No more results on this page
The gig was unforgettable, orgasmic, fantastic! I only regret they didnt perform Moya, my favorite song from the band, but my overall thought leads to a good thing when considering they reunite to perform this tour...
This was the best show I have been to in a long time. The members of Godspeed astonishingly created heavy, rhythmic blasts of anarcho-classical music. The crowd was attentive for 2 1/2 hours of sonic majesty. It was a beautiful night in every sense of the word.
Devastatingly amazing music for hours. I was exhausted by the end of the show and my ears were ringing the morning after, but it was all well worth it. This band and their projectionist are beyond phenomenal.
Since I last saw them 7 years ago, it seems their live sound has changed. Either that, or I've changed. Not a huge surprise since it's been as many year they went on hiatus. Whatever it was, I just wasn't that captivated by the performance. They really seemed to dwell on monotony; stuff like everyone playing 16th notes for 3 minutes or just walls of noise. They were (over?)using some loopers so that was a big part of it. They'd just do the studder thing for a long time and then after a couple people built up their loops/fx pedals, it would dissolve into noise. You couldn't tell who was playing what but everyone was sawing away at their respective instrument. *shrug* I've only listened to them fairly casually over the past couple years, but I'm pretty sure they were more concentrated and methodical in their execution. Maybe it was also a bit less satisfying because they played a lot of new and/or completely varied versions of their songs. So they might have snagged a theme from Lift your Skinny Fists.. but they didn't really "play the song". The only one they really played close to the original was the one with the sample of the pissed-off gun-owning New Yorker who tells the judge "you're out of order!". That's one of my favorites, so that was nice :) Overall - I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't see them again.
Godspeed! will blow your mind live. Their live sound is different than their recorded sound-- not as tight, but more intense and energetic. They're obviously masters at building off of each other's ideas in a noise/ambient setting.
above and beyond the best show i've ever attended in my life.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor has put on the best 2.5 hours of my life!!!!
FULL REVIEW at: http://jazzsick.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/gybe-pdx2011/ Video flickers “hope” on loop. Slow build with piercing tones presumably of guitar mixed with cello & screams in the violin pickups. The vapors turn into steam, the bowing more frantic, random percussive shakes. Eight minutes, the first hits on a high hat. The steam now turning into an impending waterfall. “Hope” still flickers. The impending waterfall never comes. The sounds fall away into sweepy hallways. Clean guitars, gentle malleted vibes, as the guitar soars upwards with the violins. The screen text and numbers jumble. The pace expands and explodes, then stabilizes. Guitars are the backbone, the drums brisk, the xylo/vibes, on the other hand, are furious. Gasping. Grasping. They’re trying to escape. The drums take over, the other players fall to the side. A stringed étude tucks it away. Violin warming up, workshop hammering percussion until the sounds become like a train leaving the station. This one built quicker than the prior pieces. More Mogwaian versus Sigurrósient. Churning turns into hints of melodic keys. Maybe they were just car keys… it’s turned more into a tumultuous rock instrumental. Rush. That was the first forty minutes. The rest of Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s two-plus hour set was full of highs and lows, and all the things that make post-rock so wondrous and confounding. Sweeping movements with The Anatomy of Melancholy text and images flashing above the band’s heads. I think sprinting away from convention is what makes this music so magical. Shying away from the press definitely adds to the mystery. Setlist: (thanks Jason & others) Hope Drone Moya Albanian Monheim Dead Metheny 09-15-00 (outro) World Police & Friendly Fire Blaise Bailey Finnegan III Gathering Storm Sorry for no photos from the show… t’was too packed, dark and I decided to hang back and enjoy anyway. My opinion of the opener in the comment section.
After waiting many, many years for GY!BE to tour again, I was excited to hear that they would be playing in Portland, but not so excited to hear that the show was at the Crystal Ballroom. I have a love-hate relationship with the venue - love the convenient location; hate the way that the hall is partitioned for all-ages shows, and that the disco two floors down is way, way too loud. GY!BE were everything that I expected, and so much more. Their performance was tight, with some interesting variations on the album material in this live setting. Was expecting a 90 minute set, and was more than pleased that they played over 2.5 hours. The only major downer was the disco two floors below the ballroom. The sound from the disco drowned out the quieter violin and guitar passages, and leant a surreal quality to certain parts of the performance.
I highly suggest Godspeed, but whoever was doing the sound really wanted you to feel pain. Witnessing a Godspeed concert is comparable to standing on the other side of a door to the room where the person you love most is having a critical heart operation. All ranges of emotions are coursing through you, some are wonderful, some are terrible. Whenever the music would come to it's most beautiful climax, Godspeed would automatically destroy it with a cacophony of classical instruments tortured by screwdrivers, and guitars molested by bows. Symbolizing something quite Eastern, their music represents fading beauty, inevitable change, and the death of all things. Although the musicians all appear to be classically trained, they also appear to come up with their compositions on the spot. Every moment that I felt I was picking up on a song I had heard before, they would change it and transform it into a bizarre representation of any recording I had heard before. Godspeed is an experience of individual emotion. One cannot rely on the trickery of fancy light shows, charismatic frontmen, or flashy guitarists. The members of the band are simply just people, and this is what they do. What they stand for is enigmatic, and isn't clearly represented by anything in their album artwork or printed on their t-shirts. Their music will bring you necessary discomfort, for I believe it is intended to peer into your soul and reveal to you the reality of the moment.
The performance was amazing. The Showbox SoDo, however, is not a great venue (hence the four stars)
I got into GYBE too late, right around 2000-2001, and did not get to see them back then. These guys changed the game for me and when they announced last year that they would do a small tour, I knew I had to get a ticket at nearly any cost. I live in San Francisco, but I had to travel to Seattle to see them as I was unable to get tix for the SF shows because the overwhelming demand crashed the website. Luckily, I have a brother living in Seattle, so I just needed to book a flight. The show, let me tell you, was completely worth it...and I'd go through all of this trouble again. I was worried that I'd built it up too much in my head, but it was everything I'd hoped for. The musicianship was superb., the sound at the venue was very good and the crowd was attentive and appreciative.
