Live Blog: Moon Duo at 7th St Entry
9:01 – Arrived. Next door is the sold out(?!) Big Head Todd and the Monsters show. As tempting as that is, I’m sticking with Moon Duo.
9:09 – Local trio Vats are kicking things off. Loud, chugging riffs and charging rhythms. Good opener.
9:16 – Vats might have hot dates to catch or something. Heads down, barroling through 4 songs in about eight minutes. Varying degrees of fuzz on their noisy pop.
9:20 – Lead singer “pysched” to see Moon Duo. I’m hoping, and working under the assumption, that it was am intentional pun. Well done, sir.
9:26 – Classic Minnesota crowd. A half moon arching away from the stage, masses in the back and wide open space right near the front. Are people afaid the band might bite them?
9:30 – Vats ramped up the volume and energy on the last two. Slashing riffs, floor tom beats thumping like cannons. Really picking up speed.
9:35 – Wolves lost, so I imagine most of the 15k who were at the game will be heading across the street to heal thier spirits with Moon Duo, right?
9:42 – Great set by Vats. Local band doing us proud setting the stage for Moon Duo.
9:50 – Light show rig getting tested. Buckle up, this should get heady quick.
10:19 – Here we go. A sonic explosion.
10:23 – Moterik beat, thick synth bass, wobbly effect-laden vocals and cruchy riffs. Bringing their new LP to life.
10:24 – Certain bands draw the kind of crowd that smoke weed so openly that you’d assume it was legal. It is abundantly clear 3 minutes in that MooN Duo are that kind of band.
10:26 – Technical difficulties only one song in. Not a good omen.
10:30 – They’re back. Their sound is somehow both sludgy and thick while having a feeling of floating away. The low end, from drums to guitar to synths, is rolling over the crowd like molten lava.
10:35 – #guitarsolo
10:42 – Digging into the back catlog, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter much. They created a game plan five or so years ago and have stuck to it pretty religiously. And why not? If it ain’t broke, don’t fIx it.
10:50 – There is a point with Moon Duo where the locked-in grooves and washed-out vocals become hypnotic and almost disorienting. I think we’ve reached that point.
10:57 – It’s mostly a gooey amalgamation of all three folks on stage, but every once and a while the guitar riffs cut through, and let me tell you: these are some honest-to-goodness, fist-pumping, bend-at-your-knees riffs. Love it.
11:05 – For as agressive and powerful their music can be, there is a distinct undercurrent of restraint to Moon Duo. Every song seems on the verge of explosion, but stays on the tracks. It is a thing of beauty.
11:13 – Set ends. Awkward cheering. Encores should be banned. Band is back. Shocking.
11:15 – My annoyance with the whole idea of planned encores disipates as a frantic, other-wordly groove is locked in. The bass drum is a 4/4 drill captain leading us on a march of the surface of the moon.
11:19 – A one song vamp for an encore, and that’s all she wrote. Went out on a high note. Well, technically a thick, gutteral confab of notes, but who’s counting.
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