azusa plane was supposed to open, but cancelled due to the fact that they
practiced last night and "it wasn't there," according to the one guy from
the band i talked to outside. they have no plans to play for a while but
will likely do terrastock in london (?).
bardo pond, of whom i have been rather neutral-to-ambivalent, was really
good for the first few songs, although there was too much bottom end and
they seemed to be overwhelming the pa in such a small place. i never seem
to be in the right mood to see this band, i was really tired last night,
but i have the impression that if i am ever in the right mood, aka awake,
somewhat toasted and vaguely giddy about life, i would really love them. i
need to break down and buy one of their records i think. as it was i went
to the back and gasped for air in the very crowded khyber.
i was pretty much front and center for mogwai thanks to the reliable drew,
who can always be found in that vicinity. mogwai had a cute hippo-like
stuffed animal they were playing with before the show. they had a couple of
roadie types with them, and the band members would enter and exit the stage
as they set up, returning with a few more bottles of various brands of beer
each time -- rolling rock, yuengling lager, yuengling porter,
chesterfield... it was funny to watch them inspect the bottles curiously,
as they likely had never seen such beers before. most of us here take them
for granted. they probably though it was swill, but didn't seem to mind.
they all really looked like nice fellows.
they played eight songs, like herod and x-mas steps and six others. i never
really pay attention to the song titles when i listen to their albums. they
were quite simply amazing. they displayed a keen understanding of each
other's roles in the band and were perfectly in sync as a unit. they
switched off instruments frequently and had several extra guitars they used
-- mostly they used telecasters (yay), the quieter guitarist (oddly) had a
tele special, the one with humbuckers. rickenbacker bass with ampeg 8x10
cab and a huge ampeg head. they basically used my entire guitar and bass
setup which made me feel quite good about my gear. there were some extra
drums that the one guitarist would play at the end of some songs. also some
flute and an old keyboard (a rhoades maybe?). no vocals. full, unopened
beer bottles and eventually drinking straws were used to create amazing
sounds on the heavily but oh so tastily processed guitar signals. their
sound ranged from very quiet to extremely, i mean painfully loud in the
span of a heartbeat. they truly startled me a couple of times with
explosions out of nowhere that took me completely off guard. i learned to
watch the one guitarist's foot to be sure when he was stepping on the
distorition so he couldn't hurt me anymore. numerous people were milling
around outside in the window behind the stage, gaping in, something i have
never seen at a khyber show before. even your standard 2nd st. yuppie
couples would walk by and stand enthralled for a minute or two trying to
figure out what all the racket was about. the band ended with such a
fearsome amount of feedback that went on for five minutes, half of us had
to put our hands over our ears, something i have never done before but just
had to do then because i thought i would go deaf from it. i don't know what
else to say. i was simply amazed. they came, they saw, they conquered. all
hail the mighty mogwai!
