errantember

Digging through my clothes on the way to the Apoptygma Berzerk concert tonight at Elysium, I found my tits lying around from Orfunner. On impulse, I threw them on, but then was suddenly presented with a dilemma of what to do with the rest of my outfit. The doors opened almost an hour ago, and I didn't have a lot of time, so I decided "Fuck it. I'm going like this."

So me, my Tits, my manly pony tail, combat boots, and my 4-days growth of beard are headed out.

See you there, assuming you don't stand too close.

And yes, I'm aware that these are a little over-the-top. I took them at 4 AM after getting home from the concert. While my panties were still folded neatly on my shelf, my insoles were definitely in a wad.

The concert itself fucking *rocked* in ways I wasn't anticipating.
I'd seen Apop at Trance Communion in Houston the year of the Great Flood, and that experience lead me to the conclusion that most Industrial bands are better in the hand of skilled DJ than they are live. However, the smaller venue and total focus on Apop's work made all the difference.
The lead singer and main keyboardist played off each other and worked the crowd well. They started immediately with two of their most popular songs, the second being Eclipse, and then brought in some of their newer work. They started slowly, building momentum for the entire night. Unlike many bands, they didn't force-feed the audience mostly their newest album with only a few favorites thrown in to keep things moving. They know their old stuff is really good and that it's their responsibility to top it if they want people to keep their fans. They saved enough classics to still have some big ones left even into their third and final encore. About half way through the show, when the energy was really cresting, they stopped to do this haunting, near-acoustic version of New Order's Strange Love Triangle, which had the audience on the edge of their toes. They then immediately re-seized the initiative and carried the rest of the show through until past 3 AM. The dramatic closer occurred at the end of the third encore, where each band member slowly left stage as his part in the song was complete. The keyboardist remained, steering his rig through a monster analogue distortion loop, squeezing the angst and drama out for another good two minutes before kicking off a final wave that slowly faded away long after he had said his goodbyes and left the stage.

Considering how hard it is to provide a good stage show in an Industry where the band itself is unnecessary to the performance, I was blown away at how killer Apoptygma Berzerk was in concert.