The Angels of Light
Sunday 6/13/99, Stubb's BBQ Austin, TX
Tuesday 6/15/99, The Gypsy Tea Room Dallas, TX
Wednesday 6/16/99, VZD's Oklahoma City, OK
review written - 6/18/99I was fortunate enough to experience 3 shows by The Angels of Light this past week: Austin at Stubb's BBQ on Sunday, 6/13, Dallas at the Gypsy Tea Room on Tuesday, 6/15 and Oklahoma City at VZD's on Wednesday, 6/16. Each venue is small and intimate and all had a respectable turnout, probably around 50-100 people. The crowds were very receptive and respectful of the music and the band. I was especially surprised by the OKC crowd, the warmest of the three. In terms of energy, sound quality, band precision, general vibe, etc, I'd rank these 3 shows in this order: Austin, OKC, Dallas. Austin was perfect ... I pray that they taped that show! OKC was close to perfect, a few minor sound problems here and there but Gira and the band were in really great spirits, Gira joking around quite a bit even. Dallas had a bad vibe all around, the show was good but they went on later than usual (about 12:30am), there were some sound issues, the band was not as precise as the other 2 shows and Gira was noticeably irritated with a few of the band members at particular points in the set. But even on a 'bad' night it was still magnificent. I gave it a lot of thought on the way home (I traveled around 1700 miles for these 3 shows) and finally decided that of the hundreds of shows I've seen over the past 10 or so years, the Austin show was the best show I've ever seen, by anyone ... period. That coveted slot used to belong to the '95 Tulsa, OK SWANS show so that should tell you something ...
The Band:
Michael Gira - vocals, acoustic electric guitars, direction.
Gira sits front and center. Each night he is dressed rather sharply in a dress shirt (with suspenders), slacks and shoes, hair very neatly shorn and his customary fedora hat off stage. I was taken aback at first glance of him at the Austin show, he looks almost exactly the same as over 10 years ago ... he doesn't show his age very well. This look really suits him, it's very dignified and for some reason seems to match the new music perfectly. He seems to be battling a cold right now (or the rigors of singing nightly), often coughing in betweeen songs, but I didn't notice any detrimental effect on his voice at any of the shows ...
Christoph Hahn - electric lap steel guitar, electric guitar and backing vocals.
Christoph is also very well dressed each night in a cool, dark green suit, dress shoes and high collared dress shirt. He reminds me of Nick Cave a bit ... a slick looking sort of guy complete with goatee and mid-length center parted hair and always puffing away at a cigarette. He seems to be a bit of a loner, wandering about the venue before the shows and not really talking to anyone much. Christoph sits on stage left, to Gira's right, behind his lap steel guitar stand ...
Dana Schechter - bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals
I can't remember much about her appearance other than she was an attractive, fairly petite, short dark haired young woman. She wore pants/shirts. She sat stage left, behind Hahn and Gira to Gira's right ...
Thor Harris - drums/percussion, xylophone, piano, backing vocals.
Not sure if Thor is his given name, but it really does suit him. He looks just like the mythical god, stocky and well built with very long, flowing blonde hair that is braided back during the show. Thor is a t-shirt and jeans sort of guy and he seems to be quite amiable. He is from Texas and he had several fans in the audience at the Austin and Dallas shows. Thor sits directly behind Gira, center back with the exception of the final song when he takes over the keyboard on stage right ...
Birgt Staudt - electric accordion, piano, backing vocals
Another attractive young woman with blonde mid-length hair, fairly tall with a slender build and dark dresses. She sat stage right, directly to Gira's left behind her keyboard ...
