Goat

Supersonic Festival
The Warehouse
Custard Factory
Digbeth
Birmingham
UK


Sunday 21st October 2012


CA-14 cardioids > SP-SPSB-11 (no bass roll-off) > Roland R-09HR (24bit/44.1k)
> Audacity (normalize, fades, export as 16bit/44.1k) > CDWave (tracking) > TLH (flac, checksum)


01 soundchecking
02 Diarabi
03 Golden Dawn
04 The Sun The Moon
05 Disco Fever
06 Let It Bleed
07 Run To Your Mama
08 Goathead (cut)


Goat were due onstage at 10.15pm. This recording starts around 10.20pm. The first track is six minutes of soundchecking, chatter, ironic applause and costume changes.

I left just before 11pm to get to the Boxxed venue in time to see Body/Head.

http://goatsweden.blogspot.co.uk/

Seven band members - two guitarists, bassist, drummer, percussionist and two vocalists.


==================================

Notes:
Without question, the most hyped band of the weekend. They've had plenty of hype elsewhere too.

Over the weekend, numerous people had told me the Goat album is great, but I haven't heard it (beyond 10 minutes of flicking through YouTube to track out this recording).

The venue was packed by their scheduled stage time of 10.15pm. In a weekend notable for bands choosing not to use their alloted set lengths, Goat were preceded by an interminable set from Ufomammut (not taped) and had been given a slightly shorter changeover time than most acts.

With the exception of the percussionist, each band member was wearing a mask as they came on to check their equipment. These were gradually swapped for full costumes, a range of African and Middle-Eastern dress styles.

Once they got going, the music was fine, but the show was a bit of a shambles. The two vocalists spent their time pulling shapes, chanting, whooping and generally trying to 'get the party started'. It all came across as a bit forced - I've seen this show described elsewhere as 'drama school cabaret' and I would concur.

At the end of each song, everything came to a grinding halt and they all stood around looking a bit awkward until the guitarists had finished tuning and the next song began.

Perhaps their worst crime - they were pumping patchouli scent off the stage at the start.

I had intended taping the full set, but about 15mins in, I started checking my watch and wondering how late I could leave departing to see Body/Head instead. By the time I left, I'd had more than enough. Folks around me seemed to be enjoying the show well enough.


auto_pilot
October 2012