Hella is a band whose music must be seen live in order to fully appreciate the intricacies of their sound.  Truthfully, I had been skeptical of Hella's ability to successfully perform their recorded material. I'm glad to say I was wrong. The manic drumming of Zach Hill is mind blowing. Not only does he maintain wonderfully fast and intricate beats, he does it without the aide of a double-bass pedal. Is Zach Hill a robot? I think so.

Aside from amazing drumming, Hella offered up a plethora of sounds for the ear to digest. Some might argue that Hella's sound is overly cluttered and technical and can detract from the overall quality of their performance. However, to Hella's defense, there's no slop in their jumbled sound, each layer offering its own quirky goodness.

The enchanted guitar of Spencer Seim spewed out precise, mathy riffs while Claypool inspired bass and precise vocals added positively to the mix. Despite their hyper and complicated style, Hella managed to conjure an inspired, technical performance.

Opening for Hella was Nakatomi Plaza, and Who's Your Favorite Son God.  Nakatomi Plaza pounded out a great performance, presenting an interesting blend of emotionally driven prog-punk. Both male and female vocals lent a trippy air to their performance, sometimes reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane, straying away from the safe confines of post-punk and into something altogether more interesting.

Who's Your Favorite Son God took the stage after a long, seemingly arbitrary wait, though they had been ready to play much earlier. Nevertheless, when the band finally took the stage, their highly technical sound was marred by the awfully screechy lyrics of their drummer/lead vocalist. Despite flunking vocals, the band as a whole performed rather well, setting the stage for an amazing performance by the true stars of the night, Hella.