The Lodge Room hosted a two-day Halloween Freakout with performances by No Age, Acid Tongue, Melvins, and many more. The second night of Freakout Fest’s Halloween Freakout series was headlined by none other than the legendary Melvins and incredible performances kicking off the Halloween festivities.
On Saturday, Oct. 29, four high energy bands took the stage at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles, California to lift the spirits just in time for Halloween. The completely sold-out venue was filled with a crowd ready to kick-off the Halloween weekend celebrations enjoying drinks, showing off their costumes and jamming out to some killer music.
The night was opened by El Shirota, who are currently on their U.S. tour. Margaritas Podridas followed with a high energy performance with heavy distorted guitars and major head bangs. The Mexican noise rock band stunned the crowd with a smacking wave of electrifying energy and left many in awe as the lead singer began to play her guitar bent over backwards without missing a single note.
The Halloween Freakout’s Night 2 continued with punk rock band Mala Suerte. Straight from Mexico City, the band brought their explosive energy on stage and into the crowd. Mid-set the crowd went wild as Jasmina Hirschl took the microphone into the crowd and sang along with fans inside the mosh pit. The crowd continued with the thrilling mosh pits for the rest of Mala Suerte’s set.
The venue’s energy skyrocketed as the Melvins made their way on stage. Everyone inside the venue gathered, including performers and backstage crew as the grunge gods opened with “Sacrifice.” The legends performed for over an hour, though time flew as they entertained the crowd with their jam-based spontaneous performance.
Of course it would not be a Melvins performance without Dale Crover showing off a bit of his supernatural drum skills. The crowd was blown away as the Melvins went straight from “It’s Shoved” to “Anaconda” for a brief moment bassist Steven Shane McDonald also lost his mind mouthing the words “what the fuck” with startled eyes as he tried to keep up with Buzz Osborne.
The Melvins momentarily slowed things down during “Lizzy” and gave the crowd a moment to take everything in, though the break didn’t last long. Things quickly sped back up as the and performed “Charlie” with McDonald behind the microphone.
A memorable moment occurred during the Melvin’s performance of “The Bit” as the band turned the name into reality. Crover and McDonald performed a bit on stage as Osborne performed the opening riffs of the song. Crover appeared to choke McDonald with his drumstick, McDonald fought back by shoving the head of his bass guitar into Crovers mouth. However, Crover triumphed as he ultimately stabbed McDonald with a drumstick.
Performing over 15 songs and over an hour-long show, the Melvins continue to be a must watch live band. They truly know how to put on a show, never putting on the same performance twice. The Melvins closes out their year of touring with their grand finale at the Halloween Freakout in LA.