Weekend of Live Music

It’s been a long time since I went to two different shows on two consecutive nights that was not a part of a festival. Back in 2001 after the All Tomorrow’s Parties fest was postponed because of 9-11, a bunch of bands scheduled alternate venues at the last minute because they were going to be in town anyways.

On Friday there was the… Well I don’t know what to call it. I guess you could call it the Cold Waves LA Fest since it was advertised as that. But it was also called Industrial Nation 2025 Tour. The lineup was Die Sexual, Lead Into Gold (Paul Barker of Ministry fame’s current project), Clock DVA, Mentallo and the Fixer (their first show in LA in over 20 years), Front Line Assembly (playing a classic Wax Trax-era set) and Nitzer Ebb. I really wanted to see Clock DVA, Mentallo and the Fixer and Front Line Assembly, and while I never was a big Nitzer Ebb fan, I’ve been listening to them a little more in recent years.

I didn’t know at the time I bought the tickets that this would be the last weekend the Mayan Theater would be hosting events. It had been over 20 years since I had been at the Mayan, so it was nice to see it out.

We dark music fans are pretty fucking unoriginal in the t-shirts we wear. About 30% of the people were wearing Front 242 shirts. I saw a good smattering of KMFDM, Ministry and Sisters of Mercy shirts. Me, I decided to buck the trend and was wearing an Unwound tee. Oooooh! Swerve!

Since I am 46 with a shitty left foot, I spent most of the time in the balcony sitting for the show. Listening to Clock DVA and Mentallo and the Fixer transported me back to my late high school days trying to scour through the stacks at Tower Records in Torrance or Vinyl Fetish on Melrose, getting as many compilations as I could find in order to see what whetted my whistle, then coming back home and listening to everything on my stereo feeling that I had discovered something brand new, like I was an explorer or someone walking on uncharted lands.

Then Front Line Assembly came on. I’ve seen Bill Leeb and co. three times now, and finally I got to hear my favorite song of their’s: “Provision” from 1990’s Caustic Grip.

It was the first time they dusted the song off live since 1991.

I went down to the floor for Nitzer Ebb’s set. It’s funny seeing how we were all around the same age, fitting considering the lineup. I was surprised that most people didn’t have to hide upstairs to sit. Or maybe they all came late.

I know it’s different since original vocalist Douglas McCarthy died a few months ago and haven’t been touring int he last year due to liver cirrhosis. But it was still nice to chant along with co-founder Bon Harris. MUSCLE AND HATE!

Saturday came and it was time for Unwound performing The Future of What to celebrate its 30th birthday at the Teragram Ballroom. When I found out about this, I discovered I missed them playing New Plastic Ideas in its entirety last year for its 30th birthday. I really fucking love that album.

Opening was lowercase, a band I actually saw earlier this year when they opened for Brainiac. They reformed for that show and have continued playing gigs here and there. They are a lot like Unwound at their moodiest, slow and loud, muttering and screaming. I can’t believe I didn’t know about them back in the day.

I then started wondering if anyone who was at the Cold Waves show the night before was here. Going from dark industrial gothy stuff to noisy indie postpunky stuff. I just wondered who else really does that.

Then of course Unwound came on. This is the fourth time I’ve seen them, and because they were performing The Future of What in its entirety, I knew they would be playing my favorite song of theirs outside of “Summer Freeze” and “All Souls Day”: “Equally Stupid.”

As the show went on, the inhibitions came down. By the time “Petals Like Bricks” and “Here Come the Dogs” came on, a nice pit formed in front of me. And the exhilaration of “Swan” and the finale “Valentine Card”/”Kantina”/”Were Are and Was or Is” was fucking sublime. I don’t know what it was, but I was tearing up during “Kantina” as Justin was screaming “Wait! Wait! Wait! Don’t go!”.

After a little more than hour, it was over. Each time I see them it reinforces why they are among my favorite groups of all time. Dark, loud, anarchic, sad, introspective, angry, wistful. There’s a lot of comfort in listening to their noise.

I guess I’ll see them next year when they dust off Repetition in its entirety?