Along
with their chaotic metal style, The Dillinger Escape Plan's reckless tendencies have notoriously transferred into their live performance, with
plenty of shows being accurately described as "batshit insane." With their current tour being their last one before their impending breakup, it's no surprise that Dillinger have already made headlines with their show antics when frontman Greg Puciato
jumped from the 2nd-floor balcony into the crowd below at the band's NYC show last weekend, doubly making it a must-see tour to witness their outlandish displays one last time.
Whether scaring himself straight with that stunt, or being urged by all his loved ones to not try that shit again, Puciato didn't leap from any daring heights at the House of Blues last night, but Dillinger still put on a remarkable performance for their last trek through Cleveland. Particularly, lead guitarist Ben Weinman exuded with enough energy for the entire band, and being armed with a wireless guitar system, he used his cordless freedom to the fullest extent while performing: gracefully pirouetting between other band members, jumping atop speakers, diving into the crowd during "Panasonic Youth," and even
dangling upside-down from the balcony rafters while continuing to play "Room Full of Eyes." Erratic movement alone wasn't the only thing Weinman had to boast, and from his machine-like execution of frenetic riffs in "When I Lost My Bet" and "Sugar Coated Sour," to improvised solos in "Milk Lizard," his guitar skills dazzle onstage as much—if not more—as they do on the records.
On Puc
iato's end, his voice got to travel the whole spectrum of modes throughout the set, ranging from his throat-shredding screams in "Hero of the Soviet Union" and "Farewell, Mona Lisa," to crooning falsetto in "One of Us is the Killer" and "Black Bubblegum." And with the setlist containing plenty of songs from their latest and final album, Dissociation, Puciato's singing about the looming end of things was preacher to the choir for the last live experience shared between the band and the Cleveland crowd: playing call-and-respond with the final hook in "Limerent Death," sullenly mourning these last moments in "Symptom of Terminal Illness," and angrily spitting about finding a way to move on in "Surrogate." Come the encore, Dillinger made one last appeal to singing goodbye in the throwback ballad of "Mouth of Ghosts," then closing things out with a bang in the classic staples of "Sunshine the Werewolf" and "43% Burnt." At the end of it all, Puciato leapt into the crowd for one last intimate moment with the Dillinger fans of Cleveland, making for a heartfelt (and sweaty) farewell.
