05.06.09 Gojira w. The Chariot & Car Bomb @ Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY
Bonjour, Messieurs & Mademoiselles! I’m French now. Didn’t you hear?
The Gojira show the other night was tres magnifique. I went to a show of theirs once before about 3 years ago, but….I don’t quite remember it. Julia and I were kinda nutty that evening. Neither of us really watched Gojira. I couldn’t tell you how it was. Our bad.
I rolled up into that venue with two bald men. You can imagine my delight. We watched the first band, Car Bomb, on the monitor downstairs by the bar. I have no comment on them, but I did get involved in a discussion on what an incredible shit hole the Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA is. Julia went there to see Nightwish last week and had similar things to say about it. Note to self…. ::scribbles:: Not that I was planning a trip to Amish country anytime soon, but ya know…
The Chariot are another band I have seen before, but again, do not remember. That was more of a nothing-to-write-home-about sort of thing. The band did not look or sound anything like what I actually did remember. They’re a fun live band nowadays, it seems. I’m not sure if the music itself is ladyjizz-worthy. One of the guitar players kept climbing on the speaker…and proceeded to NOT jump off and break his ass. Sort of anticlimactic. They’re okay. I doubt they’d ever be anyone’s favorite band or anything, but they get a passing grade, I suppose.
Onto Gojira. Now there’s a band that knows how to work my shit. Everyone describes their live sound as really heavy. They’re right. It’s so…THICK. They dabbled in songs from each of their albums. I don’t remember hearing anything from The Link, but don’t quote me on that. The video above is a snippet of the fan favorite, “Flying Whales.” WHAAAAAAALES!!!
As I stood and watched them, I couldn’t help but think about all of this American Idol mumbo jumbo about “artistry” and what exactly an artist’s “place” is within the industry. Julia told me how “nerdy” the crowd was at the Nightwish show. It makes sense, since, Nightwish are a pretty nerdy band (mostly for chicks and gay men)….but lots of bands have a nerd type of feel to them. I don’t hate it, it’s cool. That’s ‘what they are.’ But Gojira? They don’t vibe me even one little bit of nerdy or doucheyness. They’re just…cool. Not Metallica-or-Heaven-and-Hell-we-got-lots-of-money type of cool. They are just solid musicians who deserve every ounce of credit they have ever gotten. I mean, the nerdiest thing about them is that they’re French, but….are we really gonna go there? They encored with “Vacuity,” which I think would be a perfect song to drag a dead body to.
Merci beaucoup, Gojira. A bientot.
-Elise
