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| Rob Flynn of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Bay Area metal heroes Machine Head powerfully launched their North American Slaughter the Martour 2024 with a 4-band bill that shook the century-old walls of The Warfield. “We’ve got a really special show for our hometown on the first night of the tour,” lead singer and guitarist Robb Flynn told the crowd early in the headliner’s set – the first of many engagements Flynn made to the audience that cemented the Oakland band’s unique connection to this crowd on this night in this place.
San Francisco was cold and wet Friday before the show with heavy rain greeting fans on Market Street for the concert’s 6:30 start. But, by the time Machine Head took the stage at 9:30 pm, The Warfield was at capacity and the crowd had swelled and pushed forward so that the temperature seemed to rise 30 degrees up front. A handful of those who’d been up front for three hours were forced to seek relief over the barricades.
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| Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Robb Flynn walked onto the stage beaming with joy and confidence as he was met with a deafening chant of “Machine – Fu#*ing – Head” from the crowd – echoing the sentiment of the graphic behind him. Flynn, the lasting original member of the band he started in 1991, was joined by bassist Jared MacEachern, guitarist Waclaw “Vogg” Kletyka and drummer Matt Alston in creating the band’s unique blend of metal genres – that flows seamlessly from the heavy sounds of Slayer and Metallica to the harmonic tones of Iron Maiden to the deep intertwining melodies of Avenged Sevenfold.
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| Machine Head's Rob Flynn @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Beginning with “Imperium” off 2003’s Through the Ashes of Empires and “Ten Ton Hammer” from 1997’s The More Things Change…, Flynn led his band and the audience on a journey back and forth across the decades of Machine Head’s catalog. From the opening song, Flynn was locked in with the audience. Though the band is promoting their Nuclear Blast 2022 conceptual album Of Kingdom and Crown on their 29-date North American tour and titled the tour off the song’s opening song, they played only three songs from the new release. The first came with “Choke on the Ashes of your Hate “- a song that deftly delivered changes of pace fueled by MacEachern and Alston’s driving rhythms going up and down in tempo and Kletyka and Flynn’s lightning-quick guitars.
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| Matt Alston of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Flynn dedicated 2007’s “Aesthetics of Hate” to the late Dimebag Darrell of Pantera as the audience sang along and Flynn encouraged the audience to “get the f#*k up!” A smattering of crowd surfers came over the barricade from the packed crowd on the floor. Kletyka unleashed a searing solo as the song reached a finish that was reinforced by an intense fire graphic behind the band. “Old” off the debut 1994 album Burn My Eyes followed with a beautiful dual guitar intro and Flynn howling and encouraging the crowd to “Howl at the Moon”. The song demonstrated Flynn’s huge charisma and wide range of singing with him releasing a terrific falsetto that stood out as a momentary musical oasis on a night filled mostly with lower, deeper barked out vocals.
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| Crowd surfers & Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Flynn had a legitimate connection with the crowd that leaned toward friendship and though the audience was filled with many people not born when Machine Head’s journey began, the concert had the vibe of a block party. “No Gods, No Masters” - the second song off their latest release saw Flynn leading the audience in the chorus with the deft hand of a conductor with his home orchestra – a skill he brought forth throughout the night. There was no pandering or posturing to the crowd, but rather a legitimate connection.
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| Rob Flynn of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Slaughter The Martyr” off the new album demonstrated the depth and complexity of Flynn’s vocals and the band’s pace. The song began with an extended high note intro of soaring vocals and guitars before Alston’s machine gun drumming pushed the song into pounding thrash metal before it builds to a harmonic crescendo of layered guitars and vocals. The song serves as a great example for younger bands of how adding depth and change of pace to metal music can keep it fresh and interesting and avoid the pitfall of undifferentiated growls and guitars.
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| Jared MacEachern of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
After a brief break, Flynn returned alone to the stage with an acoustic guitar resting over his traditional electric. He allowed himself to get nostalgic as he shared some of his local journey with the audience. “This is opening night in our hometown. Thank you for making it so special. I’ve got my 87-year-old dad here and my 19- and 17-year-old kids here in the circle pit,” Flynn shared asking for the balcony lights to be brought up so he could see his father.
