[...music...]

2011-05-13

i concluded my post-rock week on sunday may 1st, with the godspeed you! black emperor show at l'olympia.

the opening band of the evening was dreamcatcher, an arty experimental noise duo. i did not care for it.

the current line-up of godspeed consists of 8 members. i only caught 4 in this photo:

lighting was that dim red glow throughout the whole set. this band has absolutely no stage presence, no interaction with the crowd; they're in their little stage bubble. they did have a large projection screen with cryptic video clips to provide some visual interest. i think i spent almost half the set with my eyes closed, absorbing the music.

aurally, wow...! each song was about 75% buildup, 20% music, 5% cool down. as a whole, the set was a lot of atmospheric drone, punctuated by bursts of musical goodness. part of the excitement was waiting for those magical moments.

they played for almost two hours.

setlist:
hope drone
she dreamt she was a bulldozer
gathering storm
albanian
dead metheny
09-15-00 outro
chart #3
world police and friendly fire
moya
bbf3

at the end of the night, i was feeling kind of happy.

~~~

Labels: dreamcatcher, godspeed you black emperor, l'olympia, shows

2011-04-27

mogwai @ l'olympia

on monday, i went to the mogwai show. it was my 5th time seeing this band.

the opening band was usa out of vietnam, replacing errors, who couldn't make it to the montreal show. their set was loud. and heavy. and loud. i wore earplugs for half the set; i didn't want to pre-blast my eardrums before a mogwai set.

when mogwai appeared on stage, i noticed the absence drummer martin bulloch. they explained that he's back home for family reasons, with errors drummer james hamilton filling in for the north american dates.

i found the first couple of songs kind of slow, and maybe too calm. the energy level progressively built up, culminating in an epic ending of noise and distortion; typical for this band. there was minimal use of strobe lights; instead, there was a widescreen projection of video clips to accompany the songs.

they mostly played songs from the new album, their 7th. at this point, with such a large catalogue, i don't even expect them to play "like herod" or "christmas steps" or "my father my king" like they used to. still, they included a couple of old tracks.

setlist:
white noise
friend of the night
how to be a werewolf
rano pano
death rays
i'm jim morrison, i'm dead
san pedro
ithica
mexican grand prix
helicon 1
you're lionel richie
we're no here

encore:
autorock
george square thatcher death party
glasgow mega-snake

what i like about this band is, how awesome they sound live. they've got almost no stage presence, no stage banter (other than guitarist stuart braithwaite saying "thank you" or "merci" after almost every song), just music. and it's enough for me to keep going to their shows.

~~~

purchase: i got a t-shirt with the mogwai young team logo; it's one of my favourite albums, and the logo is pretty cool.

hearing damage: during the show, their music didn't feel too loud; it was occasionally very dense, but not causing discomfort. but after the show, and all of yesterday, my ears were still ringing. even today, i don't feel like my hearing has 100% recovered. damn.

~~~

Labels: l'olympia, mogwai, shows, usa out of vietnam

2009-11-23

brand new @ l'olympia

on friday, it was the brand new show at l'olympia. i went with sherlock. it was my first time at that venue. it was nice.

the first opening band was crime in stereo. their set was short (20 minutes), and not very memorable. i only remember thinking 'generic alterna/pop-punk'.

the next band was glassjaw. i first heard about them when they released their first album; i was in high school.

i must say, singer daryl palumbo was very energetic, moving around the stage a lot, with a manic look on his face. in between songs, he kept making birthday wishes for bassist manuel carrero, but there must be some kind of inside joke going on, since he called out different ages each time.

i would have enjoyed this set a lot more if i knew any of the songs. since i was unfamiliar with their material, i had a hard time following, with all the tempo changes and all.

finally, brand new came on, with a large screen on the background, showing some avant-guarde silent film throughout the whole set. their album "deja entendu" is a guilty pleasure of mine. but i never took the time to really listen to their stuff, so i didn't know the songs enough to sing along and enjoy the show to the max.

they played my favourite "sic transit gloria..."; they got that one out of the way near the beginning. near the end, they played another old song i like (but had forgotten about) "jude law".

setlist (via setlist.fm):
welcome to bangkok
sink
degausser
you won't know
okay i believe you, but my tommy gun don't
sic transit gloria... glory fades
the quiet things that no one ever knows
limousine
vices
gasoline
sowing season (yeah)
you stole
in a jar
luca
the archer's bows are broken
jesus christ
bought a bride
at the bottom
jude law and a semester abroad
seventy times seven
play crack the sky

i had brought my camera, but didn't take it out since i didn't have a good view of the stage. also, the crowd was kind of rowdy; this was my first time seeing some moshing since that gogol bordello show from two years ago. i was standing at the edge of the pit, so it was alright.

i found a pretty good set of pictures from the show on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliverchank/sets/72157622847795046/

and there are some videos on youtube.

~~~

cd purchase: i was debating whether to get their latest "daisy"; i thought i'd get it if the show impressed me enough. but i thought it was just alright; nothing bad about it, but not the best i've been to either. so no purchases for me.

hearing damage: from the moment brand new started, i had found it was too loud. by the end of the show, my ears were ringing. i told my cousin that if i cannot sleep off the ringing in one night, then it means that i am too old for show. well, i woke up the next day with some residual ringing in my ears. crap.

~~~

Labels: brand new, crime in stereo, glassjaw, l'olympia, shows