Tuesday, November 06, 2012

another update

So no, of course yesterday's Grizzly Bear gig was not divine. But not profane either. How could it be: the venue, suggestively called 'Paradiso', used to be a church and is pretty much still is. Right above the stage and above an appropriate stained-glass window it still says 'SOLI DEO GLORIA' ("glory to God alone") which one can easily take as an astute commentary on the fake idols that are present on the stage at any particular day you happen to be there. And the guys from Grizzly Bear themselves are probably the closest thing to a church choir band than anyone else in my music library. Moreover, the smoke machines hadn't stopped working for a second so the band was constantly shrouded in a cloud, another suggestive symbol. To say nothing of the crazy light effects. Well, I'll say a bit. The main contraption looked like a bunch of balloons floating in the thin air and filled with candles. Need I say candles and churches go very well together. The congregation too was very solemn, the "hands folded tight" (Arcade Fire, 2010) kind of crowd. I, however, have failed to experience anything close to a religious trance. I blame my logic exam that was happening simultaneously with the gig and which (the former) I had to partially forfeit for that reason. When I had finished my exam in 25 minutes instead of 90 the woman who was administering the it looked genuinely worried, asked me if I was feeling well and when I answered I had to go must have assumed a close relative had died or, maybe, that an earthquake was coming. Despite the manic bike ride across the city it was worth it. And the afterparty had a revelation or two to offer. In a place called 'Waterhole' for some reason (reminded me of 'Watergate', ah, Berlin), a band called 'Ruben's Cosmic Jam' had a few revelations to offer. In their rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Knocking on the Heaven's Door' the singer insisted that  she'd rather knock on other people's doors than on God's door (who's not there to open anyway). Lesson learned. And a lot of fat kids dancing for some reason.

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