Friday, September 7, 2012
Music Live: Hopscotch Festival (Night One)
Posted by Jeff Klingman on Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 1:51 PM
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Being pinned to the wall by that "Doom 84" riff led to a late entry for Liars night-closing set, and from the slightly thinned ranks of the concert hall mosh pit, it seems like more than a few folks didn't make it back at all. But the holdouts had super fan ardor. (Not sure I've ever heard a band beckoned back to encore with a dedicated chant of "Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood.")
While the band's 2012 record WIXIW is great for its subtle hypno-melodies (its single, "No. 1 Against the Rush", sounded super-dreamy live), the Liars live show is still plenty deranged. With a back catalog full of pagan death rituals and buzzsaw guitar punk like "Plaster Casts of Everything", they don't have much choice. I can't recall the last time I listened to the set-closing "Broken Witch," but that memorably crazed chant: "I..I am the man/ She...she is the girl/ He...he is the bear/ We...WE ARE THE ARMY YOU SEE THROUGH THE RED HAZE OF BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!" still connects, its urgency like a fresh shock of cold water in a softer, foggier indie-rock moment. Enough to give you the jitters all the way home.
Monday: A full roundup of this weekend's festivities, featuring The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lambchop, The Roots, and Lord only knows what else.
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