Godspeed You! Black Emperor -- San Francisco, CA -- February 19th, 2011

[jotun2graveland]

Originally Posted by ShatteredFlame

The lineup of that festival is amazing! Boris, GY!BE, Autolux, Melt-Banana, Boredoms, Envy!!! I'm sure the crowd would be amazing for especially Melt-Banana

I got a ticket for the show the moment I found out about it. The one downside to the show is that they have two stages for it. Melt-Banana is the last band to play on the second stage, so I'm still debating if I want to get a good spot for GY!BE or go see Melt-Banana.

[slapguitarer]

Originally Posted by idrinkwine732

They are sold out, but people were selling their extra ticket outside.

:/ bummer, maybe they'll play again some time.

That's what I'm hoping. Gives me more time to listen to them and indugle in their music.

[idrinkwine732]

idrinkwine732 and Godspeed You! Black Emperor: A Love Story...continued

Jesus Christ I was sore on Sunday. Didn't stop me from heading into the city early, though. I stopped by Valencia Street to Aquarius Records, where I picked up my Scion Rock Fest wristband, on the off chance I can actually make it down there in a few weeks. I got some dinner at a place and zoomed on over to the Great American Music Hall, which now is becoming one of my favorite venues in the city. I scored the awesomest parking space right around the corner, and it was on the street, so I paid zip. It was only about 6:45 when I got there, so there were only about fifty people in line. GAMH did a hell of a job cutting down on scalping. They limited the amount of tickets you could buy, 2, and they made them all will call. It made for a pretty terrible process of getting in though. People were confused, people showed up trying to get tickets at the door. It was pretty painless for me though. I just went straight on up to the L-Z guy at the end of the line, he gave me my ticket and I was in the door.



The people in front of me had ordered garlic fries. Look, it's a love it or hate it thing, like marmite, but it made me feel starving, and the night a lot more hellacious. The opening band tonight was Date Palms, an ambient-ish sort of band. They probably were exactly what everyone thought an opener should be for Godspeed, but I just wasn't into them. They had a sitar...ist and he played these same notes for the first 20 minutes while the bassist repeated some notes and a violinist played. Their set dragged on for what seemed like a long time. It was an incredible contrast between them and Om. Damn those garlic fries. I could have eaten a small cow.

The glaring omission from the setlist the day before was Moya. I was really eager to see that song played, so I looked it up on my phone and I found out they played it semi-regularly, but I knew, with my luck, if there was one day they wouldn't play it, it would be the day I'm there. So when I heard Sophie, Efrim, Mike and co. all start the beginning of Hope Drone, I wasn't excited, I was nervous. They ended Hope Drone the same way as the night before, with Efrim messing around with some riffs. But then, there was a noticeable change in Mike's guitar tone, and I knew they were going to play it. Moya ascended into a beautiful and organic sounding piece, and was just like I imagined.



I had seen most of the setlists from the previous shows in Canada, Seattle and Portland, so I had an idea of the pool of songs that they would choose from. I think we got the best of the bunch. They rocked through The Albanian, Monheim and Dead Metheny, as well as World Police, all songs we'd gotten the night before. I expected them to just play Gathering Storm, but we ended up getting a lot of Storm. It was one of those things where you thought it was going to end right...now, but it wouldn't. That's not a complaint, though. I was sort of getting tired of the tease though, I wanted to see what they were closing with. They then overlayed a little bit of the end of Storm with The Sad Mafioso, and really let some improvisation go with it. I was really happy to see Sad Mafioso, because after Moya, that might be my favorite Godspeed song. It offers such a beautiful sense of melancholy and gives off a feeling of being both lethargic and energetic. It's weird.



I left The Warfield the previous night tired and slightly disappointed. I wanted more. I left the Great American Music Hall last night feeling fulfilled and happy. I was so sure that I wouldn't be seeing Moya, that once I saw it, it made me ecstatic. That feeling of ecstasy continued the entire night, something that the previous show couldn't compete with. I was happy. I was gassed. I walked away from my two day experience with a nice GY!BE poster, a handful of awesome videos and a ton of great memories.

Hope Drone
Moya
The Albanian
They Don't Sleep Anymore on the Beach
Monheim
Dead Metheny
09-15-00
Chart #3
World Police and Friendly Fire
Storm
The Sad Mafioso

[illuminatus917]

BBF3 is an inferior song to Moya, yes, but that's not saying a whole lot considering Moya has 6 1/2 minutes of some of the best music I've ever heard. I think BBF3 would be the perfect night ender for the reasons you mentioned… it has an awesome sort of reprise from an earlier dropped theme, then a wonderful climax, then a dark brooding 3 min outro. That outro is a good one to go out on. But the ideal set would have the whole EP played, preferably as a night ender.

The set alone makes night #2 better. Moya and the Sad Mafioso… and World Police… those are three of the best right there.

And there shouldn't be any complaining about "driving distances." Slap is too far out of the city? I'm driving 5 hours to see this band. And 7 1/2 to see Agalloch...

I'm glad it was a great show though.

[idrinkwine732]

Originally Posted by illuminatus917

And there shouldn't be any complaining about "driving distances." Slap is too far out of the city? I'm driving 5 hours to see this band. And 7 1/2 to see Agalloch...

Considering how the show was already sold out, doors were opening in an hour from that post and he can't drive himself, I'd say that there were a lot of things that contributed to him not being able to go to the show tonight. I'm only about 30 minutes out of the city, so I can decide to go to a show pretty much an hour before it starts.

Also...

Gathering Storm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdwqD0vz

Chart #3 and World Police:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2RGokmAjU4

Moya:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO_mW3N3aZE

[illuminatus917]

Originally Posted by idrinkwine732

If you didn't live so far away from the city, I'd emplore you to try and get your ass down to the third show tonight.

Originally Posted by slapguitarer

Also, I live an hour/an hour and half away from the city

My point was, in no reasonable context should an hour or an hour and a half be regarded as a far driving distance.

[Statutory-Mike]

so upset the 4 nyc shows sold out

[bigguytoo9]

I saw this show FRONT ROW CENTER at the Vogue theater in Vancouver last Wed night.

It was freaking insane!!! more guitar pedals on stage then a BORIS concert.

the setlist was as follows

1. Hope Drone
2. Gathering Storm
3. Monheim
4. Albanian
5. Chart #3
6. World Police and Friendly Fire
7. Dead Metheny
8. Rockets fall On Rocket Falls
9. BBF3

[Derelict]

Good review man. I know what you mean about the crowd with the hipsters - the faith no more show i saw in july was 98% apathetic hipsters, really killed the mood for me.

[IrritatedTrout]

Originally Posted by bigguytoo9

I saw this show FRONT ROW CENTER at the Vogue theater in Vancouver last Wed night.

It was freaking insane!!! more guitar pedals on stage then a BORIS concert.

the setlist was as follows

1. Hope Drone
2. Gathering Storm
3. Monheim
4. Albanian
5. Chart #3
6. World Police and Friendly Fire
7. Dead Metheny
8. Rockets fall On Rocket Falls
9. BBF3

You say that like it's a good thing.