Meshuggah

Meshuggah is a Swedish extreme/groove/ metal band that goes back as far as the late 80s. Their name actually is Yiddish for the word crazy. 

Koloss, nothing, Obzen, and violent sleep of reason are my consistently-favorite albums of theirs. 

Koloss link: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQ4xKCmH5I&pp=0gcJCYsCo7VqN5tD&ra=m

obZen link: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fTTmwpN52Rg

Nothing link: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=umWGqu2rHR8&ra=m

Violent sleep of reason link: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Va4wl9jBaDE&ra=m

I saw Meshuggah on June 28, 2017 at the Portsmouth Pavillion for their “Violent sleep of reason” tour. It was phenomenal. This was the only Meshuggah concert I’ve been to, but I know John went to at LEAST 2 (the one I remember was 2022).

Meshuggah opened for M​egadeath. We met John’s friend Josh before the concert at Nans. David and I drove separately to meet them there. 

I found Megadeath quite obnoxious, like voivod. I just stood there dazed and confused watching some shriveled up crackheads with expensive guitars going crazy on stage…However, paying for tickets just to see the opening bands and not giving a rip about the headliners was pretty common for us. 

They’re the only band I’ve seen use the blocks for propping up your leg while playing guitar or base (like a mini staircase of 2 stairs), so I always tell David, “if Meshuggah can use them, so can I. Who cares how it looks if you get the notes right.” 

Ticket stub(s)

Their setlist for the show:

My pics from the show. I did have several videos but can’t upload here.

John’s tshirts 

The first time I met John, he was wearing their Koloss tee.

Mine & David’s tshirts/ shorts 2017

John’s vinyl records 

“Nothing” orange/ burnt red vinyl 

“Koloss” white/ grey/ blue swirl vinyl

“Catch thirty-three” translucent brown with black swirl 

“Chaosphere” translucent green/black splatter 

“Obzen” light/ dark pink pour 2023 release on vinyl 

Merch in the wild: 

 John’s battlevest patch 

My Bumper sticker 

John’s black Obzen beanie 

Pic courtesy of John’s friends. 

What came first—Meshuggah’s clothing style or the 21st century mailman look? Our mailman always wore cargo shorts and a plain black tee, so on a whim I asked him if he liked Meshuggah. He said “yeah how’d you know that?” Eh, lucky guess that’s all.