Hehehe, I just had to get that out first. Anyway, this past weekend, Waterloo Park in Austin played host to the second annual FunFunFun Fest. I kid you not, that was actually the name of the festival. There were a couple good bands on the list that caught my eye, such as The Sword and Explosions In The Sky, both of which I've seen numerous times since they are based in Austin. Most of the rest I could leave or had never heard of. But then, lo and behold, I spotted NEUROSIS on the bill, and I could not believe my eyes. I was stoked, being a huge fan and having never seen them live before. Despite not really caring about any other bands and not yet knowing what time or even which day they'd be playing, I snagged a 2-day ticket as soon as I could. There was no way I was going to miss this!!
As it turned out, Neurosis was the headliner on the second stage at 8:30pm on Saturday night. Perfect timing. I watched my Wolverines come back in dramatic fashion, grabbed some Rudy's BBQ, told my preggo wife I'd be back in a few hours, and cruised on downtown to catch the show. I got there just in time to see The Sword. They sounded pretty good overall, although the singer's voice sounded pretty bad during the first song. They played just under an hour. Their set consisted of a lot of new material, so I didn't know most of the song titles, but here is the setlist anyway:
01. Iron Swan
02. New
03. New
04. Take The Black (New. Something about George R.R. Martin)
05. Winter's Wolves
06. Freya
07. New
08. New (holy friggin' long awesomeness)
"Freya", as always, totally killed, and the 10-minute or so final song was also very bad ass.
Anyway, enough stalling, how 'bout Neurosis!! In the dead time before they came out, you could feel everyone in the crowd getting anxious, everyone was clearly jazzed to see these guys. It was an awesome atmosphere, it truly felt like something special was about to happen. When the band took the stage, the place erupted at first, but then after a couple minutes almost fell silent, just waiting in anticipation for it all to begin. Then they launched into it, and oh my god was it glorious. Here is the set:
01. Given To The Rising
02. Hidden Faces
03. A Season In The Sky
04. At The End Of The Road
05. To The Wind
06. Distill
07. Water Is Not Enough
08. Burn
09. The Doorway
So, all in all, 6 songs from Given To The Rising, 2 from The Eye Of Every Storm, and 1 from Times Of Grace. Definitely heavy on the new album, and when I see that set on paper, I think maybe it'd be nice to have another song or two from the earlier albums. But in reality, I didn't care. They kicked so much ass and executed it all so perfectly, I don't care what songs they played or what albums they focused on. They could have played pretty much any combination of any of their songs, and it still would have been amazing. The whole damn show was a highlight for me, but if I had to pick, I would say that "A Season In The Sky" and "The Doorway" were my favorites. "A Season In The Sky" is just so perfect in the way that it builds, and "The Doorway" was just utterly crushing, a fantastic way to end the show.
The sound was excellent, especially considering it was an outdoor show, where drums and bass tend to either disappear or be so over-compensated for that they drown everything else in a wall of distortion. Everything was clear and crisp during the lighter passages, and just insanely devastating when they brought the heavy stuff full on. I was especially impressed with how clearly all the subtle electronic textures came through, since quite often they are layered over some pretty heavy guitar. I thought for sure the ability to distinguish between all the elements would have to be at least somewhat compromised in this setting, so I was very pleasantly surprised.
Visually, the only real effect they had going on was a 15-foot screen at the back of the stage, which they projected video onto from the soundboard area. The video was all black and white imagery, rooted mostly in negative and silhouetted natural (plants, forest, deer/elk, the moon) and biological (eyeballs, human faces, hands) elements. The video worked well with the tempo of the show, it would depict a slower sequence such as an eclipse for mellower moments, and then return to quickly changing frenetic spliced together segments during the faster, heavier parts. I tried to snap some photos with my camera phone, but they mostly turned out pretty crappy. I might post some a couple of the less crappy ones later.
