Mastodon Turns The Anthem Into a Metal Cathedral With Deafheaven and Alcest
Words and Photos by Michael Sprouse/Odd Rocker Photography
Washington, DC, has no shortage of heavy music, but every now and then, a show comes along that feels built for The Anthem. Mastodon brought exactly that kind of night to The Wharf on Sept. 25.
Mastodon, Deafheaven, and Alcest approach heavy music from very different directions, but all three share a willingness to push at its boundaries.
For a concert photographer, that is a pretty good recipe, too: three bands, three visual languages, and plenty of movement, texture, and light to chase from the pit.
The Anthem has hosted its share of heavy shows, but this one had a particular sense of scale. It wasn’t simply about turning things up. It was about giving three distinct bands room to demonstrate just how many forms heavy music can take.
French post-metal band Alcest opened the evening with something atmospheric and almost dreamlike. Deafheaven followed with a darker, more volatile performance. Then Mastodon came out and hit the audience with the full force of a band that has spent more than two decades making heavy music sound enormous.
That made the bill especially interesting.
Alcest started the show with “Protection,” and it didn’t take long for the audience to realize this wasn’t going to be the usual warm-up set.
The band’s music has a way of hanging in the air. Even when the guitars get heavy, there is a dreamlike quality underneath it all. “Sapphire” and “Écailles de Lune – Part 2” built that atmosphere slowly, while “Eclosion” steered the set toward something darker and more immersive. Then came “Kodama.”
Watch Alcest perform “Kodama” live at Playtime Festival on YouTube:
Five songs may not sound like much, but Alcest made the most of its time. The set felt less like an introduction and more like the opening chapter of a larger story. It was atmospheric without becoming sleepy, and heavy without relying on sheer volume.
That made the transition to Deafheaven feel almost natural. Almost.
Deafheaven arrived with a much sharper edge.
The set began with “Incidental I” before moving into “Doberman” and “Magnolia.” Deafheaven’s sound has always existed somewhere between beauty and abrasion, and live, that contrast becomes even more pronounced.
Then came “Incidental II,” followed by “Revelator.”
There is a push and pull to Deafheaven that makes the songs work. You get atmosphere, then tension, then a release that can feel like somebody kicked open a door. “Dream House” was the obvious centerpiece, stretching the emotional range of the performance before “Winona” brought the set to a close.
By then, The Anthem had experienced two very different versions of heaviness. Neither band needed to bludgeon the audience into submission. Instead, they built tension and let the music do the heavy lifting.
Watch Deafheaven perform “Winona” live on KEXP via YouTube:
Then it was time for Mastodon to storm The Anthem’s stage.
Bassist and singer Troy Sanders, drummer Brann Dailor, guitarist Bill Kelliher, and the late guitarist Brent Hinds formed Mastodon in Atlanta in 2000, with debut album Remission following in 2002.
Now touring in support of its latest album, Marrow Deep, Mastodon’s current lineup includes guitarist Nick Johnston and keyboardist João Nogueira alongside Sanders, Dailor, and Kelliher. For the Poisonous Weapons Tour, the band also invited Baroness frontman John Dyer Baizley to join it for a special selection of songs. At The Anthem, Baizley appeared on vocals and guitar for the final seven songs, beginning with “Snakes for Dinner.”
From the opening notes of “Barbarians Blood,” it was obvious Mastodon had other plans for the room.
Mastodon has always had a peculiar talent for making complicated music feel physical. There is plenty going on in these songs, but the riffs still land squarely in the gut. The band followed with “March of the Fire Ants” and “Crystal Skull,” immediately showing just how broad the set was going to be.
“Black Tongue” and “Megalodon” kept the pressure building, followed by “In the Ruins” and “Your Ghost Again,” before “More Than I Could Chew” pushed the performance into another gear. Mastodon’s catalog can move from sludge to prog to hard rock without stopping, and this set made that range abundantly clear.
And here’s the thing about photographing Mastodon: There is rarely a shortage of something worth watching.
Bass lines roll through the room while the guitars stack one riff on top of another. Vocals snarl out over the crowd. And Dailor works behind the drums like the kit owes him money.
That’s the fun of it.
The middle of the set hit especially hard with “Mother Puncher,” “Steambreather,” “Poisonous Weapons,” and “Snakes for Dinner.”
There was no sense that Mastodon was saving the good stuff for later. The band kept moving through different eras and textures, allowing each song to bring its own particular weight.
“Curl of the Burl” gave the crowd another instantly recognizable groove before “Oblivion” opened up one of the evening’s more expansive moments.
That song has always had a strange quality to it. It is catchy without losing its heaviness, and melodic without becoming soft. In a live room, those contrasts become even more obvious.
Watch the official visualizer for “Oblivion” by Mastodon on YouTube:
Then came “The Czar.”
This was where the evening really stretched its legs. Mastodon can be dense, but its best moments aren’t about showing how much the band can cram into a song. They are about building something that keeps growing until the payoff feels inevitable.
“Sultan’s Curse” followed and brought the hammer back down.
The final two songs of the night were “Colony of Birchmen” and “Blood and Thunder,” a formidable one-two punch that sent the show into its final stretch with plenty of muscle and turned the room into one last massive surge of sound.
It was the sort of ending that leaves your ears ringing before you’ve even made it back outside.
What stood out most about the night was how naturally these three bands fit together.
Alcest opened the door with atmosphere. Deafheaven pushed through it with intensity. Mastodon kicked the hinges off.
Walking into the show, you knew you were getting three heavy bands. What you didn’t necessarily know was how different that heaviness could feel from one set to the next.
That was what lingered after the final blast: not one particular style of metal, but three bands showing just how much territory the word can cover.
Alcest setlist
1. “Protection”
2. “Sapphire”
3. “Écailles de Lune – Part 2”
4. “Eclosion”
5. “Kodama”
Deafheaven setlist
1. “Incidental I”
2. “Doberman”
3. “Magnolia”
4. “Incidental II”
5. “Revelator”
6. “Dream House”
7. “Winona”
Mastodon setlist
1. “Barbarians Blood”
2. “March of the Fire Ants”
3. “Crystal Skull”
4. “Black Tongue”
5. “Megalodon”
6. “In the Ruins”
7. “Your Ghost Again”
8. “More Than I Could Chew”
9. “Mother Puncher”
10. “Steambreather”
11. “Poisonous Weapons”
12. “Snakes for Dinner”
13. “Curl of the Burl”
14. “Oblivion”
15. “The Czar”
16. “Sultan’s Curse”
17. “Colony of Birchmen”
18. “Blood and Thunder”
Here are some photos of Mastodon performing live at The Anthem on Sept. 25, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
Here are some photos of Deafheaven performing live at The Anthem on Sept. 25, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse.
Here are some photos of Alcest performing live at The Anthem on Sept. 25, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse.
