Saturday night, August 15, at the historic Belasco Theater, Melvins and Tomahawk brought their own respective brands of musical weirdness to downtown Los Angeles for a sold-out night of crushing riffs, experimental noise and musicianship that bordered on the absurd.

For Tomahawk, however, the evening in Los Angeles represented something much bigger than another stop on a tour. It was a homecoming.

After 13 years away from the stage, the Mike Patton-fronted supergroup finally returned to live performances this summer, bringing together Patton, guitarist Duane Denison, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer John Stanier for their first tour since 2013. The group's 2021 album Tonic Immobility had arrived during the pandemic and had never been performed live, making this tour a long-delayed opportunity to bring that material to an audience.

The Melvins don't need an elaborate entrance. They simply walk onstage, plug in and get to work, and that was the approach on this night as Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, Steven McDonald and Coady Willis unleashed the band's unmistakable combination of sludge, punk, metal and sonic brutality.

The Melvins have existed in multiple forms over the years, sometimes with two bass players, but on this tour the drum tandem of Crover and Willis led the charge with a massive dual drum attack that magnified the band's sound exponentially. There was no unnecessary stage banter - the band allowed the music to do the talking for their 60 minutes onstage.

Osborne's guitar sounded massive, delivering riffs that hung in the air long after they were played, with McDonald's heavy bass tones laying the foundation of the chaos as the music turned punishing one moment and bizarrely entertaining the next.

Of course, things turned extremely rowdy during "Honey Bucket", and then Trevor Dunn joined the band for "Night Goat" to conclude the set - two bass players, two drummers, a fantastic way to end their time on stage.

Then came Tomahawk. Mike Patton is back... Tomahawk is back, and their first show in Los Angeles in 13 years was sure to be epic. The minimal stage presentation put the focus squarely on the four musicians, and there was no need for elaborate production. The strange, cinematic quality of Tomahawk's music created its own atmosphere, and the fans were hungry for it. When Patton appeared, the reaction from the audience was immediate, loud and ready to rock.

Patton remains one of music's most unpredictable frontmen, and watching him perform with Tomahawk is a reminder of what an instrument his voice is. One moment he was delivering a melody with remarkable precision; the next he was twisting his voice into something sinister, theatrical or completely unrecognizable using his different microphone effects.

But it would be a mistake to reduce Tomahawk to "Mike Patton's band." Duane Denison's guitar work provided the band's distinctive backbone, combining abrasive tones with razor-sharp riffs. Trevor Dunn's bass playing gives the music a dark, springy pulse, while John Stanier demonstrated his recognizable ultra hard-hitting thunder.

The band's 20-song set reached across its 25-year history while giving considerable attention to 2021's Tonic Immobility. Eight songs from that album finally received proper live treatment, allowing fans to experience material that had been trapped in the pandemic era for years.

The band concluded their set with "Totem", then a four-song encore of "Hot Rod Lincoln", "God Hates a Coward", "Rise Up Dirty Waters" and ending the night with "Point and Click". The pairing of Tomahawk and the Melvins made perfect sense, as both groups have spent their careers challenging expectations, embracing heaviness and understanding that experimentation doesn't have to mean sacrificing groove. The Melvins bring the brute force while Tomahawk brings the theatrical weirdness. This was night one of two, as both bands were on tap to do it all over again on Sunday night to end the current tour.

With Mike Patton you never know what will happen next. Was this the beginning of something, or possibly the last time the band will play together live? Only time will tell.