EPT![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/dCbxO.jpg)
So last night a dream came true for me.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a legendary post-rock group that has been on hiatus for around 7-8 years, their last album (Yanqui U.X.O.) having been released in 2002 and their last tour being immediately after that. Unfortunately, back then I didn't even know how to find music like theirs, let alone appreciate it. But in my later high school years I found their stuff and they very quickly grew into something of an obsession. I like a lot of bands, and enjoy a lot of different music, but Godspeed is one of the few acts that I will go totally fanboy over. I've got all their albums on vinyl. I've listened to bootlegs of their live shows. I make a habit of flipping through the tapes at music stores to check for the long-lost All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling. They're my top artist on last.fm. So on and so forth.
I'm not sure why they touched me on the level they did, but I believe there's nobody else out there with music quite like theirs. Other post-rock doesn't even come close. There's just something in their mastery of melody, the way their song structures work in atypical ways that still completely make sense, the affecting and fascinating found-sound samples that tend to bookend their tracks.
The only thing I never got to do was actually see them live. Godspeed shows have a reputation of being a nigh-religious experience, featuring incredibly loud, incredibly intense, incredibly beautiful reads of the album songs. The band has indicated before that they consider themselves a "live band", and their albums are their best effort at capturing the live experience. I've always loved live music. I've been going to concerts since I was four (spot the reference!). Some of my most treasured memories involve seeing exceptionally awesome shows with great crowds and great friends. It's that communal experience, I guess.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/s4odu.jpg)
So, uh, you can imagine I was pretty excited when GY!BE announced that they'd be touring again, and coming to my area.
Long story short, I got tickets, I saw them, and the band not only fulfilled my ridiculous expectations, it exceeded them.
Live, they bring a level of intense that I've heard nowhere else. Every song is pushed to its limits, filled until bursting with shrieking guitars, thundering percussion, etc. These nine musicians make one hell of an unholy racket. And yet, it's still completely beautiful and delicate.
Here's the one video I took of the band absolutely ripping through Chart #3 / World Police (most of Static on the album Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven). The way this song works live is completely awe-inspiring. It starts with a typical mystical, fascinating sample of what sounds like a street preacher, backed by heartbreaking violin and sparse, reverbed guitar. But then, it introduces a new melody that builds and builds and builds, seemingly reaching a peak, but then the band pushes it to a next level that you didn't think was possible, and then they somehow find a next NEXT level, and a next NEXT NEXT level, and then your jaw is on the floor and it's not coming back up anytime soon. I was a moron and recorded the video vertically instead of horizontally, but at the very least it still sounds pretty damn good for a cell phone recording.
They also played an awesome rendition of Albanian, an unreleased song that the group was doing live before they went on hiatus. If you're interested in hearing it, check out the recorded shows at www.archive.org -- I highly recommend the 05/14/2003 show at L'Olympic. It was a real treat to hear an unreleased song live.
Other highlights of the show (who am I kidding? it was all a highlight) included Storm, Sleep, Moya, and a frighteningly good play of Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls, from the calm-before-the-storm of the opening, to the dropping bombs of the first climax, to the epic stomp of the aftermath. I felt that song in my bones.
The show closed with a completely devastating, deafening rendition of East Hastings. Had it been the last thing I heard, I wouldn't have minded.
Also, merch! I can't wait to get this framed and on my wall. Great poster. I would've gotten a t-shirt too, but I didn't have enough cash on me.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/TfPSW.jpg)
So yeah, if you get a chance, SEE THIS BAND LIVE. You will not forget it anytime soon, and there might not be another opportunity for another seven years.
