Who can't get excited about a poster like that? It's got everything you want right? Sweet cover, big buildings, windows, shit, names and text.
Needless to say, my friend Big Red and I were super pumped for this show, waiting months in advance, salivating to our copies of Juturna and On Letting Go. (Sorry to all the hard-core fans, we don't have our copies of Blue Sky Noise...yet)
The night of the concert I arrive relatively late, with Big Red patiently waiting for me at the concert doors.
Inside Bogarts, if none of you have been there, is awesome. Take a look:
Inside Bogarts, if none of you have been there, is awesome. Take a look:
Totally tasteless, shitty, small cramped hot stenched and drenched, this venue is perfect for all you're mosh pitting sweaty needs.
The base of the the whole thing is a 60 x 40 long dance hall with a low rise theater. Brown acoustic padding lines the wall in some sad attempt to get waves moving in this place, and farther back is the entrance, with a few cruddy tables and plastic garbage cans. At the top, which you can barely see, is the mother-of-all shit hole bars, manned by two desperate mother fuckers working over time to serve spilled beer in plastic cups.
So walking in, Big Red and I immediately see that
set up has already begun. We're a little, nervous, anxious, and late. Naturally we think we've already missed our big chance, sweating away 30$ for a crappy time, when Red notices that
"Hey...those are the speakers Circa Survive use".
And thats when Circa steps on the stage.
The base of the the whole thing is a 60 x 40 long dance hall with a low rise theater. Brown acoustic padding lines the wall in some sad attempt to get waves moving in this place, and farther back is the entrance, with a few cruddy tables and plastic garbage cans. At the top, which you can barely see, is the mother-of-all shit hole bars, manned by two desperate mother fuckers working over time to serve spilled beer in plastic cups.
So walking in, Big Red and I immediately see that
set up has already begun. We're a little, nervous, anxious, and late. Naturally we think we've already missed our big chance, sweating away 30$ for a crappy time, when Red notices that
"Hey...those are the speakers Circa Survive use".
And thats when Circa steps on the stage.
- Firstly, Props to the lights guy for CS. The show would not have been what it was without you. From swimming in amethyst green to watching in grey-scale, we saw some truly amazing work out there.
- Anthony Green is not very tall.
- This was my first time moshing.
It was tentative at first, inching into the center of the crowd. Then, suddenly, everything went
The only possible re-enactment of a most awesome scene. Just dozens of screaming fans bouncing off each other. I learned all sorts of 'ettiqute' and helped to make sure the smaller, sometimes (but not always) female members of the mosh were not destroyed. It was a truly awesome sweaty sweet time. You can learn more about Moshing at Zen and the Art of Moshing. (arstin Viggin does not necessarily endorse all opinions supported by linked article)
Then, Anberlin came on. Now, I and my friend had little to no previous knowledge about Anberlin or what they sounded like. But If there is one lesson I learned from that night, it's that
BANDS MUST BREAK THE 4TH WALL.
What I mean by the 4th wall is This. When you come to a concert, I find, that it is very hard for musicians to break the 4th wall, simply because with each song, each performance, it is re-built. There's something very difficult when it comes to directly relating to or conversing with a rockstar in the middle of a concert debut. What Anthony Green (and other fantastic musicians) have attempted is repeated destruction of the 4th. In order to destroy the wall, one must resort to a crowds humanity. An example below:
It was about halfway through the Anberlin show that we'd realized the Mosh has lost it's spunk. People were forgetting what it meant to thrash and jump, getting upset over bumped heads and tangled limbs. Which is only natural, as Big Red would put it,
Then, Anberlin came on. Now, I and my friend had little to no previous knowledge about Anberlin or what they sounded like. But If there is one lesson I learned from that night, it's that
BANDS MUST BREAK THE 4TH WALL.
What I mean by the 4th wall is This. When you come to a concert, I find, that it is very hard for musicians to break the 4th wall, simply because with each song, each performance, it is re-built. There's something very difficult when it comes to directly relating to or conversing with a rockstar in the middle of a concert debut. What Anthony Green (and other fantastic musicians) have attempted is repeated destruction of the 4th. In order to destroy the wall, one must resort to a crowds humanity. An example below:
At one point during the concert, Green starts speaking to the audience through sea-emerald light, about the cold (relating) and harsh winter (empathy) and contrasting it to the life (bonding) inside the concert and how we (supportive) are helping us (connection) to live in all this death (unity)What Anberlin did, and some artists fail to do, is realize just how distant they appear (both metaphorically and relativity) to their audiences. When celebrities come crashing down from the heavens on their chariots of gold, it takes a lot of convincing before we realize they're just people like us. Except, you know, famous.
It was about halfway through the Anberlin show that we'd realized the Mosh has lost it's spunk. People were forgetting what it meant to thrash and jump, getting upset over bumped heads and tangled limbs. Which is only natural, as Big Red would put it,
"When they let us down like that!"
