Convergence 13

Three years ago…
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One year ago…
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Last night (and, technically, this whole weekend)…
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The goths of the world have descended upon Portland this weekend, and all is good. Well, more-or-less, all is good, but more on that later. It’s great to wander around downtown and see folks on every street corner in things like leather, lace, Victorian costumes, industrial rivet-head gear, and everything in between. While the goth scene here is okay, it is not, say, LA caliber, so it is nice to have some extra goths imported for the weekend.

So how can things not be good? Kim and I were really looking forward to seeing Skinny Puppy again. Except we walked out half-way through the performance. I’m worried that I might be “too old,” according to the popular saying, because it was too loud. I have never brought earplugs to concerts or clubs before, which may be stupid on my part, but I never felt I needed them. During SP’s set, I was really wishing I had some–although it was so loud that I am doubtful they would have even helped. There was also a very bright strobe light. Pointed at the audience. Also reflected off of the drum kit’s cymbals. It was stereoscopic headache-inducing pain-light!

The criticism of Skinny Puppy’s sound and lighting (their music was good otherwise) is not a condemnation of the entire evening, which, on the whole was excellent.

Posted in: Dear Diary Music Portland

4 thoughts on “Convergence 13”

  1. Shows are too loud. Period. I haven’t been to a show without at least stuffing toilet paper in my ears for at least 15 years now.

    I’ve got earplugs in a pouch on my keychain. Highly recommended.

  2. I saw a bunch of gothed out kids wandering around downtown today.

    I felt old. It seems like a lifetime ago that was me… I was such a different person when I was a proto-goth back in the late 80’s.

  3. Yeah. Earplugs required. After a couple summers of getting really good seats for Lilith Fair, I totally needed them. And it’s great. They chiefly block bass, so you can still hear everything else (including people talking to you). It’s like magic or sumthin’.

  4. While I don’t doubt that earplugs would have been a good thing (I picked some up at the store yesterday), the bass frequencies would not have helped too much. Most of Skinny Puppy’s noise came from a screetchyscreetchy high-frequency barrage of audio noise.

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