Every member of the band is 110% a part of this music. They were all intensely focused, precise, emotionally involved and very energetic despite the length of the set and being seated throughout. Gira ... I could watch him perform forever and never tire of it. I defy you to show me someone else, barring Jarboe, as intensely involved in their own music live as Gira is. The majority of the show his eyes are closed as he deeply concentrates on the song. During the quieter parts he bobs his head back or to the side of the microphone, sways back and forth or squirms about in his chair. During the more aggressive parts he stomps his foot in rhythm with the song, his entire body almost convulsing in time with the music, occasionally barking commands to the band ("go!" being a common one). All eyes in the band are on him, waiting for the signal ... and then it comes, a frantic arm wave or a head jerk by Gira signifies a sudden change in the song (usually loud -> quiet, acoustic guitar/vocals) and the band follows his lead. Gira is just completely lost within himself when playing, oblivious to everyone and everything around him, but still precisely locked into place with the band and the music. There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing exactly what he loves and is delivering it with all his heart and soul ...
The Music:
Breathtaking! If you have any doubts that Gira could create something as emotionally and physically powerful as SWANS, put them to rest right now, permanently. This is Gira's best work to date in my opinion. The set runs almost exactly 1 and 1/2 hours. It consists of 10-11 songs:
"Forever Yours"
"My True Body"
"The Man With The Silver Tongue"
untitled love song
"Shame"
"Song For My Father"
"Praise Your Name"
"My Dead Son"
the mother song
"My Suicide" (Austin and OKC)
"New City Of The Future"Of the above, only 5 are from the album, "New Mother": Forever Yours, The Man.., Shame, Song For My Father and Praise Your Name. The rest are all either new or yet to be recorded. Gira didn't offer titles for the 4th and 9th songs, but he did say in OKC, before starting the 4th song, that "the next song is an untitled love song, it's called 'untitled love song'" ... I'm not sure if he was serious, but judging by the smirk on his face I'm guessing that he just hasn't come up with a suitable name yet. The 9th song I do not know the actual title of. Due to the lyrics, I've temporarily given it the name "the mother song" for my own personal reference. "God Damn The Sun" has apparently been dropped from the set list, and though I love that song, I can't say I missed it a bit ...
Song by Song (from what I can recollect):
"Forever Yours"
A soothing, subtle introduction for the evening. It is pretty much the same as the album version, the only difference being that you can't believe it's being done right in front of you live. There was a shiver down my spine each night as Gira delivered the final "and I will be ... forever yours" line with his amazing baritone. After the precise delivery of this song, you know you're in for a hell of a night ...
"My True Body"
Begins with Gira strumming a fast, galloping chord progression. The band follows in behind him shortly thereafter and the song builds becoming more and more intense. It's about 2 minutes into this one that you realize The Angels of Light are just as capable of the same, if not more, intense a level of sound as SWANS were on their final tours. Gira cuts the band off with an arm wave to sing the lyrics and the song continues to go back and forth between these two sections. But, it maintains the 'galloping' feel throughout ...
"The Man With The Silver Tongue"
This one starts off even slower and quieter than the album version, I didn't recognize it the first night up until Gira sang the first line. With each line of the first verse, the band builds the sound. It quickly reaches a feverish, very intense and chaotic section (which is added live, it's not like that on the album version) that seems to last forever but is only really maybe a minute or two. Everyone in the band is going nuts during this part, doing what they do as fast and as loudly as they possibly can. It reminds me of the 'freakout' sections of early live Pink Floyd. Gira jumps from his chair to give a frantic arm wave and the all the sound ceases to be as Gira slips back into the verses. There are 2 of these chaos sections added to the song. It's really something to watch, and have hit you right in the chest. I love how Gira arranges album songs differently live, and "The Man.." is the most altered of the 4 from "New Mother" ...
untitled love song
This is simply the most beautiful song I've ever heard. Wow. I almost can't believe Michael Gira wrote it ... it seems to be uncharacteristically non-dark lyrically. The song is slow, very gentle and quiet, based on Gira's vocals and guitar during the verses and the rest of the band fills in more in the latter half during a "na na na na na na" section. Christoph delivers some very nice steel guitar solos during this part. Some of the lyrics I quickly scribbled down to aid me in remembering the melody:
"free of your past
free of your future tooshow me your ocean red
kiss the tears that stain my neck
drug me with visions
untrueI own a photograph
lay there naked upon your back
safe in the stone house
by the sea"That was all I could write down before I got too far behind. The final lyric is:
"the only one I want to see is you"
I think Gira really likes this one, as well he should, it is so beautiful. He seems to be in another world when he performs it. It pains me to think I only currently have my memory of it ... I cannot wait for this one to find it's way onto a recording (that goes for all the new songs, but especially this one). I hope it's at least on the benefit cd ...
