Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC - 3/20/11

I just realized I never did a write up of the two shows I hit in March. I guess my brain was still processing how amazing they were.

It's very likely that if you are reading this, you don't personally know me. Therefore, you probably don't understand how much Godspeed You! Black Emperor mean, musically, to me. F#A#∞ changed my view on what was possible in music; Lift Yr. Skinny Fists... furthered my love of incredible experimental music and if I had to pick one album to live on a deserted island with, it more than likely would be it. I firmly believe everything they've released is absolutely stellar. So, last year when I heard that, after a seven year hiatus, they would be reuniting for a tour, I literally shit my pants.

OK, maybe not literally, but you get the picture. After the presale sold out before anyone even knew about it, I found out when tickets were officially going on sale (Feb. 3 at 10am, I memorized it), and I left class early to camp and desperately F5 until I managed to get my tickets (they sold out in about 15 minutes).

The 9:30 Club is a pretty large venue, for those who have never been there. I would estimate between 5 and 600 people were there, crammed on the floor or in the balcony. The opening act was Eric Chenaux. Even he understood the task he has handed, and opened his introduction by saying exactly how many songs he would play, "in case anyone is keeping count." His single acoustic guitar created a weird singer-songwriter vibe. He would wah out his voice and instrument into a strange psych-folk sound that, while interesting, would have been better suited opening for maybe Grails. I think he may have been picked to open because of the ease of his setup, allowing GY!BE to have all their equipment already out and ready for their start time.

One by one, the came on stage, not saying a word, and so began what I honestly consider to be the closest thing to a religious experience as I've ever had. The next two hours spanned the group's discography, including two live-only tracks. Opening with the live-only 'Hope Drone', they transitioned right into 'Moya'. Each instrument's sound and each note were perfect, and the tone was set (and sometimes augmented) by the projectionists' work behind them. GY!BE actually have people manipulating film strips on old projectors, instead of just digitally doing it; scrawled words, plants, landfills, birds, buildings, and even a cat made an appearance. Some strips were even burned intentionally as the show progressed. Having looked at the set lists for past shows, no two were the same, and while I was hoping for a good selection, I never thought they would play basically the best set I could have hoped for. The rest of the night heard/saw 'Albanian', 'Lift Yr. Skinny Fists/Gathering Storm', '9-15-00 (Part Two)', 'Chart #3/World Police and Friendly Fire' (I would have paid the ticket price just to hear that), 'Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls', and, of course, the night closed with 'Sad Mafioso', arguably the most famous Godspeed song ever. A simple wave a few of the members as they exited, one by one, leaving behind the final droning notes, and the night had ended. I wish I could tell you more about what the band was doing and what exactly was on the projections, but to tell you the truth I was in basically a trance.

And that was it. I had spent so much time building up how amazing this show was going to be, and it exceeded everything I could have hoped for. I can only hope that one day I'll be lucky enough to catch them again.

The entire show is available in mp3 here (as one mp3), or on the archive (split up).

And if you'd like to witness a little bit of what happened, here's a damn good quality video on YouTube.