Can't honestly say how disappointing this gig was.
For a start, totally oversold. I realise it was moved to a smaller venue at the last minute, but there are limits to what the place can hold. I didn't pay the guts of twenty quid to stand in the hall. i can do that at home.
Secondly, too many half-wits in the crowd. A bunch of dirty feckers puking and pissing around them in the pit. Not a good atmosphere.
Thirdly, Borderline awful sound. it was quite hard to tell if the sound in the Toilets was very good, or the sound everywhere else was awful. Certainly, there was no marked improvement in sound no matter where in the building you tried to go. Very odd, because this (the spring and Airbrake) is a venue known for having great sound. I know when I saw Rodrigo y Gabriella and The Supersuckers there, the sound was pinpoint, to say nothing of the countless local acts I've saw there. Maybe the regular soundman was ill
Also, small points which others may not have found as annoying as me. Having to get an armband to buy drink (it was an all ages show) in a club attached to what's pretty much my local wasn't appreciated at all by most of my crowd. The total blanket ban on smoking that was only announced on the door was also unwelcome.
To sum up then, Mastodon actually played fabulously well, but the gig suffered from piss-poor managment, bad sound, naked greed on the part of the promoters and an audience of oversouped teenage monkeys that should have been at home with their mothers (no offence to teenagers here present. I'm sure none of you guys would puke your Smirnoff ice over a moshpit). I'd go see mastodon again, but it'll be a long time before I go to a gig in the Spring and Airbrake again.