Culture 4 min read By Morgan Griffin
Mastodon, Deafheaven and Alcest Bring Triple Metal Bill to Brooklyn Paramount
Mastodon's Poisonous Weapons Tour stopped at the Brooklyn Paramount for a triple bill with Deafheaven and Alcest, showcasing three of the most acclaimed metal acts of the 21st century.
Mastodon brought its Poisonous Weapons Tour to the Brooklyn Paramount in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday night, headlining a triple bill that also featured Deafheaven and Alcest. The lineup assembled three of the most acclaimed metal acts of the 21st century on a single ticket, a rarity for a genre that often splits its audiences across separate club shows and festival stages.
The pairing of Mastodon with Deafheaven and Alcest placed three distinct strains of heavy music on one stage. Mastodon, formed in Atlanta in 2000, built its reputation on progressive, concept-driven albums that blend sludge, prog rock and psychedelia. Deafheaven, from San Francisco, rose to prominence in the 2010s by folding black metal textures into shoegaze and post-rock. Alcest, the French project led by Stéphane Paut, is widely credited as a foundational act of blackgaze, the subgenre that merges atmospheric black metal with dreamlike, melodic songwriting.
The Brooklyn Paramount, a restored 1920s movie palace in downtown Brooklyn, has become a regular stop for touring rock and metal acts since reopening as a live music venue. Its ornate interior and mid-sized capacity give the room a different character from the arenas and outdoor amphitheaters that often host bills of this scale.
The show was part of Mastodon's Poisonous Weapons Tour, which has been moving through North American markets. The tour's name references the band's long-running fascination with elemental and mythological imagery, a thread that runs through its album art and stage production. A triple bill of this kind allows each act to play a full set rather than the shortened festival slots that often constrain metal lineups.
For Deafheaven and Alcest, the Brooklyn date placed them in front of an audience that overlaps heavily with Mastodon's fan base, which spans progressive rock listeners and extreme metal devotees. Alcest's presence on the bill also highlighted the continuing influence of French heavy music on American audiences, a connection that has grown through touring and festival appearances over the past decade.
Mastodon has remained a consistent touring act while maintaining a catalog that stretches back more than two decades. The band's willingness to share a bill with younger and stylistically different acts has helped sustain its audience across generations of metal fans. Deafheaven, meanwhile, has continued to tour behind its own releases, and Alcest has built a following in the United States through repeated visits.
The Brooklyn Paramount show drew a crowd that reflected the breadth of the bill, with fans arriving early for Alcest's atmospheric set and staying through Deafheaven's heavier, more abrasive performance before Mastodon closed the night. The venue's layout, with its tiered seating and standing floor, accommodated both the attentive listening that Alcest's music invites and the more physical response that Mastodon's set tends to generate.
Triple bills of this caliber have become less common as touring costs have risen and bands increasingly favor shorter, more tightly packaged runs. The Poisonous Weapons Tour's Brooklyn stop offered a reminder of the value of a single ticket that presents a coherent arc across three related but distinct approaches to heavy music.
Mastodon's tour continues with additional dates, while Deafheaven and Alcest are expected to maintain their own touring schedules. For the Brooklyn audience, the night served as a snapshot of a metal scene that remains vital across generations and continents, with a French band, a San Francisco band and an Atlanta band sharing one stage in a restored Brooklyn landmark.
2
