Helmet at the Casbah

Round 2 of Helmet was held at the Casbah in San Diego. The first round of Helmet consisted of a sharp jab to the face. The second round of Helmet was a body blow. San Diego represented well as the place was 75% full when Totimoshi hit the stage. Since the Casbah is a small club/bar, Totimoshi seemed a bit more relaxed and in their element. They played a solid set and the sound was mixed well. Meg Castellanos was using a Big Muff Distortion Pedal, and a Boss Super Phaser to augment her sweet Rickenbacker bass that I had mentioned in the previous review. I will go thru Tony's guitar setup when I go to the Troubadour shows. The Casbah was packed when Helmet hit the stage and started off with a blistering rendition of "Give It". I have to admit I cheated and looked at the setlist prior to the show and was stoked to find "I Know" as that is one of my favorite songs. They added "Wilma's Rainbow", "Blacktop", "Unsung", and "In the Meantime" as well to the setlist. Page had a bit of extra fire tonight and was really belting it out on the vocals. I was on the side of the stage and the volume was killer. I managed to check out Jimmy Thompson's guitar setup as he was using an ESP guitar with a VHT head/cab. His pedals include a Line 6 Modulation pedal, MXR Custom Audio Electronics Boost, and a Line 6 Delay pedal. He used the MXR pedal for the feedback opening of "Enemies". The crowd erupted into a pit during "Milquetoast" and was moshing afterwards throughout the night. The rendition of "Milquetoast" had an extended outro as they kept crushing the closing riff. Kyle Stevenson's drumming was impressive as he pounded the skins all night. Overall an excellent show with the only complaint being I have to wait two weeks till I see them again.