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| Rob Flynn of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“I started playing thrash metal when I was 17 years and to have my 87-year-old dad here and my 19-year-old son in the pit tonight blows my mind,” he continued. “This is a very special place for us. My very first show that I ever saw at The Warfield was Mercyful Fate, Motorhead and Exciter. That shit changed my life. And when my friend and I came home, we said we are starting a band and we’re going to play faster, heavier and more brutal than anyone else… I saw Nirvana on the Nevermind Tour here, Pearl Jam…Slayer here seven times.”
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| Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“I wanna’ give my dad a shoutout here because my dad is the guy who used to drive me to see Metallica at the Keystone Berkeley back when I couldn’t even drive. He’d drop my ass off and pick me up at 10:30 because he had to work the next day.”
With that Flynn delivered a beautiful version of “Darkness Within” from 2011’s Unto the Locust that began with Flynn playing and singing the arresting song solo before the rest of the band joined him for a heavy finish. The intro and song were the highlight of the night that perfectly captured the warmth, complexity and power of the night.
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| Rob Flynn of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The band roared the main set to a close with “Now We Die” from 2014’s Bloodstone & Diamonds into 1999’s “From This Day” and wrapped it up with an incredible hard and fast “Davidian” from the 1994 debut album Burn My Eyes with departed drummer Chris Kontos taking the stool for a song that could take a Bay Area Thrash Metal long-timer back to the decades-old days of Berkeley’s famed Ruthie’s Inn. Flynn returned to the stage to introduce and thank the opening bands before leading Machine Head and the crowd into a triumphant encore of 2007’s genre-bending “Halo.”
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| Waclaw “Vogg” Kletyka of Machine Head @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
While Machine Head definitely held the night’s throne, the crowd was also incredibly appreciative for the opening acts. Gates To Hell from Louisville, Kentucky took the opening slot. Though one might not think of Kentucky as a thrash hot bed, the band delivered a hard and fast set that packed a punch as lead singer Ryan Storey prowled the stage.
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| Gates to Hell @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Sweden’s Orbit Culture brought impressive headliner vibes to the second spot of the evening. Leveraging strong lighting and steam effects to support their sound, the band’s growth from their last San Francisco appearance in May 2023 opening for Avatar was very apparent. While the band is a decade old, their current lineup of founding singer Niklas Karlsson, guitarist Richard Hansson, Fredrik Lennartsson on bass and drummer Christopher Wallerstedt that was stabilized in 2019 seems to be coming into a post-pandemic sweet spot. They captivated the early-arriving audience with an impressive set that no doubt is a harbinger of bigger things to come.
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| Orbit Culture @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Fear Factory, a band that traces back to 1989 delivered a terrific set just before the headliners. The band, whose unique, influential-sound can be heard under bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit can’t be put into one box and could just as easily open for Nine Inch Nails as Machine Head. You can check out the band’s website bio for the winding and complicated history that explains how one of the most important bands of the 90’s ended up landing on its feet at The Warfield on Friday. While that story reads as much like a soap opera as it does rock ‘n’ roll, their set was packed with energy and joy delivered from returning founder, guitarist Dino Cazares, bassist Tony Campos, drummer Pete Webber and vocalist Milo Silvestro.
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| Fear Factory @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
While there is no doubt that Cazares is the driving force with his six-string, Silvestro was the energizer of the evening and did a terrific job of delivering fresh takes on some of the older songs. The band blasted into 2024 with Webber’s double bass, rapid-fire drums propelling a fast and heavy “Demanufacture” off the same-named 1995 LP. Their 9-song set careened through their catalog from albums like Obsolete, Linchpin and Aggression Continuum. Strangely, the band did not play any songs off their two most recent albums – 2022’s Recoded and Re-Industrialized from 2023. They finished their set back where it began with the first song from their first album – “Martyr”.
Four and a half hours after it began, Machine Head’s homecoming tour launch ended with the band gathered on stage for photos, as much of the audience stayed to serve as the background. “You are some bad motherfu#*ers San Francisco!” Flynn told the crowd before the band posed with hundreds of raised devil horn hands behind them.
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