As for the performance, the whole band was really into it. Noah Landis (keys) and Dave Edwardson (bass) pretty much just hung out on their respective sides of the stage, just kind of steadily doing their thing. But Jason Roeder was insane on the drums. Seeing him play live, you can really see how his drumming is the cornerstone holding Neurosis' sound together. The best way I can think of to describe him is this: Imagine Aaron Harris (Isis), who is pretty damn good in his own right. Now imagine someone even more natural and fluid, an absolute master. Roeder was working his ass off, but still he somehow made it look practically effortless.
But more than anything, I was impressed with Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till's vocals and overall presence. The shouting vocals all sounded great, which I expected. But more importantly, the slow, deep, sometimes raspy vocals were phenomenal, and Kelly and Von Till really sold it well. They sounded tortured and vulnerable, they really seemed to be pleading and confessing their souls. It added a personal intensity to the show that magnified the whole performance. As much as the heavier parts would invigorate the crowd, the slower passages carried an impressive weight of their own, and seemed to be equally appreciated by the crowd. They had everyone in the audience captivated.
Maybe it was because it was the first time I've seen them, or maybe it was because everyone in the crowd seemed to be feeling the same, but either way, I was totally locked in the entire show. When it was over, it was almost as if I snapped out of a daze. I had no idea how long they had played (1.5 hours), since I hadn't looked at my watch even once during the show.
Seriously, these guys are unreal. I don't want to say these guys are "gods", because I generally think it sounds lame when people say that. But this is probably as close as it comes for that phrase to apply. I'm glad I didn't miss this show. For anyone who is a fan of Neurosis, you HAVE to see them live. HAVE TO.
03. A Season In The Sky
04. At The End Of The Road
05. To The Wind
06. Distill
07. Water Is Not Enough
08. Burn
09. The Doorway
So, all in all, 6 songs from Given To The Rising, 2 from The Eye Of Every Storm, and 1 from Times Of Grace. Definitely heavy on the new album, and when I see that set on paper, I think maybe it'd be nice to have another song or two from the earlier albums. But in reality, I didn't care. They kicked so much ass and executed it all so perfectly, I don't care what songs they played or what albums they focused on. They could have played pretty much any combination of any of their songs, and it still would have been amazing. The whole damn show was a highlight for me, but if I had to pick, I would say that "A Season In The Sky" and "The Doorway" were my favorites. "A Season In The Sky" is just so perfect in the way that it builds, and "The Doorway" was just utterly crushing, a fantastic way to end the show.
The sound was excellent, especially considering it was an outdoor show, where drums and bass tend to either disappear or be so over-compensated for that they drown everything else in a wall of distortion. Everything was clear and crisp during the lighter passages, and just insanely devastating when they brought the heavy stuff full on. I was especially impressed with how clearly all the subtle electronic textures came through, since quite often they are layered over some pretty heavy guitar. I thought for sure the ability to distinguish between all the elements would have to be at least somewhat compromised in this setting, so I was very pleasantly surprised.
Visually, the only real effect they had going on was a 15-foot screen at the back of the stage, which they projected video onto from the soundboard area. The video was all black and white imagery, rooted mostly in negative and silhouetted natural (plants, forest, deer/elk, the moon) and biological (eyeballs, human faces, hands) elements. The video worked well with the tempo of the show, it would depict a slower sequence such as an eclipse for mellower moments, and then return to quickly changing frenetic spliced together segments during the faster, heavier parts. I tried to snap some photos with my camera phone, but they mostly turned out pretty crappy. I might post some a couple of the less crappy ones later.
As for the performance, the whole band was really into it. Noah Landis (keys) and Dave Edwardson (bass) pretty much just hung out on their respective sides of the stage, just kind of steadily doing their thing. But Jason Roeder was insane on the drums. Seeing him play live, you can really see how his drumming is the cornerstone holding Neurosis' sound together. The best way I can think of to describe him is this: Imagine Aaron Harris (Isis), who is pretty damn good in his own right. Now imagine someone even more natural and fluid, an absolute master. Roeder was working his ass off, but still he somehow made it look practically effortless.
