Wow. I haven't seen a concert as all-consuming as the Mogwai / godspeed you black emporer! /

 Ganger show on Friday night. For once, all three bands were too much for me to handle, and 
more than once I wished just to sit down, close my eyes, and completely focus on the 
soundscapes being created.

First of all, I met up with Paul Marin before the show (cheers!), and we had a great time 
killing the extra hour we had since the show was pushed to 9pm. Ganger came on, and they 
were an excellent opening band. Whoever paired them with Mogwai knew what they were doing. 
They had two bassists, two drummers, and one guitar, and they made good use of all of them.
 Their live sound was in the same vein as Mogwai or godspeed, but Paul bought their cd, so 
he can elaborate on whether their studio sound is just as good.

Then came godspeed you black emporer. wow. They were so incredibly tight, and I was amazed 
that they only even looked at each other for musical cues about three times during the 
hour-long set. They had all nine members on stage (even though I had heard that they 
sometimes use 13!): a cello, a violinist, three guitarists, two bassists, and two 
percussionists. Needless to say, the stage was a bit crowded. =) At one point, one 
guitarist (Evan or Effan?) used a screwdriver as a bow on his guitar, and it made a sound 
somewhere between a saw (ala Deserter's songs) and a violin. It was truly incredible. My 
friend got a setlist afterwards from a confused guitarist (the guy with the two locks of 
hair on the back of his head), and it was printed on the back of a Chinese restaurant 
placemat:

NEW THING (PART III)
GORECKI
THIERRY'S + GATHERING <with a little doodle of a thundercloud and lightning>
JOHN HUGHES
BLAIZE BAILEY

("Thierry's" was the incredibly intense Moya, and "Blaize Bailey" was BBF3. The other 
three I believe were new songs, as they weren't on Slow Riot or F#A#oo)

Then, after a loud, lengthy soundcheck, Mogwai came on at midnight (you know it's going to 
be loud when the audience is clapping hands over ears during the soundcheck!). First of 
all, just let me explain that there were no fewer than TEN AMPS on stage, not counting the 
playback ones facing the band. I've never seen Mogwai live before, but this performance was
 incredible. I've never heard a band use dynamics as expertly as they did. Barely audible 
flute and soft guitar twinkling one second, then a loud, scratchy barrage of noise the next.
 Brilliant. At several point, Stuart Braithwaite enlisted the help of an action figure in 
his pocket (Han Solo?) to play his guitar, and by the last song (Like Herod), he was 
writhing on the floor grabbing anything around him to help in the noise: drumsticks wedged 
in the strings, mic getting feedback from the amp, mic rubbed on the strings and sticks, 
screaming into mic, Han Solo on strings. Written down, it looks like it'd sound like a mess,
 and it did -- but it fit perfectly. (But I was still desperately glad I'd invested in ear 
plugs, since it was LOUD even with them!)

I wrangled a setlist for my friend (this one was written on the back of a reggae fest 
advertisement!):

Superheroes of BMX
Small Children in the Background
Helicon 2
Christmas Steps
Waltz For Aidan
Helicon 1
Kappa
Like Herod

After the show, two friends and I went around to the back alley to meet Mogwai and get cds 
signed and whatnot. Martin came out first and we chatted with him for a bit, and I 
presented him with an evil stuffed rabbit I had been saving (it shakes and has glowing red 
cheeks and spouts off unitentelligable noise, it's really frightning), and he loved it and 
showed it around to everyone inside. So if a bunny shows up in their next liner notes, you 
know where it came from. =) We missed John and Dominic, though, as they scooted out the 
door and down the alley before we could catch them. Then Stuart and Barry came out and I 
complimented Barry on his mad flute skills, to which he was all embarrassed and couldn't 
believe I would like it since he'd only been playing for two years... We talked a bit more 
about Brighton and who's idea it was to book Godspeed (Stuart's), then Stuart said they had
 to go get some cheesesteaks, and sure enough, a few minutes later as we were walking to 
our car, they were ordering inside at Jim's on South Street. =) No wonder John had made a 
beeline in that direction -- he's not called Capt Meat for nothing!

We then went around the front of the venue where godspeed were still packing up their gear 
into an old, blue short bus, and even though they declined to sign cds (they said it just 
didn't feel right), we got out of them what the cover of Slow Riot means -- "waste and void"
, and also that they create all of their own "samples" in their songs.

And there ended the highights of our night, not counting the near-crash coming home from 
the show (a car driving 80+ mph in the opposite direction in our lane, with no lights until
100 yards in front of us. for real.). Can't wait to see Mogwai again in Brighton next month,
 if I can only get tickets... =)

NB: If anyone's going to the Mogwai show in hopes of getting a Blur: Are Shite shirt, 
prepare to look downtrodden -- they completely sold out of them during the DC show this 
week...

	melissa, who got a very cute mogwai (diabetic) shirt instead...