In Concert: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the monolithic Canadian post-rock band, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, at Danforth Music Hall. The eight-piece group created an orchestral atmosphere that hushed the crowd into an appreciative silence. There was a union of strumming and dragging that was dreamily distorted, layered and clamouring, lulling the audience into a highly emotional reverie. Between their droning and visuals, I was engulfed in a seismic wave of inspiration.

I spent the first half of the show in the second row, which gave me a fantastic view of the details of the musicians: the shoeless violinist, curly-headed guitar player and the vaping bassist. I actually wasn’t supposed to get that close at all. I had purchased a mezzanine seat, but upon entering the building I was forced into a polite conversation with a security guard. He finished off our one-sided conversation by letting me into the general admission section. It was nice to be able to stand twenty feet away from the stage, but still have the option of retiring to my seat upstairs once my legs got tired.

Upon getting upstairs, and getting into my middle-of-the-row seat, I found the overwhelming sounds to be less intense and my knees took solace in sitting. From the added height of the mezzanine section, I had a great view of the show’s visual component. There were distorted images of snakes, abandoned buildings, flora, telephone lines and travelling clips overlapping each other. The projected diptych was just another hypnotic layer of the performance, washing over the musicians and pairing well with the music. During the opening number, “Hope Drone,” the visuals cast behind the musicians featured the word “HOPE” etched into each frame. This was the only word present in the entire set, as GY!BE is a wordless project. Despite their lack of lyrics, their music is still incredibly effective.

The experience of GY!BE was unequivocally calming, and from start to finish, I was in the most comfortable trance. Despite being in the business for so many years, they have not lost a puff of steam. With their breakups and makeups, GY!BE is still at the forefront of their musical niche. As a footnote, I’d like to give a gentle nod to Xylouris White, who did an admirable job in the opening slot.