But more than anything, I was impressed with Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till's vocals and overall presence. The shouting vocals all sounded great, which I expected. But more importantly, the slow, deep, sometimes raspy vocals were phenomenal, and Kelly and Von Till really sold it well. They sounded tortured and vulnerable, they really seemed to be pleading and confessing their souls. It added a personal intensity to the show that magnified the whole performance. As much as the heavier parts would invigorate the crowd, the slower passages carried an impressive weight of their own, and seemed to be equally appreciated by the crowd. They had everyone in the audience captivated.
Maybe it was because it was the first time I've seen them, or maybe it was because everyone in the crowd seemed to be feeling the same, but either way, I was totally locked in the entire show. When it was over, it was almost as if I snapped out of a daze. I had no idea how long they had played (1.5 hours), since I hadn't looked at my watch even once during the show.
Seriously, these guys are unreal. I don't want to say these guys are "gods", because I generally think it sounds lame when people say that. But this is probably as close as it comes for that phrase to apply. I'm glad I didn't miss this show. For anyone who is a fan of Neurosis, you HAVE to see them live. HAVE TO.
1 comments:
A fellow member of Toolarmy named Willis, whose opinion I highly respect and who is another huge fan of Neurosis, wrote a particularly great response to this review. Thought I'd share it here...
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Like I was there
Seriously tedo, that was quite vivid in my mind's eye. I appreciate the enthusiasm and efforts to paint a clear picture. Your reviews are always pretty solid, so I was expecting something good. But there are a couple of things I wanted to mention...
1) You're right about the setlist...it was definitely heavy handed on the new material. I would have liked to hear something from A Sun That Never Sets, too. And they only played one song from TEOES (a good one, too). But it must have translated well as a great live setlist. The new songs are pretty damn heavy, so you got a good fill of distortion and heaviness. The Doorway is just about their heaviest song, too. So all in all, that setlist must have pummelled the crowd.
2) They do have an incredible live sound, most likely due to the years and years of touring. But ever since Albini got involved, they've experimented successfully with different sounds, tones and harmonics. They've always been the kings of dynamics and they easily go back and forth from delicately minimalistic to extremely loud and heavy and back again. Every time I've seen them, I forget I'm actually watching a live band because the sound is so pristine and so close to the actual CD recording quality.
And you're right about the electronic textures being so crystal clear instead of getting washed out in the noise. You can actually hear each and every instrument...even during the really heavy parts, which isn't easy to do. There's a DVD from the 2003 Contamination Festival that articulates this better than I can by just watching (and listening to) it. Some of the other bands are Dillinger Escape Plan, High On Fire, Mastodon and others. After watching a couple of songs from each of those bands, you get the idea that everybody sounds crappy the louder and faster that they play. But once Neurosis starts their set, the whole thing changes. It's almost difficult to discern if it's being played live or not. That's how great their live sound is every time. They're sonic metal perfectionists.
3) Locked in the entire show? I know exactly what you mean. I've seen tons of live bands and more often than not, I'm looking at my watch halfway through the set (sometimes sooner). But the Neurosis show definitely puts you into another world where time is almost forgotten. It's partially due to the trance-like movements in their songs and also due to the visuals of Josh Graham (who is the lead guy in Red Sparowes, which I'm sure you know already tedo). But the most captivating aspect of Neurosis (live and recorded) is the impact the vocals have on the listener. Watching them, you can feel their intensity and urgency. Their facial expressions, as you mentioned, are as pained and gut-wrenching as their lyrics. I first saw them in 1996 in LA on the Through Silver And Blood tour, having never heard any of their material prior. I was equally as frightened as I was intrigued. 20 years later and I know I can still get that feeling from watching them play live today. Can't say the same for some other bands who used to blow me away (cough ahem cough).
I sent my gf the review in an email and she highlighted the last paragraph and sent it back to me...
Seriously, these guys are unreal. I don't want to say these guys are "gods", because I generally think it sounds lame when people say that. But this is probably as close as it comes for that phrase to apply.
I think you pretty much summed it up for both of us right there. Thanks for the full review, tedo. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into it because I feel like I was there, too.
Peace
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