On Friday night, I attended the Boredoms’ 88BoaDrum, on...

On Friday night, I attended the Boredoms' 88BoaDrum, on the Williamsburg Waterfront, conducted by Gang Gang Dance.

I had missed out on last year's 77BoaDrum and was excited to hear that they were doing it again this year. Thanks to Lady Luck and Oh My Rockness, I was able to do so.

The show was very impressive and very powerful. A spiral of 88 drummers surrounded the small gazebo-like stage, which featured lights, speakers, guitar, bass, synths, and three more drummers, in a new park along the East River that offered the sun setting behind the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. The piece, split into four parts, lasted about 88 minutes, and was powered by an hypnotic minimalism. I expected the show to be all about the drums, which most of it was, but there were also cool melodies via samples and found sound, a triumphant synth line (in the second part), guitar squall and bass grooves. A very pleasant surprise.

Now it's almost pointless to post this video summary of the event. All of the magic is in being at the edge of a spiral of 88 drums, feeling the beat pound like a thousand charging steeds, zoning out to the flashes of colored lights, sensing the anticipation when the conductor raises the green and red staffs, and unknowingly moving along to the rhythm. Even a recording of the highest quality would still fail to capture the power of the event. So think of this video as, hopefully, an early reminder to check out 99BoaDrum.