It’s not often these days, that an opening band will capture you in such a way that your whole review will be based around them and not the headliner. This is that review. With a unique bill, the show featured Caspian, Cursive and Minus The Bear at Water Street Music Hall on September 20, 2012.
Not only would a producer have his hands full with Caspian, but also a promoter of a bill. It has to be hard to fit them into the right bill. This would be the first time seeing Caspian live since following them from the “These Four Walls” days. If you are not familiar with the band, then you are missing out and missed out, you did.
Intense, is probably the best word to describe the band in concert.From the ambient intro, they kicked right in to the fast "Of Foam and Wave," a huge soundscape of double picking guitars soaked in reverb and overdrive. The “Tertia” songs were great to hear live. It's one of those moments where you can close your eyes and just let the music move you. When I did open my eyes, the lights were dead on, flowing with every transition. Knowing the music beforehand definitely helps, but to others that may not have heard of them before, they were definitely sucked in. The crowd was intrigued to say the least. You can tell by the facial expressions, people didn’t know what to expect but as you would find, they wouldn’t look away.
You would think it has to be tough being an instrumental band opening up for a band on the rise, but Caspian did it well. Think of the most intense part of a movie without dialogue, that’s Caspian on record or in a live setting. They climax on enormous sounds and breakdown to subtle ambience.The band is so into their music that it doesn’t matter if there are vocals or not. The music speaks for itself and you can tell the band enjoys every minute they are up there. Showing of what they have to offer has to be an exciting part of their night, each and every city.
Go out and check out their albums "The Four Trees" and "Tertia" as the band will be releasing their new album “Waking Season” on 9.25.2012. If you see the name in a magazine or flyer coming neat you, do yourself a favor and go see them, you wont regret it.
Forgive my pictures as I didnt get my good camera in:
