junecleavage

I got back to the Meadow Stage as Gogol Bordello was just about to come on. I confess that, before Saturday, I knew almost nothing (but what I read on the web site) about this band, a fact that astonished my much-hipper-than-me daughter. But I was definitely in the minority, because the crowd, bearing signs and dressed for the occasion, welcomed them with wild enthusiasm. And the moment Gogol Bordello blasted into their first number, I understood why. The music is more than high energy - it soars! And they are incredibly funny, but not in a slapstick way. Instead they challenge the audience to "get them" - and get them they do. If I could have talked to them after their set, I'd have asked about their recent shows with System of a Down, which seemed to me like an odd match-up. But the aforementioned hip daughter set me straight. "No!" she emphatically told me. "Those two bands touring together makes perfect sense. Gogol Bordello's music is rooted in gypsy tales and traveling, and SOAD is an Armenian powerhouse of tortured emotion, storytelling in extremes, and performance art. That's a perfect pairing, in my humble opinion." Well,,there ya' have it.