The Buckhead Theatre provided the perfect contrast for an evening of sonic chaos on Friday night as Tomahawk and the Melvins brought their A Huge Waste Of Your Time And Money 2026 US Tour to Atlanta, Georgia. Built in 1930 in an elegant Spanish baroque style, the historic 1,800-capacity venue paired its ornate architecture and glowing chandeliers with an atmosphere primed for something far less refined. Beneath the theater’s old-world grandeur, a tightly packed general admission floor and intimate balcony created an ideal environment for two bands whose music thrives on crushing volume, jagged unpredictability, and uncompromising intensity. With excellent sightlines and virtually no separation between performers and audience, I expected the Buckhead Theatre to once again prove that even its stately surroundings could barely contain the beautifully controlled madness that would unfold onstage throughout the night.
The Melvins have never relied on speed to command a room, and that deliberate approach made their opening set feel all the more imposing. Kicking off their evening just past 7:30 p.m. with “Working the Ditch,” Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, Steven Shane McDonald, and Coady Willis immediately transformed the theater into a slow-moving avalanche of distortion, where every downbeat carried the weight of a wrecking ball. The band’s dual-drum assault gave familiar material an even greater sense of depth, allowing songs like “A History of Bad Men” and “Honey Bucket” to breathe before crashing down with immense force. Rather than overwhelming the Atlanta audience through sheer speed, the Melvins built tension one punishing riff at a time, proving once again that few bands can make heaviness feel so hypnotic.
What separated the performance from a typical sludge-metal set was the band’s unwavering confidence in restraint. Osborne’s unmistakable guitar tone buzzed and snarled through every corner of the venue, while Crover and Willis locked together with remarkable precision, creating grooves that felt as physical as they were musical. Throughout the band’s 12-song, hour-long set, each delivery landed with sledgehammer authority, and the capacity crowd responded with knowing smiles, relentless headbanging, and fists thrust into the air, mirroring the controlled chaos unfolding onstage. There was no unnecessary banter or flashy theatrics – it was just four musicians completely immersed in their craft, delivering a performance that was equal parts mesmerizing and strangely addictive. By the time the final notes of fan favorite “Night Goat” faded, the Melvins had accomplished exactly what an opening act should: they left the audience sonically leveled while raising the bar for everything that would follow.
Melvins
Buzz Osborne — Guitars, lead vocals
Dale Crover — Drums, percussion, backing vocals
Steven Shane McDonald — Bass, backing vocals
Coady Willis — Drums, backing vocals
Setlist:
1.) Working the Ditch
2.) Never Say You’re Sorry
3.) Sway (The Rolling Stones cover)
4.) Evil New War God
5.) Civilized Worm
6.) It’s Shoved
7.) A History of Bad Men
8.) The Bit
9.) Blood Witch
10.) Hag Me
11.) Honey Bucket
12.) Night Goat
For those in the know, it goes without saying that Tomahawk has always occupied a lane entirely its own, blending alternative metal, noise rock, and experimental textures into something that feels equal parts calculated and unhinged. That identity was on full display beginning at 9:00 p.m., when Mike Patton, Duane Denison, John Stanier, and Trevor Dunn took the stage with complete command of the room. Opening with “Flashback,” the quartet established an immediate sense of managed tension before shifting seamlessly into “SHHH!” and “Predators and Scavengers,” where Denison’s razor-sharp guitar work intertwined with Stanier’s machine-like precision behind the kit. Rather than relying on spectacle, Tomahawk let the music dictate the experience, building an atmosphere that was both unsettling and impossible to ignore.
Patton, best known as the lead vocalist of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, was the undeniable focal point, effortlessly shifting from restrained melodies to manic vocal eruptions that seemed to materialize from nowhere. His charisma never felt rehearsed; every stare and sly grin only amplified the unpredictability that has defined Tomahawk since its inception. Songs such as “Business Casual,” “Doomsday Fatigue,” and “Capt. Midnight” showcased the band’s remarkable ability to pivot between angular grooves, crushing riffs, and eerie atmospherics without sacrificing momentum. Dunn’s elastic bass lines filled every pocket in the mix, while Stanier’s relentless drumming anchored even the most unconventional rhythmic detours.
As the main set barreled toward its conclusion, tracks like “Mayday” and “Point and Click” drove home why Tomahawk remains one of heavy music’s most distinctive live acts. The performance never chased easy crowd participation or predictable peaks; instead, it rewarded attentive listeners with layer upon layer of nuance hidden beneath its crushing exterior. Beyond the four-song encore, which began with the ever-popular “God Hates a Coward,” every track performed Friday felt meticulously constructed yet dangerously alive, as though it could veer off the rails at any moment before snapping perfectly back into place. By the final note of “Totem,” Tomahawk hadn’t simply delivered a concert – they had transformed the sold-out Buckhead Theatre into a laboratory of calculated mayhem, leaving Atlanta with a reminder that few bands can make precision feel this volatile or experimentation sound this exhilarating.
The A Huge Waste Of Your Time And Money Tour rolls on for several more weeks before concluding with back-to-back performances at The Belasco in Los Angeles, California, on August 15 and 16.
Tomahawk
Mike Patton — Lead vocals, keyboards and samples
Duane Denison — Guitar
Trevor Dunn — Bass
John Stanier — Drums
Setlist:
1.) Flashback
2.) SHHH!
3.) Predators and Scavengers
4.) Business Casual
5.) Doomsday Fatigue
6.) Capt. Midnight
7.) Rape This Day
8.) Eureka
9.) Birdsong
10.) Howlie
11.) Recoil
12.) South Paw
13.) I.O.U.
14.) Mayday
15.) Point and Click
16.) Just One More (George Jones cover)
Encore
17.) God Hates a Coward
18.) Stalkin’ (Duane Eddy cover)
19.) Sidewinder
20.) Totem
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.