Friday, April 25, 2014

Dillinger Escape Plan - Happiness is a Smile



And then there was Dillinger Escape Plan last night at the Echoplex. I'll be honest - I was a bit afraid. I've seen these guys five times now since I, like so many others, discovered them in '99 when they came out and tore shit up as the opener for Mr. Bungle on the very first leg of their California tour. I've written about this before - DEP scared me then and they've scared me numerous times since (I think I outline it fairly exhaustively here), and it'd been literally ten years since I saw the band in a venue as small as the Echoplex. That was at Chicago's now deceased Fireside Bowl and actually, yeah, that was even smaller than the Echoplex.

But I digress.

My friend Michael went with me and we stood fairly close to the front. And you know, it was still bedlam, especially with the good-natured audience full of surfers and stage-divers, but it was the least-threatening Dillinger show I've seen and had an all-around great vibe full of camaraderie.

Happiness is a Smile is a new song they played last night, released a few months ago on a limited edition vinyl 7" that I didn't even realize was being sold at their merch table last night.

Drat!

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