Friday 4 May 2018

On Stage: A Place To Bury Strangers



In September I saw A Place To Bury Strangers for the first time at the Indiestadt festival and was quite impressed with their intense performance. Now they have a new album out, Pinned, and it's time to go check them out again.

A Place To Bury Strangers at Paradiso Tolhuistuin Amsterdam, May 2 2018



The noise rock band are known for their Epilepsy unfriendly performances with lots of flashing lights and heavy usage of stroboscopes. Tonight is no exception and as usual the band are playing in the dark, often surrounded by a lot of smoke, and are only clearly visible when the strobes are bathing the stage in bright light for a short split second. It is a wonderful background for the heavy noise music of the threesome.



Lia Simone Braswell has permanently joined guitarist and singer Oliver Ackermann and bassist Dion Lunadon on drums. That turns out to be a good thing, since her drum playing is tight and with her vocals she brings something new to the table. While singing a song solo she proves she has a good voice and combined with here solid drumming skills the band sounds more organic.



The combination of a wall of loud noise with more psychedelic vocals and lyrics works very well. The group hardly takes any breaks in between songs which makes the songs flow into each other and turns the show into a wild but smooth ride. Halfway the members gather around a peculiar mobile sample machine in the middle of the hall where they perform a few improvised songs. The drum samples sound quite nasty giving the tracks a techno sound.



One by one the band members return to the stage and continue their dark ride. There is no interaction with the crowd and after they play their last song they leave in the dark and the show is over. This all adds to the intensity of their performance. This dark restless and absent environment is where the band is at its best.



All Pictures

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Setlist:
01. We've Come So Far
02. Ego Death
03. So Far Away
04. Situations Changes
05. Deadbeat
06. There's Only One of Us
07. Drill It Up
08. Harp Song
09. Improvisation #1
10. Improvisation #2
11. Improvisation #3
12. Deeper
13. Straight
14. Nothing Will Surprise Me
15. Never Coming Back
16. I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart


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