Hypnotizing a capacity crowd for nearly two hours, Montreal’s avant rock collective Godspeed You Black Emperor! showed yesterday why it is truly a unique musical entity in today’s modern rock world.
With the single word “Hope” spitting from a projector in the rear of the Wexner Center’s Performance Space, Godspeed took the stage to a large round of applause, from the respectful crowd of sophisticated music fans. With the emphasis on the music and not the band itself, evident by not a single light shining on the band, Godspeed took the audience on a two-hour journey that began with a single violin note and climaxed to a ten-piece explosion of instrumental marvel.
Draped in shades of darkness, Godspeed transfixed its audience as three film projectors flashed and looped images of children, adults, animals, architecture and nature, often running all three projectors on top of one another.
Godspeed began each of its songs with just a single note or sound, adding violin, cello, percussion, guitars and bass as the symphony progressed to a crescendo. An explosion of sound would then envelope the room, taking the audience to a transcendental world of tones, only to have most musical movements regress to a single, drawn out note.
Barely allowing for downtime, Godspeed seemed to challenge the audience with its music. At times the music became difficult to listen to, as the images, which at the beginning were pleasant and light, seemed to grow disturbing and unattractive. Never hinting at their objective, Godspeed continued to ask for the audience’s full attention as it explored the inner psyche of mankind through sight and sound.
Building to a spiritual climax towards the end of the show, Godspeed was determined to make its musical presence felt and remembered in Columbus. Godspeed stretched its final cry to a maximum length, gripping the audience with its final burst of song, only to have it suddenly stop in the way it all began – with a single note and “Hope” stretching across the screen behind the stage.
As the band ended its set, the audience caught its breath while a fractured President Bush blared from the PA amongst feedback and scratching. Godspeed began its encore with the only words heard during its show. An obviously disgruntled man began telling a story about an encounter with the U.S. government, only to be drowned by the sounds of the band. The final song, as the entire show, took the audience on one last flight around Godspeed’s musical universe, just to let them off questioning the entire experience.
Godspeed is truly an anomaly in today’s music. There is not a band creating music with as much intensity and honesty as exhibited by Godspeed in concert. The philosophy exhibited by this band seems to show that music supersedes the band and the individual, and the goal is to share these sounds with anyone willing to listen.
Boxstep, a seven-piece ensemble from Pittsburgh, Pa., opened the show with a 40-minute, seven song set that genuinely entertained the audience. Featuring dueling violins and howling vocals, the band fits in nicely with the new niché of progressive rock music being carved out by bands such as Grandaddy and Badly Drawn Boy. Boxstep showed a soft intensity for melodic sounds and seemed grateful for the opportunity to play for such an attentive audience.
