LIVE: CROWBAR & EYEHATEGOD – Tampa, FL, USA – August 8, 2025

Venue: The Brass Mug

City: Tampa, FL

Date: August 8, 2025

Review and Photographs by: James Zambon (https://jameszambon.com)

Man, photographing Crowbar and Eyehategod at The Brass Mug in Tampa felt like a dive-bar time machine back to my New Orleans days—cheap beer, raging crowds, deafening riffs… This show had sold out days in advance. When I got there at door opening, parking was already a bit of a dumpster-fire adventure (I literally parked behind a dumpster that thankfully wasn’t a tow‑away zone). As I’m walking up, I’m reminiscing about seeing these guys play at dive bars with my brother decades ago (and also more recently too, but nostalgia set in), and I’m primed for a night of sludge-metal that should requalify The Brass Mug to earn its dive-bar card for the year. Cold Steel kicked things off with a groove that locked things in tight—just the right amount of angst and power to remind the crowd why they’re here. Definitely looking to catch these guys again. Swamp Tooth followed, and they ramped it up even further with a solid performance that checked all the boxes for setting the tone.

Then Crowbar hit—absolutely raging with some of my favorites like “High Rate Extinction,” “Like Broken Glass,” and wrapping with “All I Had (I Gave).” It had that familiar slow‑crush vibe I’ll never tire of—managing to sound massive while Kirk stayed seated thanks to a cranky back (huge respect!)—yet the riffs and vocals still bulldozed through, heavy as ever. Eyehategod closed out the night with that signature wall of grime and feedback they’ve perfected over the years. Mike’s vocals were as gnarly and unrelenting as ever, and the band hit hard right out of the gate. The crowd was fully locked in—headbanging, moshing, stagediving, shouting along. Songs like “Jack Ass in the Will of God” and “Lack of Almost Everything” hit with full force. It was raw, loud, and exactly what we all came for. Watching both those NOLA legends on a steamy Tampa night, fueled by nostalgia from my younger dive‑bar escapades. This was a night that didn’t just deliver—it threw me right back into the sweaty, cheap beer, dive‑bar chaos of my youth. Crowbar and Eyehategod’s stage presence, and the unrelenting power of their songs set off a harmonic energy with the crowd that amplified as the night went on.

CROWBAR SETLIST: Conquering – High Rate Extinction – The Lasting Dose – I Feel the Burning Sun – Chemical Godz – To Build a Mountain – The Cemetery Angels – To Carry the Load – Bleeding From Every Hole – Planets Collide – Like Broken Glass – All I Had (I Gave)

[Show as slideshow]

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Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries