[photos by PSquared Photography – full set at brooklynvegan]
A month ago we posted Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s performance at the Hopscotch Festival. It was a strange night for acidjack — as the outdoor venue and the pouring rain created a surreal experience for GYBE show. As a nice bookend of the Canadian band’s month-long tour of the US East coast, we caught one of the NYC appearances at the intimate Music Hall of Williamsburg on Wednesday (they also played Terminal 5 and Warsaw last week).
The MHOW show was more a “traditional” GYBE show as the band’s projectionist was able to provide a stunning backdrop to the thematic post-rock being orchestrated from the stage. Additionally, the venue was the perfect size for an attentive crowd — there was virtually no chatter and the audience was fully engaged in the show. The result was virtually the perfect concert experience. If so inclined, it was literally possible to get lost in the music, as GYBE played straight through without a break and the show flowed flawlessly. This show lasted well over two hours, but if you were engaged in the music the time was immaterial. The GYBE setlist was fairly consistent with the shows of this tour with a “Hope Drone” opener and a complete run through the band’s new album Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress included. This particular show also added “Gathering Storm” early in the set and late in the show featured one of the two new songs that have appeared on this tour. The show closed with twenty-minutes of “The Sad Mafioso” that faded into a long drone where each of the band members exited the stage before guitarist Efrim Menuck returned to the stage to turn off all of the amps and end the night. It was a subtle closing of a very intense evening but seemed completely apt.
Godspeed’s US tour is complete, but the band will spend the next six weeks touring throughout Europe, dates here.
I recorded this set with the Schoeps set up on the floor inside of a nook at the front of the soundboard booth. The sound in the venue was superb and this recording captures it equally well. Enjoy!
Thanks to Tim for his tremendous help throughout the week in making this recording happen in the fashion that it did!
This Recording is Available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].
Stream the Complete Show via Archive.org:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
2015-09-30
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn NY
Digital Master Recording
Recorded FOB
Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
Setlist:
[Total Time 2:09:19]
01 Hope Drone
02 Gathering Storm
03 Peasantry or Light Inside of Light
04 Lambs Breath
05 Asunder Sweet
06 Piss Crowns Are Trebled
07 Moya
08 [New Song]
09 The Sad Mafioso
If you download or stream this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Godspeed You! Black Emperor, visit their website, and purchase their new album Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress from Constellation Records [HERE].
New Song 2 is really becoming something fantastic. Great quality. Thanks NYCT