The Liars
Pitchfork Music Festival
Day Two
7/30/6
Chicago, Illinois
This was the second time seeing The Liars and my first time seeing them in an outdoor venue. Seeing them is an experience to remember, much like seeing The Boredoms. The focus is on Angus Andrew’s echoing wails surrounded by the drumming of Aaron and Julian. Angus literally acts posessed on stage and you can’t bear to take your eyes off of him whether he’s wearing pants and a t-shirt or a bright blue dress. I’m too young to know for sure but I imagine it’s somewhat like it must have been to see Jim Morrison performing in the best concert of his life. While the songs build intensely, you feel a sense of everything from Nick Cave’s austere Australia to something primal and tribal all at once. Ultimately, what you come to understand if you can bear it is the unmistakable feeling that we are all very lost. We may have escaped the time of the Salem witch trials, as Angus is fond of recalling. Yet, it’s difficult to remember this at times while you are listening to their albums and live set. Perhaps, we haven’t truly moved on from the bleakness that threatens the future. Ultimately, it becomes a sort of blinding musical force and all we’re left with is the very visceral feeling that something is wrong with the world. If there is a message to be told from the experience, it is this one: There may have once been a light but it has certainly gone out.
Hear songs by visiting their myspace page
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