Isis @ Emo's, Austin (09.13.2006)

Thank goodness Isis was making a pit-stop in Austin on Wednesday, otherwise the postponement of Tuesday's Isis/Tool show in San Antonio would have really bummed me out. As it was, at least I had this show to look forward to, and Isis came through big time.

First, the opening bands. There were two: Giant Squid and My Education. The show ended up actually starting promptly at 9pm, apparently, so I missed all but the last 1.5 songs of Giant Squid's set. Based on the 1 song that I did hear in its entirety, I would say that Giant Squid was OK, but not that impressive. But I really shouldn't say more, since I didn't hear enough to give a fair assessment. My Education was up next, and I was really looking forward to seeing them again. I have their albums and have seen them 2-3 times before, so I guess I would say I'm a fan. Unfortunately, they did not sound good at all, albeit I don't think it was their fault. I don't think the sound was set up very well, and when the band consists of 2 guitars, a bass, drums, a violin, a xylophone'ish thing, and keys, you better get it set up right. Otherwise it'll just come through as a wall of noise, which is exactly what happened. All the nice subtleties of the individual instruments that you can hear on the albums (and that I have heard live before) were completely lost. Its too bad, too, since it was probably one of the larger crowds that My Education has played for. Hopefully, those who were hearing them for the first time last night will get a chance to hear them again at a time when the sound is up to snuff.

OK, now for Isis! First off, the setlist:

01. Dulcinea
02. Backlit
03. Not In Rivers, But In Drops
04. Carry
05. 1,000 Shards
06. In Fiction
07. Holy Tears
(Break)
08. So Did We

To me, this setlist is absolutely killer. The only thing that could have possibly made it better would be if they had worked in something from Celestial, but I'm definitely not complaining. My personal highlights were "Carry" and "In Fiction" (probably my two favorite Isis songs), as well as "Not In Rivers, But In Drops", which I thought was gonna bring the whole damn house down. The studio recording of that song is pretty darn good, but it doesn't even approach how enormous it sounded live, especially the bass drum roll that kicks in when the song culminates at the end. Happily, the sound issues that plagued My Education were gone for Isis, the entire set sounded INCREDIBLE. Probably the best sounding Isis show I've seen yet (I think this was my 4th). The drums were thunderous and crisp (very important!), bass came through very clean, the 3 guitars were balanced nicely, and the electronic elements came through clearly when they were supposed to. Aaron Turner's mic could have probably been turned up just a tad, but no biggie.

As far as the band members themselves, they seemed to really be getting into it. I kind of got the feeling that they were really glad to be able to get back to the small intimate venue environment for a night, in the middle of all the arena stops that they're doing with Tool. Half way through the set, Turner mentioned that it was Jeff Caxide's (bassist) 30th birthday, and after the set was done they brought out a cake and had the whole place sing him happy birthday. And as always, the whole band and Turner in particular seemed to really be sincerely thankful that so many people came out to see them.

Concusion: ass-kicking show. If you haven't seen them live, especially as a headliner, definitely go check them out if you get the chance. This is absolutely a band worth rooting for and supporting.