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I knew when I left home yesterday, after extricating myself from the myriad conference calls that dot my schedule, that seeing A Place To Bury Strangers live could either completely satisfy, or prove a massive disappointment. There was no middle ground. I had heard too many good reports from faithful moggers whose word I trust.Being too excited to possibly wait, I left home at 4pm, hopped in the Jetta, cranked the MP3 player, and got on the road. The albums on the trip down were:The Bravery (homonymous)The Cribs - Mens Needs, Womens Needs, WhateverSilversun Pickups - Carnavas(I feel a need to stop and point something out. Remember that Top 40 albums of 2007 list I did? No Cribs thereon. Just goes to show, I'm an idiot. Moving on.)About a half-hour into the trip, I realize that I forgot the digital camera, so no pictures. D'oh!Five minutes later, it hits me that I also forgot to bring the MOG stickers; I was hoping to hook up some people, including APTBS bassist Jono, with a sticker. Double D'oh!I must have been terribly excited to make the trip, because I got to Oklahoma City in record time. I was at the venue by 6:40, which was ridiculous. I couldn't get in the club, so I milled around the record store next door. Good thing I didn't have tons of money, because they had some very tempting stuff, including a vinyl copy of the new Bauhaus album. Drool, and I don't even own a record player.I walked back to the car and noticed that the front bumper had broken free, and was barely hanging on. I tried to fix it, but I'm pretty helpless mechanically. Just then, a guy showed up, asked if I needed help, and set about helping me re-attach the bumper. I'm telling you, music fans are the nicest people! I picture Coachella weekend being a lot like that.Finally, about quarter to 8, I get in and survey the proceedings. The Conservatory is my favorite venue because it's so small and intimate. I love the beat-up checkerboard floor most of all. I'll go back sometime, just so I can take pictures so you can enjoy the view. Anyway, the club is pretty empty, which saddens me. Don't these people know what they're missing?Another thing I notice: the club is no longer selling ear plugs. Melissa had offered me a pair, but I had said that I would get my own, and now I couldn't. And I'm gonna get assaulted by noise. Triple D'oh!Pre-show and between-set entertainment was provided by the DJ team of I Can Has Dance Party. Yes, LOLcats have arrived at the heartland. They have now jumped the shark. The DJ's played some great music to get us in the mood.After a longer-than-necessary wait, the first band, Portland's Panther, take the stage. They played some good music, but it's two guys, a drummer and a vocalist. I got a distinctive whiff of karaoke from their show, because the singer, would just pull up a track on his laptop, maybe add a few vocal effects, and sing along, while the drummer did his thing. OK, he did play the guitar on two songs, but still. Anyway, their music is pretty good; their album is out on Kill Rock Stars, so check 'em out.Ah, I forgot to mention that as soon as Panther took the stage, I planted myself dead in front, just a touch to stage right. It was fine for Panther, but as they cleared off and APTBS took the stage to set up, I knew I was in the right spot: directly in front of Oliver Ackermann. Yes! It was fascinating to watch him set up his pedals (I counted seven), in addition to a black box that did who knows what. I fought back the urge to pepper him with question, like which ones he built himself, and let the band get set up and finish soundcheck. The last thing we heard from Oliver all night was a simple command: "Kill the lights."With that, we were off. As has been noted before, there was no interaction between band and audience, not that I cared. The only light, until the last two songs, was from the projected images from the back of the venue.The band played only seven songs total, making the show far too short for my taste. They also played three songs I didn't recognize, maybe songs from their debut CDR. I didn't grab the setlist, as tempted as I was; for some reason, it didn't feel right to touch their stuff, but the songs I did recognize were:To Fix The Gash In Your HeadAnother Step AwayI Know I'll See YouOcean (the set-closer, of course)On record, the drum tracks don't particularly jump out, likely because they were done by drum machine. Live, their drummer smokes, and he and Jono lay down some heavy rhythm over which Oliver lays down much beautiful noise.Being perfectly perched to observe Oliver, he showed the quiet intensity I expected, keeping his head down and singing into the mic or checking his pedals. He was still mesmerizing, although I stole furtive glances at Jono, mostly trying to figure out the bass tabs for the songs. Heh.And Ocean ... oh my goodness. I was breathless by the time it was done. The flashing strobes, the fog machine, and the assault of pure noise was a wonder to behold. The finale was about 90 seconds of raw feedback, so powerful.I walked out shortly thereafter, skipping the headliner. Sorry guys, I have a long drive ahead of me. For a half hour, I just let the noise in my ears ring, providing the counterpoint to the beautiful noise I had just experienced. Then I got wise and played some Bloc Party, Lush, and She Wants Revenge.This morning, after getting a totally refreshing four hours sleep (yeah right), I tried to explain to Melissa how good the show was. All I could come up with, for a long time, was "it was loud." She thought I went to a metal show, LOL. I went ahead and played Ocean and set her straight.
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