[71] Trees, Witch Mountain, YOB (2010)

I skipped a bunch of good shows later last year, and complete with the usual concert lull during the holiday season, I haven't gone to a show in approximately three months. 73 days. That is the longest I have gone without since 2006-2007 when I went five months without a show.

About a month in, I started to go through show withdrawal. Around the 1st of January, I really, really wanted to see something. Naturally, there were no shows then that I could go to. Gradually, that faded and was replaced by the hope that I might actually get to see YOB this time... all of the way through their set, not cut off after two songs.

A few days back I made it so I'd more or less have to attend this thing for the betterment of my sanity (see above) and musical exposure. Assuming it works out, you will hear about this mysteriously vague thing later.

In the meantime...

Fliers and such read 9pm, but the show didn't start til 10pm practically on the nose. Even when I got there the place was more packed than I'd ever seen it, and the crowded nature of the room slowly grew to the point it took a good five minutes to "walk" from the stage to the end of the bar, complete with stepping on everyone's toes and frustration about assholes standing having conversation in a group in the skinny fucking bar "hallway" this venue has going. I'm that one who vehemently hated being touched as a kid, so I find it a miracle that I can endure these experiences of constant bumping and elbows and shoving.

I did find a place for Trees' set and it worked out well enough considering I already know they're boring as far as stage presence and the singer gets on my nerves. I'd kind of forgotten exactly what they sounded like, but I got a bunch of drawn out screaming to reeeeally slow bassy nonsense. I remember being annoyed by them before, something about more strung out vocals, but this time wasn't that bad. Still, my thought was "oh good, I'm glad I was in a good mood when I walked in here because I might have killed myself under normal circumstances". I think next time I see them live, I'll buy what they have so I can bring it home, plug it into a program, and listen to it sped up. Assuming no one has beaten me to the chase... Sarcastic character-of-myself aside, they played, I think, three very long songs and probably only a half hour total.

Witch Mountain found the stage fairly quickly. The crowdedness was getting bad at this point, so I couldn't see the stage very well, but the sound was clear/good enough. They mostly played songs I didn't/don't know, though I think they started with "Wing of the Lord" which is now going to be stuck in my head for a week, just like when I saw them last Halloween. The two shows otherwise felt unique of each other, and I think overall I preferred their Halloween show even with Uta's crazy vocalizations towards the end of tonight's set.

YOB took a little more time setting up, and I happened to be in their path of alcohol when the bottles shoved their way through the crowd to get to the so-called "backstage" area during Witch Mountain's set. For as much as they seemed to be drinking, they played pretty good... I suppose I wouldn't know the difference, but it sounded nearly as good as what I caught last time with obvious differences in the fact that Berbati's sound is SO GOOD while this venue's sound can only deliver so much before turning into a pile of sound garbage.

YOB started with "Quantum Mystic". Everyone's brain turned to goo and 90% of the people in the crowd started headbanging on the VERY first post-continuous drum/bass/guitar note (in the recorded song, 2:01). I started laughing. The song seemed to send these people into some kind of collective fit I apparently didn't catch on the way in the door. It only lasted about eight minutes for the lot of them, probably due to the mild inebriation going around (or maybe because they were mostly guys... oh, right, I'm writing an equality of the sexes blog... sorry, I meant that eight minutes is a REALLY LONG TIME... snicker). Anyhow, the song was good on the soul and, though it didn't sound as good as it might in a better venue, it certainly worked.

Second up was "Burning The Altar". Yay. Apparently this particular song is 12 and a half minutes long. It felt like two. I also started cracking up at "WAAAAAAAHAH!" I'm glad I made it out of my teen years or even early 20s with a still retarded sense of humor...

Third, fourth, and fifth all sort of ran into each other. What was familiar, was only briefly so, so I'm lost on names. One of the latter songs sounded a bit old, and its style reminded me of Witch Mountain's general sound, finally bridging the gap between the two for me. The third song went on for-fucking-ever, starting with just gentle guitar and then slowly turning into something YOB is more known for, with a couple of silent breaks between "pieces" of the song. I got the impression that it was new or something, at least as far as the intro guitar bit.

They acted like they were going to leave, but after a little audience bitching they played a sixth song... something else I couldn't identify. And yet, titles aside, I pretty much enjoyed it all.

On top of the show and getting there & back easy and the rest of my day, it was a good night. Danke, YOB.