Sinister Reviews

On Friday, March 28, 2026, I went to see the New Orleans bands Crowbar and Eyehategod at The Ventura Music Hall. Let’s take a look…….

I’ve been to this venue a couple of times and every time I’ve gone it’s always been a great time.  There’s just something about going to see shows in Ventura that hits a little different than seeing bands in LA.  Ventura crowds always seem to be more outgoing but that’s not to say people in LA aren’t. I don’t know if it’s just the luck that I’ve had but it also seems like getting to the venue has always been relatively easy coming and going and parking (which has always been free). Either way it’s been a couple of years since I’ve actually seen Crowbar (last time was in 2022 when they were on tour with Sacred Reich and Sepultura). Both bands are what are known as sludge metal and what that basically means they play slow kind of heavy Black Sabbath inspired guitar riffs.   

After doing a line check, it was time for Crowbar to start and once they got on stage, the crowd started cheering. Kirk Windstein (vocals, guitar) says “let’s go” and they go right into the song “…And Suffer As One.”  Immediately after that song they go right into one of my personal favorite songs “The Lasting Dose.” I was very, very happy that they played the song “The Cemetery Angels” which is one of my favorite songs from my favorite album Sever The Wicked Hand. Of course, what Crowbar show would be complete without them playing “Like Broken Glass” and closing with “All I Had I Gave?” Crowbar songs are not very fast songs but they’re just fast enough to really get the crowd going. I find that with metal bands there’s usually two kinds of mosh pits.  There are those with the kind of shoving everybody around and swaying back-and-forth and the other ones are the circle pit style with everybody running around and flailing their arms. This one was more of the former (of course looking over and security, had to throw one person out for getting too violent) but at the end of the day, both types are all in good fun. Aside from a couple of “how’s it going” and “thank you” they really just played one song after the other without pausing and you could absolutely tell that this band was having fun on stage. When a band is having fun on stage like what I saw that night, the crowd really does feed off of that and that just makes for a really fun show.  Overall this band just is a lot of fun to see live and if you’re into very slow crushing big guitar riffs definitely don’t miss them the next time they come through.  They are one of those bands that don’t tour as often but when they do, they’re definitely worth a trip.

Up next was Eyehategod and out of the two bands they were probably the one that I was the least familiar with. Obviously, before seeing them, I went and listened to a couple of their albums, and I remember thinking “ OK it’s gonna be a great show.”  Musically, they were a little faster, their songs are shorter, and they were actually a lot of fun.  I mean, they kicked things off with “Take As Needed For Pain.” Being a relatively new fan of this band I was very happy that they played a good variety of songs. I was also really hoping they would play the songs “Blood Money” and “Dogs Holy Life.” The riffs maybe aren’t as big or slow crushing like Crowbar but they’re still pretty damn awesome and vocally there’s more of a punkier cadence. Again like Crowbar, the band just looked like they were having an absolute blast on the stage and the crowd, of course was going wild. 

Overall, this show was just a ton of fun and I’m really glad that I was able to see both bands. I love the fact that you have these two bands as well as the band Down who borrow each other’s band members. It really is just one big family of sludge/doom metal bands and it’s great when the bands like this are all friends because it definitely resonates on stage.  I would say that if you have not seen either of these bands, you definitely need to do so because they’re both a ton of fun live and the next time they come through I will definitely be there.  

Final Grade: A

Crowbar is:

Kirk Windstein: Voice, guitar

Pat Bruders: Bass

Matt Brunson: Guitar

Tommy Buckley: Drums

Eyehategod is:

Mike Williams: Voice

Jimmy Bower: Guitar

Gary Mader: Bass

Aaron Hill: Drums

Crowbar Setlist:

1. …And Suffer As One
2. The Lasting Dose
3. I Feel The Burning Sun
4. To Build A Mountain
5. The Cemetery Angels
6. Repulsive In It’s Splendid Beauty 
7. Chemical Godz 
8. High Rate Extinction 
9. Planets Collide
10. Existence Is Punishment
11. Like Broken Glass
12. All I Had I Gave

Eyehategod Setlist:

1. Take As Needed For Pain
2. Jack Ass In The Will Of God
3. Dogs Holy Life
4. Worthless Rescue
5. High Risk Trigger
6. Blood Money
7. Blank
8. Shoplift
9. Sister Fucker (Part 1)
10. Medicine Noose
11. Lack Of Almost Everything 
12. Man Is Too Ignorant To Exist
13. Non Conductive Negative Reasoning 
14. New Orleans Is The New Vietnam
15. Methamphetamine
16. Peace Thru War (Thru Peace And War)
17. Run It Into The Ground
18. Every Thing, Every Day