Good Morning, my Angel,
Tonight is the night, and I am looking forward to the concert, it will be great. I am sorry I can't go to the in-store, but it's impossible. Had it been a different day of the week, I might've made it, but Thursday is Hair Salon day, so.......
At any rate, I will be back and forth until about 1:30 or 2pm, then home from 2 until 4:15, so I will definitely check-in during that time, before I head back to Pearl's for 4:30 shift. I will be going straight from Pearl's to the concert at 6:30. I should be parked and in the theater no later than 7:30. I read an Alcest post from Oakland, the show from two days ago, where they said they were going on at 8:40, so I suppose it will be a similar time for us in L.A. I don't know the setlist, but I am guessing they will play between 60 and 75 minutes. That would mean Anathema will come on between 10 and 10:15 and play a similar length, till about 11:30, give or take. So, I should be home no later than 12:30 my time. I know that's the middle of the night for you, but I will check-in anyway, just to say how the show went.
So, for now I am gonna take Pearl to the salon in a few minutes, then run a few errands, then pick her up about 1 or 1:30, and I'll be back home by 2pm at the latest. You Rule The Universe!
I Love You. :):)
3:55pm : Okay, my Baby, I am gonna get ready and head out in a minute. Tonight kind of brings things full circle, because I can still remember driving to the Troubadour two years ago (October 2011), and waiting in line to see Alcest. I was by myself at that show, too, and not knowing to expect, but the place was jam packed, and they were great. I was against the stage, but off to the side in front of Zero, so I couldn't hear Neige's vocals real well. But it was a great show, and I remember thinking, "There is something about this guy, this band"........
And the rest is history, and it's a story that never fails to amaze me, even while I am living every moment of it. :):)
I will try to get a better spot for tonight's show, and it should be easier because the El Rey is bigger, and the crowd will be more mild-mannered, because of the pairing with Anathema rather than Enslaved. So maybe I can get front and center in front of Neige. Wish me luck!
Here I go............I will report back as soon as I get home. I Love You! :):)
12:25am : Wow. That was a fantastic show. I love the freakin' El Rey, first of all. I've only seen a few shows there, but every time I go the sound is great. You can guess where I was - right where you would expect me to be, front and center, handshake close. It's a lot easier to get close with the nicer crowds, like Alcest or Agalloch. It was mostly 20-30 year olds, about 2/3rds guys, 1/3 girls. Not like a metal show where it's 98% guys and they're all fired up and aggro-ed out. So, I got there about 7:30 like I thought I would, but had to drive around a bit to find parking. Didn't wanna pay fifteen bucks to park in a lot, so I finally found free street parking several blocks down from Wilshire Boulevard. When I got inside, there were already a few hundred people in the theater, but most were drinking in the lobby, or by the bar, or just milling around. So, I went up to the stage like I always do, and staked my ground out right where I knew Neige would be. There was one layer of people in front of me, but that was all. Best of all, no giants to block the view (which is sometimes the case). Had to stand around a while, but that's the price you've gotta pay to be up front. Mammifer came on at 8:30. They were trippy - you saw them so you know. The guy got some good sounds out of his guitar, with the violin bow and all the electronics. He had an amp I've never seen before. I thought it said "Fayette" but I just Googled it and it's called a "Fryette". It had some great sound for what he was doing, which was a bit ear-splitting at times, but the amp could handle it. It's very specialised music - space rock - and it works for what it is, like Sunn 0))) works, if you've heard them. I will give them that they are totally pro, and are able to sustain their sound for a half hour, controlling all those effects without messing up or breaking the spell. Recently, I have seen these acts like Helen Money, Mammifer or Worm Ourobouros, that are dronelike, but all had an original approach, so I give them a lot of credit for that. I am glad to see some of these experimental bands taking chances with unusual music.
The first thing that has to be said about Alcest's set was that they did the fastest turnaround between bands that I have ever seen in 39 years of concertgoing. We are talking ten minutes. I mean, Mammifer was done, and then a curtain went down (cause it used to be a movie theater), and then you could see some activity under the curtain, and then - Bam! Alcest was on. Fastest changeover ever.
This was night and day difference from the Troubador show of 2011. That was a good show, too. But, at that one, I was way off to the side, couldn't hear the vocals so well, and that club, as I said, was made for folksingers, not hard rock bands. So the sound was passable but distorted. And it was still a good show.
But this was Big Rock Concert Sound. And really, really tight. Touring and touring and touring will do that to a band. When I saw them in 2011, they played "Elevation", a long piece, and you could tell that they had to really concentrate on it to get it just right. You know how, when a piece is difficult, you have to really focus to bring the dynamics out. But when you tour and tour and play tons of shows in two years, all of a sudden your chops are honed. Everything becomes easier. Your muscle memory takes over and you can play the living daylights out of songs that were initially more difficult. At The Troub, I watched Neige really concentrate on his hands for the chord changes he had to make. His playing is not super complex, but he does have a lot of chording that involves all four fingers, and a lot of arpeggios, and it requires some intricacy. You can tell, especially by his picking, that he had his guitar lessons when he began playing. Some of the fancier stuff he leaves to Zero, even though he could play it himself, but what you really notice is that he probably played a lot of acoustic guitar when starting out, because he has his strumming down, and his chording and phrasing. What he plays, he plays very clean. That is what makes him stand out.
Whereas at The Troub, you could tell they were concentrating harder, tonight was "with ease", just playing a smoking hot set, after a couple years of non-stop touring. The rhythm section kicks ass. Zero handles the high pitched vocals. Neige was more outgoing on stage, talking to the audience a lot more. He said, "the previous times we played Los Angeles, the crowd was so fucking quiet, so thank you for making some noise". That's because this time, more people know them, and the pairing with Anathema was better suited to thier fans. And this time, he played like a rock star, like he owned the joint.
Alcest played 75 minutes, probably the same setlist for the whole tour. You heard it, my Beautiful Angel. There were two new songs, the last one called "Deliverance" ended the show. They made a theatrical exit, one member leaving the stage at a time, Neige and Zero then alone onstage playing an atmospheric finale. Then Zero left and there was just Neige. Then he set his guitar down and walked off. This was a Rock Concert show, with stage planning, good sound, dynamic playing honed by touring, and it kicked a whole bunch of ass.
I did get to shake Neige's hand and say hello, quickly, as he walked by after their set. He seemed very friendly. I didn't bring a camera for reasons I mentioned in the Agalloch blog, but it's okay. I will go to more Alcest shows. He went past me, and I stayed to watch most of Anathema's set, which was good as well.
But I had been there mostly to see Alcest, and they straight up killed it.
You saw them, so you know that too.
I Love You, Elizabeth.
Sweet dreams (even though it's the middle of the night), and I will see you in just a few hours.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):) \m/
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