what a night it was. as mentioned in the other thread, I was bringing two jesu vrigins with me, one who knew justin through napalm death, the other through final. so both ends of the spectrum, pretty much.
I got to the city alone, my friends were to meet me later on as they were traveling from different parts of jersey. I got to the theatre at 5, in hope to buy a ticket. doors were to be at 6. lo and behold, a few stores away there’s a placemat outside and justin sitting on it, along with the other band members standing behind him, doing some sort of photo shoot. after that, they walked by me outside the venue. I said a quick “what’s up” to justin and he did the same and looked very happy, and amazed at the tall buildings enclosing us, yet a beautiful blue sky and warm weather. it looks like they went around the corner to take more pics.
at this point I try to get a ticket, but the venue said that "tickets can only be purchased at irving plaza’s box office, located on 14th st. from 10a.m-4pm . " what!? I ask security, and they said “we think the show is sold out, but we can try to squeze you in” . the idiots didn’t have a clue. doors weren’t at 6, they were at 7. the show wasn’t sold out (though it was full) and i was able to get my ticket and secure seats for my friends too.
ok enough bullshit. the first band, fog, wasn’t good. they didn’t fit at all. some folky melodic rock stuff. wasn’t my cup of tea and no one liked them.
torche was next. they were pretty intense at times, pretty heavy, but nothing too impressive.
at around 10, jesu took stage in this venue, an old converted movie theatre from the 1920’s. there was about 2 minutes of justin doing some great stuff with his guitar, mostly feedback, and then broke into the first song. from then on out, they were just MIND blowing. I saw the napalm death friend moving back and forth with the music, he was getting into it. the final friend looked on in a trance. I was doing both. my friends applauded loudly after every song and always gave me a “holy shit that was awesome” after every song. I couldn’t agree more. this was one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen. justin was really getting into it and seemed honest and happy to be up there. the fans appreciated him immensly.
here’s the selist from the philly show, taken from the avalanch board, I’m sure it’s the same (I don’t have conqueror or the other new ones yet)
01 Stanlow
02 Old Year
03 Conqueror
04 Silver
05 Tired Of Me
06 Transfigure
07 Friends Are Evil
the highlights? EVERY fucking song was amazing. I’d have to say Friends Are Evil really was amazing though. that’s the one the fans really went nuts for. As the song seemed to be ending, the drummer and the bassist left and Justin was up there for a good, I’d say 10, maybe 15 minutes it seemed like, going CRAZY with his effects and reverbs and all that stuff. It seemed very Final-like, think the last track on “One” for instance.
When that ended, Justin made an announcment that he’d be dj’ing at one a.m. at an art gallery in Brooklyn. bummer I didn’t know that in advance, I would have tried to make it had I knew how to get there/where it was/if I had more money.
I tried going to the merch booth, but it was too crowded and security started kicking us out. I saw a sweet poster, the Silver vinyl, and some lifeline shirts and cds.
the night winded down with us heading to a dinner in my town. the fuckers didn’t have mashed potatoes with my turkey. HOW DOES A DINNER RUN OUT OF MASHED POTATOES? they said my friend’s order was taken and he had to wait for another one. and they gave me coke when I asked for sprite. fuckers.
ah, enough of my ramblings. jizzwad, I didn’t even take a sip of alcohol last night to give you this review! [laugh] now, off to order the japanese imports of liflife and conqueror, along with pale sketches.