About 2 weeks ago I was able to catch one of the very few North American live dates for the current Stars Of The Lid tour. The venue was at the Triple Door in downtown Seattle, which is a mere block away from the Pike Market entrance. The Triple Door has more of a dinner theater setup than what you would expect from your average live music venue. Everyone sat at candlelit tables, waiters filled glasses with water and brought out expensive looking meals. Needless to say, I felt a little under dressed and a even a little out of place. Fuck it. I was there to witness the rare comet that is Stars Of The Lid.
Some laptop dude from Seattle opened up (name I can't remember) followed by Christopher Willits, who played his guitar hooked through his laptop. His set was filled with ambient guitar noodlings backed up by his glitch-happy laptop. He had a few truly sublime moments, but I prefer him on record (see the splendid joint effort with Ryuichi Sakamoto). Stars played an hour long set mostly comprised of "hits" from their last 2 full lengths, The Refinement and Decline and The Tired Sounds Of. The main duo of Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride were backed up by 3 female string players (1 cello and 2 violinists? We were pretty much at the back and couldn't totally tell what was what) who helped dramatize the tracks and give the songs the full, lush sound that they have on record. If it wasn't for them it would have just been 2 dudes standing in front of their amps. Needless to say, it was an awe-inspiring show that sent an electric current up my spine for close to an hour. Luckily, 2 of the SOTL nerds that I was with recorded the show. Down below are links to my favorite track of the night, Requiem For Dying Mothers. A full posting of the entire show is on the way...
REQUIEM FOR DYING MOTHERS LIVE IN SEATTLE 2008
boomp3.com
more pics...
Willits
SOTL
All photos by me. Audio by Amir.
2 comments:
Willits didn't really do much for me, he was a bit too "glitch-happy" and scattered if you ask me.
...but those giant glass water bottles on the table were the real show stealers.
a-dogg
Great looking photos Mark. I didn't leave the other comment. It must be the other a-dogg. Although I fully agree with what he said and couldn't have put it better myself...
Keep up the blog, it's sleek.
Oh, ya and how about that snow storm on the way back? That was the real show stealer.
-adrian
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