Seeing Dillinger Escape Plan live on their farewell tour? Awesome. Seeing Dillinger Escape Plan live the night after the 2016 election results? Epic.
Dillinger erupted onto the stage following a brief video montage including protests, riots, and a quote from Malcolm X while the crowd adamantly chanted “Fuck Trump.” The normal aggression was there, but this night felt much different. Not only were we celebrating the life of Dillinger Escape Plan but the rage of the crowd was apparent from early on.
If you've never been to a Dillinger show, it is one of the craziest things you will experience live. These musicians have no regard for safety when it comes to putting on an incredible show. It's hard to comprehend that after all these years Dissociation will be our final album, and this tour very well the last we will ever see. Considering the show was one of the best I've seen, it's easy to ask why the band would be giving it up now? Dissociation is a killer album and their performances are still top-notch; but Dillinger isn't a band to let their fans walk away feeling that they didn't give it their all. One could say this is the perfect send off for an insane band – they are still peaking live, and still going absolutely insane on the stage.
Though the orchestrated aggression of their live show is not kept solely on the stage. Throughout the night frontman Greg Puciato continuously walked along a barside catwalk, screaming down into the crowd with fans. Guitarist Ben Weinman, however, took it a step further by shredding along the bar, then jumping into a sea of waiting fans and crowd surfing back to the stage without missing a single riff.
In the end it was a wonderful night for the fans to let out some serious pent up aggression, and a little emotional for some knowing one of the greats were leaving us. Dillinger will easily go down as one of the most dangerous, yet inspiring, live bands – and we were lucky enough to have them for a solid twenty years.
Setlist:
1. Limerent Death 2. Panasonic Youth 3. Symptom of Terminal Illness 4. Farewell, Mona Lisa 5. When I Lost My Bet 6. Sugar Coated Sour 7. Black Bubblegum 8. Surrogate 9. Hero of the Soviet Union 10. Milk Lizard 11. Low Feels Blvd 12. One of Us is the Killer 13. Nothing to Forget
Encore: Mouth Of Ghosts Sunshine the Werewolf 43% Burnt