Deafheaven / Intronaut

The Granada, Lawrence Kansas

7 Mar 2014
 

My first concert in 3 years and it was a great one.  The full line-up was The Kindred / Intronaut / Deafheaven / Between The Buried And Me.  But I missed about half of The Kindred's set and I had zero interest in BTBAM so Left after their first track.  As a result, I will only be talking about my experience with Intronaut and Deafheaven.  

Hitting the stage first was the lumbering behemoths of Intronaut.  Their expansive sound and massive rhythms really served to soothe me while inducing involuntary swaying in my body.  Their music was elegant either in spite of, or because of the huge riffs.  I have really enjoyed everything I have ever heard from Intronaut but am not familiar enough with their material to name which songs they played live.  I just know that I was really captivated by their music in the live setting.  Their actual stage performance seemed somewhat stiff.  Very little movement occured, but the music had the effect of putting the audience in a trance of sorts.  So overall it was a good show.  (Side note, I got a kick out of the bassist's sound check of Fugazi's Waiting Room).  

Up next was Deafheaven, with their beautiful marriage of black metal and shoe gaze.  I was actually giddy which is strange for me.  The whole audience cheered when they took the stage.  From the outset of Dream House it was like an explosion on stage.  The sound was perfect and you could really feel the energy and the melancholy within the song.  George was amazing with his animated vocal delivery.  His energy and pointed hand and facial gestures never faltered during their set.  The next song was Sunbather and every note was captured perfectly.  Kerry's tremelo riffing was spot on and he dropped into the melodic passages and clean guitar effortlessly.  They finished up their set with Pecan Tree.  I know it sounds like I am gushing about their performance, but really, everything about Deafheaven's set was intense, from the sound to the actual energy and movement of the band.  Deafheaven blew me away with their furious, yet emotional set of shoegaze infuzed black metal (or as several of my friends say, Hipsters playing black metal).  

I would like to thank Kerry McCoy of Deafheaven for getting me on the guest list at the show.  It meant a lot man!  And thanks to Christopher De La Pena for hooking me and Kerry up!