Concert Review: MUTEMATH w/ Canon Blue at Newport Music Hall (Columbus)

By Ryan G

Alternative Press once hailed New Orleans’ MUTEMATH as the “live band to see before you die.” Saturday, March 3rd will go down in I am tuned UP history as proof of this statement.

MUTEMATH is no stranger to Columbus – they have come through before, first in the Basement, and then again for each LP they’ve put out, in the Newport each time.  With 3D projection mapping and a load of tricks up their sleeves, I knew this time around was not a show to be missed.

Folktronica rockers Canon Blue opened the show with a half hour of, well, electronic folk-rock music. They were a good fit for the tour, but after a half hour I was ready for MUTEMATH.  I’ll definitely check out their stuff in the future, I just think their live show could have been a bit more engaging.

MUTEMATH made their grand entrance at 9 PM, parading with percussion instruments and flanked by a pair of guys carrying a light canopy of sorts over them.  The band positioned themselves onstage, and the frenzy of sensory overload began with a performance of “Odd Soul”, “Prytania”, and “Blood Pressure.”  The first of many oldies commenced afterward with “Spotlight” which got a lot of audience participation.  The 23 song main set had a balance of old and new, including the entire Odd Soul album.  Each song was a drawn out jam, such that even at the beginning one just stepping in would have thougth the band was offering up their finale.  Some surprises in the Columbus set included the performance of “Backfire” and “Odds”, the latter of which Paul dedicated to an audience member. The ability of a band to do this, surprising geeks like me who enjoy looking at set-lists beforehand, are testimony to just how good a band is as musicians. “In No Time” allowed the audience to just get lost in the music, with Darren’s soft background beats and Paul’s creeping, ambient organ.  “Chaos” segued into the “Armistice” outro, with Paul rolling on a cart out into the audience and fooling with a little synth pad.  Spotlights and confetti cannons accentuated the following “Equals”, which only added to Paul’s cementation as a true performer.

The true highlight of the set would come at the end, like at many of the most memorable shows I’ve attended.  The classic “Break the Same” segued into the new “Quarantine” which featured some of Paul’s trademark keyboard handstand antics and Darren rolling out on the cart into the audience for his little jam culminating in the entire band banging on various surfaces onstage and guitarist Todd Gummerman fooling around manually with his pedal board.   At one point, Paul was in the audience again, but this point crowdsurfing on a specially built light-adorned air mattress.  The inevitable encore began with another surprise – a performance of the beautiful, subdued “You Are Mine.”  “Reset” followed, of course with the appearance of Paul’s Atari synthesizer instrument.  As the final notes of “Reset” faded, some familiar piano chords emerged amidst a surreal backdrop – it was “Collapse”, the intro track of the self titled. Chills are the only words that can describe the feeling when that happened, and of course this track could only point to one thing – the performance of “Typical”, which wrapped up the evening.

MUTEMATH is at the top of their game right now. Longtime fans may miss guitarist Greg Hill, but newcomer Todd Gummerman is beginning to assume his place as an official band member, and has come out of his shell a lot since their Odd Soul Introduction Tour.  I’m pretty confident I can say this is the best show I’ve been to – perfect sound, perfect set-up, perfect musicianship, and a GREAT 2+ hour set.

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1 Comment

  1. sam

    Very nice concert review. I really admire it a lot and wanted to read more from you.

    Reply

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