We got there early, before the opening act started, and I started to come up on the music before it even got going. Bharath and I were talking, and I got up front like on the second row right from the start, and stayed there, with a little shifting to and fro, for the whole concert.
The opening act was this jazz funk horn group who had some really great trumpet and trombone solos and could def play their instruments. I enjoyed and started dancing of course, and then we talked more between the acts, and then they came out.
He led with wanderlust king, not the first song but like the third and I remember being really amused that there was like no fear of blowing your wad early, playing your hit such as you have them in the first half, because if any band always knows they can top themselves, it's Gogol Bordello.
At the end of the concert they were waving and saying goodbye and they played Redemption Song. And I was thinking of the long history of songs of freedom and how Gogol is a part of it. Singing songs of freedom and how the good old days are today and tomorrow as both Gogol Bordello and the Libertines say. And then I was thinking about Marlon James in the brief history of seven killings talking about the murmur of all the sufferahs around the world lifting up their voice. And about how I went around the world myself and nowhere anywhere do you find someone who doesn't love Marley. The way he plays in Peruvian cars and Cuban clubs. And then I started to cry while the strains of it played.
The lineup of the band was different. Of course it always is, some always going some always coming like the castle of cats. There was a new drummer (both new and old were awesome) the same bassist, who is getting visibly older but still grooving, a new female vocalist who does more real vocals but less ululating and leaping than the big brass drum girl who was there last, the bongos guy was still there, but I think he has really improved since last time I saw him, like developed. The first gig I found him a bit gimmicky or something, but now he's taking some lead vocals off Eugene, doing the bongos, some Peruvian whistling (like the whistle that summons Mailes) to replace the big brass drum girl, and some backup dancing and leaps, it's a more rounded role and I thought he did it better. There was a new lead guitarist, who was a somewhat nondescript young white guy. I admit I judged the book by its cover and dismissed him, but he had an incredible shredding guitar solo and showmanship bit that singlehandedly converted me to his cause. But the only really tragic replacement was that Yuri their accordianist and founding member was replaced by a new accordion player. And it's just not the same, Yuri was a bit the beating heart of the band, full of a certain shy sweetness that balanced the personality of the band well, and also his playing was just very vocal, really using the carrying melodic capacity of the instrument. But I later found out he's off doing a solo tribute album or something and was a part of the hire of the new guy but still.
Upside of this is that now Sergey the violinist and Eugene Hutz are the only constants kind of left, and one cool thing about this is that it sort of elevates Sergey's status within the band. First he seemed to have his own independent fan base like when he would step up to work the crowd they would have this special cheer almost like for Eugene. And then he was also working the crowd more, he came right out into us next to the barrier and played in the crowds embrace, and was also just generally more up front, expressive, showy, where he had kept to the background a little more. It was nice to see him out of his shell, insofar as any Gogol member is ever in his shell.
Performance wise more generally, the band was a little less high energy than the last show I saw. Don't get me wrong, these people came into my arms and so I can vouch empirically that they were drenched with sweat, but first they were doing a move where like half the band would be up front going crazy and half would be sort of in the back resting a bit. Plus from Eugene who of course has to carry all this stuff the most a bit more reliance on expansive gesture and expression than straight up leaping. Still a low energy Gogol show is a high energy anyone else show. And he did this cute move where he pretended to read a book, like story time and got from there to vocals.
Most leet moment of the show? Eugene did the thing which I've seen on YouTube videos but never experienced myself, where he put the drum in the crowd, which we all lifted as one, and then climbed atop it still singing, over the barrier into us, and then did a somersault off of it into the crowd to get down again. Even better, I was so up front and center that I was holding the drum aloft with my compatriots. It is such a high intensity moment the kind of thing you know no one does.
They played Sally (my moment of peak insanity) and start wearing purple and the I'm a little chavo I don't even have a guitar song and thing globally fuck locally and alcohol (always a crowd pleaser). I was as always so impressed by the crowd control, we'd be taken as high as we can go, and then brought back down and then up at will. The violining was so awesome this time.
And at the end of the show the drummer threw his sticks into the crowd and I caught one right out of the air. This is literally the second time I've done this exact move at a Gogol concert. I now have a set of drumsticks from two different drummers collected years apart. It was excellent, and the stick itself had this giant chip out of it from excessive shredding.
Bharath, who I went with, did not know the band at all, but I invited him, and he said yes. I was not a good host, being right up front and leaping as I needed but he entered into it so utterly and awesomely. I would slightly turn to beam beatifically at all those around me in concert ecstasy, and there he would be, drenched with sweat and leaping too. It was a wonderful experience and wonderful to share it with him and wonderful that he shared it with me so fully.
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