Boris
Lincoln Hall; Chicago, IL

Do you have any idea of the aural impetus required to cause a power failure through volume? It’s hard. Really. Fucking. Hard. Professional venues are designed, and staffed, in order to accommodate a frat-sized party of decibels ransacking eardrums and the concert hall. Boris is the only band I’ve ever known that are notorious for their ability to rend PA systems and power supplies apart, and they’ve been doing it for more than 20 years. In their maturity the trio refined and polished their performance into a seamless assault of Japanese metal, the Ghost of Power Failures Past felt like it was looming over the stage, waiting to take the sound system in its jaws and shake the life out of it. Boris chose Lincoln Hall for a two-night stint of shows, the first covering their “classics” (I’m feign to use that term in that all of their songs play like an assault on the listener), and the second an experimental set trying out new material.

Boris’ set was exhausting even when viewed from 20 feet up in the balcony. They played for two hours straight, with maybe a couple of minute-long reprieves peppered in. My favorite to watch was Atsuo, the drummer. He had hair down well past his legs while sitting down, with eyeliner and neon lights all over him. Wata, the wildly skilled guitarist wielding a Les Paul Custom, who also happens to be an attractive Japanese woman, had an enclave of sweaty, long-haired dudes in the pit who all looked like they had seen more than one tentacle monster in their life. Bluh. Anyway, the show was incredible, one of the most enjoyable abrasive concert experiences in recent memory.

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