Saturday night. Well, early evening, actually. It was still light out. The Skinny Puppy concert has drawn many people I never see in natural daylight out of the shadows.
Tweaker played a short and somewhat confusing set to anyone familiar with their albums. The white-suited singer kind of Perry Farrelled his way through the songs. A short break for merchandise purchasing and a quick smoke, and then...
Skinny Puppy. A long video intro with waterfalls and ape to human evolving skulls (thought I'd accidentally wandered into a new age thing) with some live music, and then BAM! I'mmortal from the new cd. And Ogre in top form, flailing around in a pagan long-beaked hood and kind of straight-jacket strappy outfit. The costume gradually fell away, and was replaced by (at various times) trademark blood, a gasmask, semi-automatic water gun, and surprisingly effective dust, blown through the air and playing delirious games in the opulent orange and magenta lighting. A bit from the new cd, a lot from past glories slightly updated but not enough to make them unrecognizable (the sound was amazing), scathing social commentary (with both the song selection and the video images...Bush/Hitler juxtapositions, Iraq footage, many explosions, evil hawks in suits, terror and war casualties), some dramatic aural sculptures...it was a beautiful and scary and powerful multimedia feast.
Personally, I would have liked to have heard "Dig It", and "Assimilate", and a couple more songs off of their new album (when was the last time anyone said that?) like maybe "Goneja" or "Past Present", but that would have made the night too perfect. People would have exploded.
For anyone who's seen SP before, this was a concert of a band at their peak. And if you'd never seen them before, this show gave you all the reasons you'd ever need to understand why SP was/is such an important and influential band. Their music is clearly standing the test of time. World events (and the way SP portrays and comments on them) have made them as relevant today as they were in their heyday, if not more so.
The crowd was a glorious mix of new fresh faces and people I've known or seen over the last fifteen plus years or so of industrial clubbing in Boston...a homecoming of sorts, and a wonderful experience.
Now, a brief respite on Sunday, and then a Monday of SG Burlesque...a bit of naughty fun, and many friends. A social EVENT, as it were. I gleefully await the festivities with digital camera in hand. Birthday Boy Welntaod, Elbereth, and hopefully more from the SGCT crew will be coming, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity of being able to spend some quality time with my SG Boston friends without having to run off in the middle of a conversation and go mix in another song...an all too typical situation at ManRay!
A loverly weekend, I must say. And if you've read this far, you definitely deserve a great big
!!!
Tweaker played a short and somewhat confusing set to anyone familiar with their albums. The white-suited singer kind of Perry Farrelled his way through the songs. A short break for merchandise purchasing and a quick smoke, and then...
Skinny Puppy. A long video intro with waterfalls and ape to human evolving skulls (thought I'd accidentally wandered into a new age thing) with some live music, and then BAM! I'mmortal from the new cd. And Ogre in top form, flailing around in a pagan long-beaked hood and kind of straight-jacket strappy outfit. The costume gradually fell away, and was replaced by (at various times) trademark blood, a gasmask, semi-automatic water gun, and surprisingly effective dust, blown through the air and playing delirious games in the opulent orange and magenta lighting. A bit from the new cd, a lot from past glories slightly updated but not enough to make them unrecognizable (the sound was amazing), scathing social commentary (with both the song selection and the video images...Bush/Hitler juxtapositions, Iraq footage, many explosions, evil hawks in suits, terror and war casualties), some dramatic aural sculptures...it was a beautiful and scary and powerful multimedia feast.
Personally, I would have liked to have heard "Dig It", and "Assimilate", and a couple more songs off of their new album (when was the last time anyone said that?) like maybe "Goneja" or "Past Present", but that would have made the night too perfect. People would have exploded.
For anyone who's seen SP before, this was a concert of a band at their peak. And if you'd never seen them before, this show gave you all the reasons you'd ever need to understand why SP was/is such an important and influential band. Their music is clearly standing the test of time. World events (and the way SP portrays and comments on them) have made them as relevant today as they were in their heyday, if not more so.
The crowd was a glorious mix of new fresh faces and people I've known or seen over the last fifteen plus years or so of industrial clubbing in Boston...a homecoming of sorts, and a wonderful experience.
Now, a brief respite on Sunday, and then a Monday of SG Burlesque...a bit of naughty fun, and many friends. A social EVENT, as it were. I gleefully await the festivities with digital camera in hand. Birthday Boy Welntaod, Elbereth, and hopefully more from the SGCT crew will be coming, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity of being able to spend some quality time with my SG Boston friends without having to run off in the middle of a conversation and go mix in another song...an all too typical situation at ManRay!
A loverly weekend, I must say. And if you've read this far, you definitely deserve a great big
!!!VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
and I'm trying tofigure out how to make you an arkham U ID-- I'd need a ID picture though... or I could just use one of the pics of you that are in your pics.
I love Boston.