Mastodon / The Poisonous Weapons Tour / Stage AE / Pittsburgh / 9.19.2026
Mastodon just kicked off The Poisonous Weapons tour in support of their new album Marrow Deep. Pittsburgh’s was the third stop, and here’s my recap.
1. Let’s just start with the Mastodon in the room
I’ve been to over 15 Mastodon shows since the Blood Mountain era. I knew, even then, that something had changed for them. What that was, was Brent Hinds hitting his creative stride, one that would run pretty hard for the next 8 years. Brent was always a guy who made it feel crazy and dangerous. You knew he had that evil-genius thing that we see so often in rock ’n’ roll. I would literally never stand anywhere else besides stage right to see Mastodon. I truly don’t know what it looks like from any other vantage point. Tonight was the first time I would see them without Brent. Gonna be real honest: It was very strange and felt substantially different. I don’t think there’s any way to sugarcoat that or make it seem easy to swallow. And that’s OK. It’s not easy. Nothing Mastodon has been through over the last couple of years has been easy, and yet here they are, out the other side of all this turmoil and loss with a new album, and they’re still powerful. It will never be the same without Brent. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fucking awesome still.
2. John Baizley
I often wondered how they would handle playing Brent’s songs, even after he quit. I know for the most part they just avoided them, and they have a deep enough catalog to get around that if they need to. However, the choice to enlist John Baizley from Baroness to help handle Hinds’ vocal duties was the best possible move they could have made. Baroness and Mastodon have toured together several times in the past, and there’s a lot of crossover between those fan bases. To me, this was the perfect person to have handle the honor.
3. Ate the Bone and Marrow
I thought the set choice for the tour thus far has been pretty good, and Pittsburgh was no different. The band is going to keep moving forward, and if you’re going to be a band who does that, I always think playing your newest release heavily live in support of it needs to happen. They gave us five songs off the new album this night. No other album in the catalog had more than two songs played. Don’t worry about people just hoping you play something they know from 20 years ago. Play that new album. Heavily.
4. Technically sound
There is zero drop-off in guitar-playing ability from Nick Johnston. Mastodon is a pretty technical band, and if you closed your eyes, I don’t think you could sonically tell any difference. Bill and Nick doing the signature side-by-side duel, ending with a kick that I’d seen Bill and Brent do many times, made me smile.
5. Three voices in my head
Having Baizley tonight was emotionally perfect, but it also made me realize the value three voices brings to this band. Baizley’s style is a different voice than Brent’s, and it gave me perspective that another voice could actually be a push into a new era for them. I would love it if John was asked to be a bigger player than just a touring performer after this. But even if he doesn’t, there could be a third voice out there somewhere.