"Shame"
Like "Forever Yours", this is pretty close to the album version. The biggest difference being the "Shame"! section ... live it is extended and quite intense since all 5 band members are literally screaming "SHAME"! over and over. A head nod from Gira cuts the "Shame"s off. It's really amazing to see and hear how precisely this band executes the changes in these songs ...
"Song For My Father"
This is also very similar to the album version. I know Gira says in interviews that his songs often aren't as autobiographical as they seem, but I can't help but think that this song is. The way he sings this one, he seems to bleed a little with each line. I really appreciate this one more after seeing him do it live. The blonde woman does the German backing vocal section really well ...
"Praise Your Name"
Again, about the same as the album version. This song is so uplifting, especially live when everyone contributes to the "na na na na" backing vocal arrangement of the chorus. They really nailed this one in Austin ...
"My Dead Son"
This song begins with Gira playing a 2 chord progression that is interrupted by him slapping the strings with the palm of his hand over the mouth of the guitar. It's a really interesting rhythmic effect. The band kicks in behind him quickly as Gira *yells* the lyrics. Christoph plays a regular 6 string electric guitar here adding quick chord jabs simultaneously with Gira and eventually leading to an odd, blazing solo. A very powerful and aggressive song ...
the mother song
Christoph begins this sing with several minutes of beautiful steel guitar plucks and slides. My memory is hazy right now on the rest of the song, but I do remember it being centered around the lyrics "mother you come to me", "mother you ride me" and "I can't live without you ..." It seems to be referring to a lover and not a maternal mother, but I could be wrong. It's very moving, not noisy, but powerful ...
"My Suicide"
It seems that maybe Gira only pulls this one out on good nights. He didn't bother with it in Dallas (the show started very late though, that might be why) but did it in both Austin and OKC. He said something in OKC like "this one will put the my voice to death". This song is just Gira by himself on vocals on guitar, much like "Fear of Death" from "New Mother". The vocals range from quiet whimpers/whispers to grating screams ... Gira really lays it all out there on the line with this one ...
"New City Of The Future"
This is kind of a bizarre tune ... dark and very dramatic. It is centered around Gira's guitar and Thor's piano melodies. It starts out quiet, but builds and ebbs and tides between the two. Keep your eyes on Thor here ... he plays a complex 2 handed piano line *and* snare drum/cymbals simultaneously. The latter half of the song is very intense, and Thor is the most intense of all of them ... he slams the keyboard with his left hand then jumps up, screaming, to assault the cymbal with the drumstick he holds in his right hand. The main lyric I can remember from this one is "you were mine", which is how the song and set ends ...
Do no expect an encore. Each night after "New City.." Gira said "we are finished" (and, in OKC, "... and you are too"). That is the set, it's an hour and a half and it's more than enough. It would completely baffle me if someone walked away from one of these shows disappointed, especially because they didn't play such and such song or whatever ...
addition, 6/22 - there have been 2 encore songs at several shows: God Damn the Sun (SWANS) and Viragio (another new song).
Price: $10 - $15
Merchandise: most of the latest cds: "New Mother", "Various Failures", "Children of God/World of Skin", "Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money", etc. They also had the new Windsor for the Derby cd. 3 shirts: all white or off-white tan with a color drawing of a knife in the center of the front. There was a baby tank top, a short sleeve version with just the knife, no words anywhere and a long sleeve version that's the same with the addition of "The Angels of Light" on the sleeves ...
Recommendation: see every show you can. Do whatever it takes. Quit your job, book a flight, leave your spouse ... just do it. It really is worth it, do not miss this. Fortunately, I still have one more show to go (Lawrence, KS on the 28th of June) ...
Thanks to: The Angels of Light and the crowds at all 3 shows ...
I'll never forget it and it couldn't have come at a better time for me personally ...
And to think ... this is only the beginning ...
The Angels of Light at the SWANS site