Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) are one of those bands that has constantly been on my playlist for years. Their music going above and beyond my expectations, with 20 minute tracks being more or less the norm, with so many rises and falls in energy, each album, even each song is a journey in itself to listen to. So it comes as no surprise that when I found out that they would be getting back together for a tour after almost 10 years of being split up, I jumped at the chance of seeing them (the last 5 shows on the tour, all being in their hometown of Montreal, sold out very quickly, I was lucky enough to get a ticket). They played at Theatre St Catherine, a neat little venue who’s modern exterior and entrance contrast highly with the interior, which looks and feels like a very old playhouse, with the leveled floors and large stage area. The only downside was that there seems to be no air conditioning in this building, so when packed to capacity, it can get very, very hot, and the temptation to peel off the layers is almost impossible to resist, even if that means taking off everything (no one did, whether that’s lucky or unlucky I’ll let you decide).

The excitement was in the air waiting for GY!BE to come on and blow us away with their intense soundscapes. No one, especially not me, could have been prepared for what happened next.

Dreamcatcher

A local two piece noise-art-rock band. I would say no offense to my following statement, but I really honestly want to offend this duo in hopes that they will stop creating this nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, noise music, when done right, can be quite beautiful and interesting (i.e.: John Cage), but this was as directionless as a 14 year old trying weed for the first time. It was a horrible 30 minutes of random noises, horribly out of tune, heavily effects ridden guitar, directionless drum patterns that appeared and disappeared from thin air at random intervals, and what I strain to call vocals (as far as the word can be stretched) over top, like those stereotypical "avant-garde" poems you see in films. The fact that this group is from Montreal shames me. As one of my friend's aptly put it, it was an "alien abduction gone wrong."

But it was all made up for.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Despite the heat, the terrible opening act and the packed, crammed conditions on the floor, this group took me to another world. The entire show started with an underlying drone, with each member of the eight-piece band coming onto the stage, one by one, slowly picking up their instrument and adding to the drone, a message from one of the four projectors at the back placing a single word at the back, seemingly a symbol for all we seem to have to cling to these days; “Hope”. From then the song swelled and thinned with such perfect timing, really making the audience feel the emotions put forth in their songs which can only truly be described as epics, each and every one (not in that “oh man that was so epic!” meme kind of way but in the actual sense that each song is a full journey with a story behind it). They played a number of songs (what the names were I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but I recognized them all) and went through them almost seamlessly for two and a half hours, stopping to play only once or twice throughout the set, and even then only for maybe two minutes tops. While the band was playing, the projectionist was working his magic, posting various clips from slides of books, to films of factories, streets, trains, tunnels, cars etc and manually superimposing them with the four different projectors, adding his own effects using a bowl and his fingers to provide interesting effects, even going so far as melting the film on screen. The band, coupled with the projections, made the night a full experience, as it hit me full force, audibly, visually and physically. I let myself go for the set, really feeling the entire experience, so much so that it is almost indescribable without having been to the show yourself.

One thing that did grate on me a bit, though, was that the show did not entirely feel like a concert. It had this whole pretentious air set forth by the band itself, for not once did they acknowledge the audience, there was no interaction. The fact that the band came in one by one at random, as though this was either a random occurrence, or an audio-visual exhibit in an art gallery. This was only really a pet peeve brought forth by all the other shows I have seen in the past, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor was a show like I have never experienced before, despite how tired, sore and sweaty I was after, it still ranks as one of the best shows I have seen. If you ever get the chance to see them, please do, you’ll not regret it.