Showdate: November 12, 2010
Ticket price: ~$25
Ghostland Observatory beams into Portland. Ghostland has a solid following of hard cores in Texas and in some scattered markets like Seattle. Judging from the crowd tonight, Portland is about to be added to the list. I was turned onto this band by my friends in Texas. Undeniable taste for finding live bands.
Ghostland Observatory is a duo. Aaron Behrens fronts the band with vocals and occasional guitar playing. Thomas Turner runs the beats/synthesizer. I’m not even sure Ghostland gets college airplay outside of hook ‘em horns country. But the Crystal is jammed. ‘Sup? To be blunt…the live show kicks all kinds of ass into the next zipcode.
GLO’s Wikipedia page says the music is Electro/Rock/Funk/New Wave. Or, if you prefer, “electro-dance soul rock”. I think Ghostland is some of the best electro-dance soul rock I’ve ever heard! Basically, GLO is highly danceable electronic music that isn’t afraid to rock or be funky.
Speed of light. Crystal is populated with what you would expect for a dance-centric show. Young. Mostly hot. Inept young males. Self conscious females overcompensating with attitude and booze. Intoxication fueled mischief. Tons of cool people having fun. Sexual tension. In other words, fun. Delicious fun.
C’mon. In Lola’s Room (closed off bar area of the crystal) chilling with multiple beers. Watching the opening act on the video screen. No thanks. Looks like some electronica thing. But damn, the crowd looks slammed with hyperactive jumping beans. Combined with the hotness around me. Huh. I’m starting to get excited for this one. Gonna be a show all around. Goddamn I love me some electro-dance soul rock.
I’m sharing my table with some college kids from Corvalis. They are wondering if they could smoke weed during the show. “You kidding?”
Let’s move ya’ll. Coming up the stairs to the floor. Crowd is chanting and stomping and with every stair climbed, it feels like the temperature is upped by a degree or two. And yeah. Floor is fucking jammed and hot. And it smells like the inside of Bob Marley’s bong. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.
I’m starting to get sideways. I grab my last beer and get as close as I can without making a show/ass of myself. Good enough. Here’s my favorite move of the evening. I saw it multiple times. As anyone who goes to lots of shows has. The perpetrator is almost always a young 20′s dude who is tall. And always with a chick. The move. The I’m-so-confident-I-have-a-destination-and-it-is-the-front-row. These guys dive in all full of gusto, pushing, and about 3 bodies in they are defeated by the reality that no one is going to move for them. Guys. Put the girl in front. YOTS free advice.
GLO takes the stage. Turner is wearing his signature blue-gray cape. Yes. Cape. Behrens is all over the place. But for the songs he plays guitar on he is your right. Go that way. No braids tonight for Aaron.
Once the beats start the laser show kicks in. So fun. Best laser show for small venues I’ve ever seen. Multi color. All that fun stuff. Lazered up. Strobed up. Aaron screams before starting the opening verses to “Glitter”.
Look up here, cause here I am
Hunt you down like Uncle Sam
The floor has become the coolest dance party I’ve ever gone to in Portland. Everyone is friendly now (except the random people discovering their true front row destiny). And it is all good. Once the beats start they aren’t going to end. And Aaron Behrens is one of the more entertaining front men in rock today. All movement. All energy.
Electro-dance rock soul. Yeah. With lasers, hotness, dancing, drugs. The labels are silly. It’s just a rock show. And a fun one.
The criticisms I read about GLO mainly focus around Behrens channeling Freddy Mercury. Whatever. A)I don’t care B)If that is true, there are worse people to channel when done well. And. See A.
This shit was a riot. The new album Codename: Rondo appears to add more killer songs to the live show. “Sad, Sad City” was mayhem and I danced myself tired. The night was definitely a snack. Will be interesting to see what venue GLO books into next year. Cause I’ll be there if I can. Party.
