Show Review

I’d seen every band at this tour previously, but was excited nonetheless to see Jonezetta and Mute Math rock the stage. Both bands are known for their stage energy and performance value, and needless to say the show was sold out, crammed with screaming fans.

Jonezetta opened with, as expected, a blistering amount of energy. The four members of the band sounded raw and the singer was surprisingly on-point, hitting most of the notes on my personal favorites “Communicate” and “Man In A 3K Suit.” Of course, the band played the bouncy, enormous pop single “Hot Machete!” and I think the band found themselves with an array of new fans that night. If you haven’t heard or seen Jonezetta yet, you will soon—and even if you don’t particularly appreciate or enjoy dance rock, Jonezetta’s insane energy and melodies can satisfy fans of literally any genre.

I stepped back a bit for Shiny Toy Guns, who played a loud set of 80’s influenced rock jams. Initially, I was appalled at the rather derivative nature of the band—who sounded like the All American Rejects if they were born in the 60’s—but the singer really could sing magnificently well, hitting most of the rather high ranged notes in their set. Still, it’s nothing I would certainly listen to but it seemed the crowd was getting into the loud rock songs.

Finally, the lights went back on and Mute Math’s crew began setting up the stage for their insane set. A wall of bright, neon fluorescent lights backed up the stage, and as it would be discovered, the lights would flicker on and off during the set. As would be recognized from their album cover, a transparent, large light bulb was positioned to delicately dangle over the band.

At this point, I was shaking with anticipation—the prior time I saw Mute Math I was much further back in the crowd and, while insanely fun, it felt a bit more intimate this night in Denver. Much like the last time I saw them, the drummer sat in the front next to their singer, wearing headphones he had duck taped to his head. Immediately, they opened with “Typical,” and it sounded phenomenal. All of the members of the band were truly on top of their instruments—and though they had a few moments throughout the set that were almost a bit excessive with “jamming,” (the drummer and bass guitar player soloed together for about 10 minutes), in the end I went home insanely happy. They played crowd favorites “Chaos” and “Noticed,” and my personal favorites were when they played “Break The Same,” and to my wonderful surprise, “Stall Out,” the closer on their brilliant debut. As is now their signature, their singer busted out the Keytar for several tracks and rolled and danced around the stage, bouncing off the walls with energy. After the band’s encore, he violently threw his chair against the wall of lights, smashing one of them into pieces and knocking the display. Awesome.

The most impressive thing about Mute Math was their ability to maintain intense rhythms and melody—and while the singer’s voice was often a bit too quiet to hear, the rhythm section (notably, bassist and drummer) kept the energy and noise level to an enjoyable loudness. If you’re into seeing a band who really, truly has it all together—to a “T,”—Mute Math will blow your mind.

All in all—a great show with a solid line up. I’d expect you to be there—if you were smart and bought your tickets in advance, of course.

review by Andrew Martin