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Description
In February 2009, the groundbreaking American rock group …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead released their sixth LP, The Century of Self. Many observers considered that album's 13 songs to be the best work by this border-crossing formation since their breakthrough with Source Tags & Codes seven years earlier.
By this point, the project which had originally formed as a duo in the mid-90s had transformed into a six-piece ensemble devoted to large-scale, uncompromising sounds – music that had as much in common with progressive and art rock as with indie or punk. In an interview during the world tour in support of the album, founding member Jason Reece spoke about the absolute commitment behind their live shows. "We play until we're bleeding. Every band I've seen in my life that just stands around and takes up your time and is boring – I think of that band before we play and how I never want to be that way. It's a very aggressive approach and we've always been that way."
The concert filmed for Rockpalast on 14 May 2009 at the Live Music Hall in Cologne, Germany leaves no doubt about this statement. For more than 80 minutes, the six members of …AYWKUBTTOD leave it all onstage – like a boxer trying to knock out his opponent with multiple body blows before he collapses from exhaustion himself.
Not a single minute of it can be classified as easy listening. It's no secret that …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead resides at the other end of the artistic spectrum. In fact, one has to look long and hard to find anything comparable to their monumental walls of sound in contemporary rock music.
Live at Rockpalast shows that reaching such heights is only possible with blood, sweat and tears.Description
In February 2009, the groundbreaking American rock group …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead released their sixth LP, The Century of Self. Many observers considered that album's 13 songs to be the best work by this border-crossing formation since their breakthrough with Source Tags & Codes seven years earlier.
By this point, the project which had originally formed as a duo in the mid-90s had transformed into a six-piece ensemble devoted to large-scale, uncompromising sounds – music that had as much in common with progressive and art rock as with indie or punk. In an interview during the world tour in support of the album, founding member Jason Reece spoke about the absolute commitment behind their live shows. "We play until we're bleeding. Every band I've seen in my life that just stands around and takes up your time and is boring – I think of that band before we play and how I never want to be that way. It's a very aggressive approach and we've always been that way."
The concert filmed for Rockpalast on 14 May 2009 at the Live Music Hall in Cologne, Germany leaves no doubt about this statement. For more than 80 minutes, the six members of …AYWKUBTTOD leave it all onstage – like a boxer trying to knock out his opponent with multiple body blows before he collapses from exhaustion himself.
The short instrumental "The Giants Causeway" (a kind of overture to The Century of Self ) sets the tone. The opening piece is expansive, highly dramatic and – like the subsequent track "Far Pavilions" – brimming with force. Together with drums, bass and keyboard, three electric guitars supply plenty of visceral power in the concert's initial moments. When Jason Reece puts down his guitar and takes up a spot behind the second drum kit during the epic "Isis Unveiled," a kind of tribal dance ensues in front of the stage, the crowd now fully engaged and revved up with enthusiasm.
If there is a central figure in this spectacle, it is without a doubt Conrad Keely. The singer and guitarist mesmerizes from start to finish with the controlled fury of his performance. Songs such as "Will You Smile Again?" or "Relative Ways" let us feel the uncertainty of his emotions. Is it the way he closes his eyes tight when he sings? The visibly swollen neck veins? In any case, the cameras take us a step closer to this unique artist and his inner turmoil.
After his counterpart Reece enjoys a memorable crowd walk during "Caterwaul" (a visual highlight), the Cologne concert closes somewhat surprisingly with a series of songs from the early work Madonna. The average music consumer, at least, will need time to recover from the extraordinary intensity of this final act. For those who aren't completely spent after this tour de force, there is an abundance of bonus material: excerpts from an equally bombastic performance at the Rheinkultur music festival in Bonn in July 2005 as well as in the post-industrial atmosphere of the 2006 Melt! Festival.
Not a single minute of it can be classified as easy listening. It's no secret that …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead resides at the other end of the artistic spectrum. In fact, one has to look long and hard to find anything comparable to their monumental walls of sound in contemporary rock music.
Live at Rockpalast shows that reaching such heights is only possible with blood, sweat and tears.
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Tracklisting
- 1. Intro
- 2. The Giants Causeway/ The Far Pavilions
- 3. It Was There That I Saw You
- 4. Isis Unveiled
- 5. Homage
- 6. Bells Of Creation
- 7. Will You Smile Again?
- 8. Relative Ways
- 9. Caterwaul
- 10. Another Morning Stoner
- 11. Claire De Lune
- 12. Totally Natural
- 13. Mistakes And Regrets
- 14. A Perfect Teenhood
- 15. Interview
- 16. Rheinkultur Musikfestival 2005
- 17. Melt! Festival 2006
- 18. In My Room (Backstage With Gringo Starr)
Disc 1
Side 1
Tracklisting
- 1. Intro
- 2. The Giants Causeway/ The Far Pavilions
- 3. It Was There That I Saw You
- 4. Isis Unveiled
- 5. Homage
- 6. Bells Of Creation
- 7. Will You Smile Again?
- 8. Relative Ways
- 1. Caterwaul
- 2. Another Morning Stoner
- 3. Claire De Lune
- 4. Totally Natural
- 5. Mistakes And Regrets
- 6. A Perfect Teenhood
Disc 1
Side 1
Disc 2
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