destroyer and Omar “I Just Work Here” Goodness (of Metal For Supper – The Afternoon Edition and Hooked On Sonics respectively). I like to imagine myself riding along in the backseat of the car rides home those two share...just imagine the topsy-turvy world where Omar actually plays the straight man!

A Life Once Lost finally wrapped up their business, and after taking a spot where I could see everything, Korgull and I waited out the somewhat lengthy soundcheck. To ask an editorial question here -- why did the promoter set Dillinger's stage time at 9:15, and then 9:45, and then still have the band take the stage at the more reasonable 10-something-ish? Anyway, I was ready to wait it out as the band had tons of lights set up (as all bands should), smoke already in the air, a projector fired up, and a glowing drum kit.

After the band set the tone with an intro of noise and creepy silent-film projection, The Dillinger Escape Plan lurched abruptly (always abruptly) into their set with the explosive “Panasonic Youth,” one of their more “straight ahead,” heavy songs, and things were kicked off in style. The stage was a mess of flailing instruments (and limbs), smoke, and, as advertised outside, “effets stroboscopiques.”

The set was pretty heavy on old material (a good thing, not that Ire Works is crap or anything), including a tune from the Under the Running Board EP and two from Calculating Infinity, though I suppose you can't even call it a Dillinger show without “43% Burnt.” The energy level was super-high and we were all treated to Ben Weinman ("the guy on the left")'s repertoire of guitar-player dance moves, which included the "jogging-in-place," the "ditch-digger" and the "suicide-jumper."

My major complaint would be that the portions were tasty, but few. The set clocked in at only about 45 minutes; I could easily pick 2 or 3 songs from every DEP full-length I would've included. No “Jim Fear,” “The Running Board” or “Hollywood Squares” added up to quite a few painful omissions. I was expecting the show to last longer than an hour, though maybe time concerns were involved. In any event, the performances were all pretty great, and any lineup issues didn’t seem to affect the band onstage. If anything, it was the crowd that wasn't up to snuff, despite the group invoking the age-old rite: "well, we were in Toronto awhile ago...that crowd was pretty even with you guys...."

Dillinger's live sound was incredibly polished, and the lights/projector/stage presence/insane guitar acrobatics commanded attention from anybody who loves a musical spectacle. At some point halfway through the set, though, singer Greg Puciato (no longer “the new guy,” now) remarked, "That old place, the l'X...that was the shit." And while I'd have to say that he was right, and that the Dillinger set I caught there stands above virtually every show I've ever seen, what I saw at Le National was far from disappointing and, in the words of that long-dead poet, so much better than half the garbage the kids are listening to these days.

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