On Stage: Oh Sees @ Paradiso

In the pace John Dwyer is writing music it is hard to believe he can find time to tour. Fortunately he does and most of the times will visit my home town. So whenever I can, I will try to visit his shows, which are usually Thee Oh Sees shows. Or whatever he will call that band which doesn't matter to me.

Oh Sees at Paradiso Amsterdam, September 7 2019

This time Dwyer is visiting as Oh Sees and has sold out the main hall of Paradiso weeks back. It's great to see all his hard work is paying off and he's getting the recognition he deserves. Since even though he keeps knocking out new songs without great ease, they are always of a high standard. The eager fans tonight prove the popularity of this band, hungry for some quality garage rock. After another short soundcheck the band kicks off, turning the complete floor into a wild pit right away.

Dwyer mentions this is the last show of their European tour adding, "make it count". As if this crowd needes any more motivation. Beers fly up in the air as the band fires off one vicious rock song after another. You can hear why so many people love this band, as there aren't many groups that can generate this amount of energy. With two drummers at the front of the stage this is of course their intention. Sometimes they will double the same drum grooves, other times they will play subtle differences. The objective is to make the groove even bigger and more pulsating. This way the songs keep going and never slow down. Only King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, who are also playing with two drummers, can match up to this at the moment.

With so many albums out, there's plenty of ammunition to fill the setlist. Of course the emphasis is on the last album Face Stabber, but throughout all these years and so many records, the songs have always sounded familiar. The psych rock punk songs will usually have groovy driven verses that are upbeats to explosive choruses, vicious shredding guitar solos and psychedelic krautrock jams. This never gets old and live this is impossible to resist. So people are dancing, jumping, stage diving and crowd surfing and are simply going mental.

At the end Dwyer says they will have three more songs, two pop rock songs and one long jam. 'Jettisoned' and 'C' are indeed followed by a long lovely version of 'Encryped Bounce' that keeps going forever and where the band spins into a long jam. It's a wonderful end to this night, as this band doesn't do encores. Afterwards at the busy merch table I meet fans with soaking wet shirts trying to get their hands on some of the merch. This was another amazing night with this one of a kind band.



All Pictures

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Setlist:
01. Nite Expo
02. Tidal Wave
03. The Dream
04. The Daily Heavy
05. Animated Violence
06. Gholü
07. Withered Hand
08. Toe Cutter / Thumb Buster
09. The Static God
10. Henchlock
11. I Come From the Mountain
12. Snickersnee
13. Plastic Plant
14. Jettisoned
15. C
16. Encryped Bounce