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.
Orange Goblin
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.
Reviewed by: lux_interior13