Five years after their last performance in Athens, Wooden Shjips made their triumphant comeback at the packed Gagarin 205 club with a great psychedelic set full of highlights from the whole of their career so far.
The music of the San Francisco quartet relies on the virtues of repetition and by mixing psychedelic garage rock with krautrock grooves they create a mesmerizing swirl of sound that takes the listener on an adventurous sonic trip. The experience was enhanced on stage by the use of colorful background projections which added to the psychedelic energy of the music.
The 75-minute set did not rely on the band's latest album "V", but you could say it was an overview of their discography, going all the way back to their beginning with tracks like "We Ask You To Ride", "Death's Not Your Friend" or "Black Smoke Rise", moving on to the more laid-back new material ("Ride On", "Staring At The Sun") and paying along the way tribute to some of their influences by adding in the mix cover versions of Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" (which crept in at the end of "Death's Not Your Friend") and Snapper's "Buddy" with which they closed their storming performance.
The psychedelic colors of the evening were further enhanced by a fine opening set from local rising act Holy Monitor, a band obviously sharing many influences with Wooden Shjips, who presented us songs from their two albums.
Check out below two songs from Wooden Shjips' performance at Gagarin 205, "Flight" and "Death's Not Your Friend":
The music of the San Francisco quartet relies on the virtues of repetition and by mixing psychedelic garage rock with krautrock grooves they create a mesmerizing swirl of sound that takes the listener on an adventurous sonic trip. The experience was enhanced on stage by the use of colorful background projections which added to the psychedelic energy of the music.
The 75-minute set did not rely on the band's latest album "V", but you could say it was an overview of their discography, going all the way back to their beginning with tracks like "We Ask You To Ride", "Death's Not Your Friend" or "Black Smoke Rise", moving on to the more laid-back new material ("Ride On", "Staring At The Sun") and paying along the way tribute to some of their influences by adding in the mix cover versions of Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" (which crept in at the end of "Death's Not Your Friend") and Snapper's "Buddy" with which they closed their storming performance.
The psychedelic colors of the evening were further enhanced by a fine opening set from local rising act Holy Monitor, a band obviously sharing many influences with Wooden Shjips, who presented us songs from their two albums.
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| Holy Monitor, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, March 17th, 2019) |
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| Wooden Shjips, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, March 17th, 2019) |
Check out below two songs from Wooden Shjips' performance at Gagarin 205, "Flight" and "Death's Not Your Friend":
Wooden Shjips - Flight, live @ Gagarin 205
Wooden Shjips - Death's Not Your Friend / What Goes On, live @ Gagarin 205
