By Keegan Pierce
On our way into the Lightning Bolt show, we passed someone who told us, "You'd better hurry up; they're tearing down the walls in there!" (We were admittedly running a little late.)
We rushed in wondering how much of the set we'd missed, if the walls would still standing, and where the tallboys were at. However, the enduring question of the Lightning Bolt set was, "how are there only two people up on stage?" You only see Brian Chippendale pulverizing the drums with a contact mic held to his face by a mask and Brian Gibson's bass tuned in fifths with banjo strings up top, yet you hear thunderous crashes and torrential noise as if a tempest were on stage. A noise rock band that we love playing at the station, Lightning Bolt has been playing since 1994 honing their unique mixture of drum and bass. Their origins are house parties, playing right in the middle of whatever crowd they are bringing to a boil, and, while they've now climbed up on stage, they're still completely in tune with the discord they cause. We had headaches on the way home, but we loved it and so did the rest of the crowd. The pits were unlike the testosterone fueled fireworks at punk shows and more like ritualistic dances around a bonfire.
You are never comfortable or completely in tune with Lightning Bolt, but it is breathtaking to see those two dudes tear down a stage.
Photo courtesy of Lightning Bolt.