Godspeed You! Black Emperor -- Chapel Hill, NC -- October 4th, 2012

illuminatus917 · #1 10-05-2012, 02:09 PM

After listening to F# A# Infinity on vinyl and looking over some faulty schematics to a ruined machine at my cousin's apartment I was in a GY!BE mood. We ate at a pub across the street from Cat's Cradle at the same the band did. Efrim, Sophie and co. walked in while we were having a nice talk about measuring the worth of science. They ate at a booth adjacent to us and out of eyesight though, and we didn't bother them on the way out.

I bought the 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! LP as soon as we walked in the venue, as the merch guy told us it was probable they'd sell out before the show finished. Other merch they had included 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! and "God's pee" t-shirts. I talked to some UNC kids, met up with some friends, sat through a monotonous opening band's set, then hung out for about thirty more minutes (at least, probably more like forty-five) while Godspeed set up, and then Hope Drone started and one by one the members came out on stage.

"Hope" started flashing on the projection screen, followed by images of trains, dead bodies, decayed buildings, etc.

Lineup in attendance:

David Bryant
Efrim Menuck
Mike Moya
Sophie Trudeau
Thierry Amar
Mauro Pezzente
Aidan Girt
Tim Herzog (of NC's Black Skies)

Setlist:

1. Hope Drone
2. Mladic
3. "Murray Ostril" ...They Don't Sleep Anymore on the Beach
4. Monheim
[a shit ton of new stuff I didn't recognize and long drone interludes, some of which easily could have been "Their Helicopters' Sing" and "Strung Like Lights at Thee Printemps Erable"]
8. The Sad Mafioso

There were at least three songs in between Monheim and The Sad Mafioso, none of which were on any of their albums, along with a ton of drone material. They're calling one song "Behemoth" on setlist.fm but I don't even know what that is so I'm not putting it in this set. They played for about two and a half hours.

A lot of that new stuff, according to my cousin who's a music guru, was atonal and used eastern scales (which I could never pick up by ear). There was one song in between all the droning that was really good - it seemed like a typical Godspeed song that built up over fifteen or so minutes and reached a massive climax. Of course when the Murray Ostril recording came on, and when Efrim played the opening notes to A Sad Mafioso, the crowd went wild. Cat's Cradle was sold out. Godspeed has become more popular probably than they ever wished to be.

After the show Efrim was outside the venue talking to some folks and my cousin and I went and asked him what kind of literature he was inspired by. The only answer we got was "The Savage Detectives" by Roberto Bolano.

Slow moving trains & schematics of drilling rigs.

Coma323 · #2 10-05-2012, 04:03 PM

The Boston show was about an hour and forty-five minutes, jealous of this longer set...
Also, not even close to being sold out with empty seats EVERYWHERE.

valgalder · #3 10-05-2012, 04:31 PM

wow - that is really surprisingly about boston...

adamclark52 · #4 10-05-2012, 05:35 PM

I. Am. So. Jealous.

illuminatus917 · #5 10-05-2012, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coma323

The Boston show was about an hour and forty-five minutes, jealous of this longer set...
Also, not even close to being sold out with empty seats EVERYWHERE.

Yeah, that is surprising. I don't know the set times for this show exactly, but from the first drone until the last it was every bit of two and a half hours. That includes the twenty or so minutes it took all the members to take stage during Hope Drone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamclark52

I. Am. So. Jealous.

adamclark52 · #6 10-05-2012, 06:07 PM

I've got to go see these guys live the next time they come to Toronto, hipsters or not. They're my favorite freaking band.

valgalder · #7 10-05-2012, 08:26 PM

had tickets for the Buffalo show but ended up moving.. and now they're not playing close to me. ugh! Oh well, saw them last tour in Brooklyn and they were awesome. I expect nothing less this time around.

illuminatus917 · #8 10-05-2012, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by valgalder

had tickets for the Buffalo show but ended up moving.. and now they're not playing close to me. ugh! Oh well, saw them last tour in Brooklyn and they were awesome. I expect nothing less this time around.

They were better last year to be honest. They played less old stuff this time around, and spent a TON of time droning. Very improvisational. Free jazz fans would respect the hell out of live GY!BE.

bigguytoo9 · #9 10-06-2012, 07:53 AM

I saw them front row center last year in Vancouver and Godspeed played for 2.5 hours non-stop. I think my brain melted at that concert and it wasnt even the best post rock ive seen. Sigur Ros still takes the cake.

newzerokarolina · #10 10-06-2012, 11:15 AM

small correction - bruce cawdron hasn't been touring with them this time. his current fill-in is tim herzog from an NC band called black skies.