Last week, I got to experience the wall of sound show Sunn O))) puts on. They performed in Dallas at the Texas Theater with Jesse Sykes & Phil Wandscher.
Jesse Sykes & Phil Wandscher opened the show. It was a semi-acoustic folkish set with the Sunn O))) backline overlooking them. I think it was a great opener to prep you for what was to come. I meant to grab a CD on the way out, but forgot. My loss, but sure I can find it online.
As you can tell by the photo, I was in the front row. You might think that was a bad idea, but I think it was the best seat volume-wise. The stage was at least 5 feet tall, so the main amount of volume was over my head. I was wearing earplugs, and I was protected just fine. Still vibrated the seats, so the pressure from all that air movement was still there.
I saw them put down a setlist, but I couldn’t tell you when they changed songs. It was an hour plus of heavy distorted guitar drone. It sounds boring, but I enjoyed it. To me, this kind of music is a palette cleanser. Sometimes, I get bored with music or what I’m listening to and hearing, but more specifically, experiencing a show like this clears my head. Seeing musicians do something non mainstream does that for me. And to know they can get people to come out is extremely satisfying to me.
They had a simple looking light setup, but impactful none the less. There was a light bar across the front of the stage, and three other specialty lights behind their rig. Fog machines flanked the light bar so that when they went off (almost continuous), it created a wall of fog across the front of the stage.
The performance was ritualistic in a sense. This performance was the duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson. They were both dressed in robes and would slowly raise their arms and descend them to play each chord. Every once in a while, they would raise their guitars up while a chord rang out through their wall of full stacks. Great show!
slow draw is... 