BORIS
Friday’s Boris set was a performance of their 2000 record Flood, an absolute behemoth in the annals of sludge and doom history. To refer to the Boris set as the dessert of the night would be insulting: this was more like a second entrée. Consisting of one 70-minute track, Boris took the audience on a crawling ride that began with the banging of a giant Zildjian gong cymbal and then descended into varying degrees of feedback for over an hour. The drone was endless, blurring the line between what is music and what is noise, only temporarily providing a definitive answer when sludge riffs would bubble to the surface.

With the smoke machines pumping to capacity, the entire room filled with a foggy haze where visibility depended entirely on whichever color light was illuminating the stage at any given moment. But through the fog, it was obvious just how much chemistry Boris has cultivated over the last two decades. A not often talked about complication to doom, especially when it’s in the form of one ludicrously long movement, is how seemingly easy it would be to get lost in feedback traffic. But guitarist Wata only needed to give a brief glance over at Takeshi and his double-necked bass/guitar to keep on track and figure out the right moment for Wata to lay down a solo or for Takeshi to shelve the droning guitar for plodding bass.

After the set, and after drummer Atsuo sprinted forward to crowd surf after having wrapped up such an epic musical journey, the drummer collected himself on stage and thanked the crowd for their attendance. And just as effusively, the crowd returned its thank yous to Boris tenfold. Arigato, indeed.

See full photo gallery and show review here all Text & Photos by Matthew Grant Anson