Mastodon
Friday, October 16, 2026
West Des Moines, IA
Val Air Ballroom

Lineage: Internal mics>Tascam DR-05 version 2, set at 24-bit/44.1 khz>WAV>Audacity for track splits>TLH to encode files to FLAC level 8

Barbarian's Blood
March of the Fire Ants
Crystal Skull
Black Tongue
Megalodon
Banter
In the Ruins
Your Ghost Again
More Than I Could Chew
Mother Puncher
Steambreather
Poisonous Weapons
Snakes For Dinner
Curl of the Burl
Oblivion
The Czar
Sultan's Curse
Colony of Birchmen
Band introductions
Blood and Thunder
Brann Dailor outro

When the departure of Brent Hinds was announced in 2025, I wasn't sure if I would see the band again. They have been doing songs this tour and the last tour that I have never seen and wanted to (the venue nearly came unglued when Oblivion started). I am glad I saw this tour at least once, for I may not see the band after this. Don't take this as a criticism; this show was so good and covered pretty much anything else I would want to see Mastodon do that I am not sure I want to spend the money going out of town to see them again. If they came to my city I would likely bite, but they haven't been here since 2023. For the show, I ended up about 25 feet or so back from the stage right PA speakers. I arrived right as Alcest was ending and I am sorry I missed them. Deafheaven, on the other hand, did little to nothing for me (they were good at what they do and packed a ton of energy but it isn't my flavor). I didn't do any EQ work here because what is here seems to accurately reflect the sound in the place that night. I was surprised that the bass drum wasn't taking up all of the low end space. If you are going to downsample and burn to CD I would suggest starting disc 2 with Poisonous Weapons.