Have you ever been in a sauna? Ever gone in fully clothed, and people follow you around with hair dryers, the only heat relief coming from the gust of someone whipping you rapidly in the face with their own hair? That, my friends, is kind of like seeing Machine Head in the Liquid Rooms.
Hostile (★★★★) played a solid warm up set – being one of the few bands to pull off a track that chants ‘We don’t give a fuck’ without sounding lousy, which is saying something. Fast, ferocious, definitely one of the best openers you’ve seen in a long time.
However – and it’s a big whopper of a however – there was Machine Head (★★★★★). Machine. Fucking. Head. In a little club. It’s unheard of here, it’s mental, and frankly – unless they supported themselves, few were likely to hold a candle to their performance.
Imperium, Locust, The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears – it’s the kind of show that saw everyone lose their shit, with the latter setlist addition being the tipping point in a number of people throwing their phones and wallets at partners and running (all of three feet) into the floor-consuming pit.
Then came Robb’s speech before Darkness Within, one of many interludes on which he asked why it had taken them so long to get to Edinburgh, and it was one of those things that any music fan will connect to. “Some people in the world don’t care about music,” he muses. When you’re at a show like this, it’s easy to question: how? HOW?
Killers & Kings, Davidian, Aesthetics of Hate, Halo – jesus, it’s a flawless set. Robb’s his usual commanding self, and it’s not until you’re so close to Phil that you see he’s actually quite jolly as well as a real showman. Dave keeps a tight ship on drums, and Jared is a more than welcome addition, bringing a real energy that stage left seemed to lack.
You might be soaked through when you leave, you might have a few injuries, but what you will have under your belt is one of those shows you’ll likely never forget. You know how Robb spoke about how important music is, and how he couldn’t live without it? As a fan, this tour has produced shows that are the active reminders on how exciting music can be; they have that spark that will remind you, should you have forgotten even momentarily, how fucking awesome it is to love music, and more particularly, Machine Head.
There was no frills, no fancy effects, just Machine Head doing what they do best, and it was the best show of the year by a mile.
Indulge-Sound .com 
Thanks for writing this. I desperately tried to get tickets but they sold out too quickly. I love small venues and all the best gigs happen in places like them. As a kid I used to frequent The Barras, The Cas Rock, The Subway (original) and the like and I remember them all.
It seems that these days gigs are more about stupidly expensive tickets, huge venues and little crowd interaction and that’s a shame. MH have proven that love for live music still exists, we just tend to keep quiet about it.
Good job MH and I will hopefully see them soon.