Orange Goblin

6/2/04 The Middle East - Cambridge, MA

Live review

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The Upstairs at the Middle East is a "cozy" venue to say the least. It probably holds around 300 to 350 people. The stage is, maybe, two feet off the ground. I really dig it because anywhere you are you have a good view of the stage, unless you�re at the bar. Though, being protected by some arches and raised flooring is not a bad thing when you have a cold and frosty one in your mitts.

Lamont went on right before Orange Goblin. They had a good turn out for a support act, but being a hometown band has that advantage. They�re sound was heavily influenced by Motorhead and early Metallica. They had big ol� riffs and catchy choruses. The bass and the drums were very tight, propelling the tunes along on a tempo that was quite a bit faster than most "stoner rock". Lamont ended the set with a raucous cover of Metallica�s "Seek and Destroy" with the members of Orange Goblin doing some back up vocals and tossing some goodwill around the stage (and beers, too).

Orange Goblin stepped onto the stage with little fanfare. It was the last stop on their tour, but there was not a single hint of fatigue to be found. In fact, OG was in serious overdrive. The tunes rocked from the moment the set began to the final encore. The pit was hopping for such a small venue. There were sightings of a rogue trashcan in the fray during various points in the night. Orange Goblin is loose enough for the stoner rock tag with the right amount of fuzz to bring nods of approval from the spaced out crowd, yet they have an undeniable hard rock edge to them. (It should be noted that the nodding heads could have been from something other than the music that night) There�s not too much experimentation going on in structure or sound. As is the case these days in any genre, the set seemed to mush into one giant jam than definable songs. Unfortunately, there was no sweet smoke (or any other kind either) in the air thanks to the government telling us how to live and act. Three cheers for Big Brother!

Overall, it was a good not great show. The vocals weren�t there for either band, but that could be the venue.

Reviewed by: lux_interior13