[ATTENDED: October 15, 2026] The Dillinger Escape Plan
When this show was announced as part of Philly Music Week, I grabbed a ticket immediately. I had seen The Dillinger Escape Plan ten years ago when the opened for Mastodon and it was one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen–even if I was very far away and it was so loud I had to leave my spot to buy earplugs.
They have only played Philly twice since that show. Once a couple months later at Union Transfer and once two years ago at FMH again. shouted out Philly venues they played when they were first starting out, especially Stalag 13 (which I’ve never heard of but was a legendary DIY punk location 1996-1999 apparently).
Speaking of Philly Music Fest, a festival that is nominally about Philly music, The Dillinger Escape Plan are (proudly one might say) from New Jersey. But that’s okay and lead singer Dimitri Minakakis shouted all of the people in Philly who have seen them at so many clubs along the way (he listed a whole bunch).
They opened with the noisy sounds of *#.. and then splashed right into the incoherent screams of Destro’s Secret. And the place exploded. I didn’t realize (and coudln’t really tell since I don’t know the album very well) but they played three songs in a row from Calculating Infinity (just not from the start of the album). For all of the speed and chaos, DEP is tight as anything. They way they shifted from chaos to quiet in The Running Board was really impressive.
I didn’t realize that this show was going to be basically a Calculating Infinity tour. They played the entire album as well as the EP they released before the album, Under the Running Board.
The midsection with wild drumming and wild guitar of The Mullet Burden was incredible to hear live. And then it was back to the album sequence with Clip the Apex, including the static and samples, and Calculating Infinity, a song that slowed things down for a couple of minutes and gave S a rest. But wow, so much noise and chaos in about 15 minutes.
Minakakis took a break from time to time to address the crowd, thanking everyone for coming and for being with them all this time.
And it certainly didn’t stop there. They jumped to the opening of the album, Sugar Coated Sour, and then back to Under the Running Board for Sandbox Magician. (more…)
