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Old 09.05.2010, 09:41 PM   #1
Pax Americana
expwy. to yr skull
 
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,187
Pax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's assesPax Americana kicks all y'all's asses
I've seen quite a few bands, and I must say, Shellac were quite possibly the best live band I have ever seen. They were so fucking tight. All the starts/stops/weird time signature shifts, they totally nailed. The sound was among the very best I've ever heard at a show. I don't know if I have ever seen a band so completely in touch with their own unique sound, and so able to duplicate the sound of their recorded music so purely in a live setting. That's not to say that they played everything the exact way as they do on their albums. What I mean is that the tone of the bass and the guitar, Todd brutalizing his drums, Steve's sneering vocal delivery, it all came through perfectly in the mix and blended so well. Usually at a show, you can pick out one or two little things that don't sound exactly right to you, like, 'oh the vocals are kinda hard to hear' or 'what the hell is that guy even playing on guitar, it sounds all shitty and muddy', but not here, it was all just kinda pure, unaffected sound coming straight at you. Total clarity. I think that's one of the best things about Shellac, the purity of the sounds they're able to create with no layering of like 800 guitars and vocals and shit. It really lends itself sooo well to a live performance. Totally no nonsense and fucking awesome.

Plus the venue kicked serious ass. It was in the basement of an old church in downtown Buffalo that Ani Defranco bought and renovated. I've only ever been there one other time, and I wish more bands I wanted to see played there, cause it's fantastic. It's just a small room with a low ceiling, rough-hewn stone walls, a tiny stage like 6 inches off the ground and only a couple of white lights to illuminate the whole place. Fucking great place to see a show. I was like two feet in front of Albini for the whole set, and it was killer.

Highlights: They opened with Ghosts and closed with Watch Song. They did Canada, Copper, My Black Ass, A Minute (my personal favorite by them), The End of Radio, Killers and a bunch more.

I talked to Steve, Todd and Bob after the show, too. All nice guys. Bought a t-shirt off of Steve (didn't know Shellac HAD any t-shirts!) and talked to Bob about Mission of Burma for a few minutes, which was cool as hell.

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