Live: Ghostland Observatory @ The Metro
A friend of mine helps run a music site called The Scenestar. We were talking about writing reviews and I decided to give it a try, for fun. It turned out pretty well and I may be contributing some reviews now and then for the site.
Anyway, I thought I’d share my demo… for posterity? As always, feel free to comment/critique/rave about Ghostland/etc.
An energetic young crowd anxiously waited through a generic, DJ-manned playlist at the Metro for the night’s headliner to come out - Ghostland Observatory, touring in support of their new release Robotique Majestique.
As the DJ playlist went on and the crowd grew restless, people reacted to any little change in music or appearance of a crewman, hoping that it was a sign that the show was set to begin. Finally, as smoke flooded the stage and billowed out into the audience, Thomas Ross Turner (keyboards and drums) and Aaron Behrens (vocals, guitar) made their appearance to uproarious approval.
Austin, Texas-hailing Ghostland Observatory had the crowd jumping, dancing, and singing along to every lyric from the opening beat. Consisting of material exclusively from their first two albums, delete.delete.i.eat.meat and Paparazzi Lightning, Ghostland Observatory went non-stop for the first half of their 90-minute or so set and worked the crowd to a fevered pitch with favorites like Sad, Sad City, Stranger Lover, and an extended, guitar riff-heavy jam version of Midnight Voyage - a height which somehow exploded upward when the band unleashed the first two tracks from Robotique Majestique, Opening Credits and Heavy Heart, to start the second half of the set.
You go to see Ghostland Observatory for the music, a blend of electronic, soul, and rock inspired by such acts as David Bowie, the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Prince, and Daft Punk (according to the duo themselves) but you come away impressed by so many other things.
Primary amongst those other items, special attention must be brought to Behrens’ dancing. Featuring a repertoire consisting of everything from sexy stripper pole-dancing moves to traditional Native American dance - and most certainly everything in-between - Behrens brings a level of energy that is both hypnotizing and inspiring. He has so much fun on stage that the crowd cannot help but smile, dance along, and love every minute of it. Behrens not only elevates the crowd, he feeds off of it. Citing the crowd’s energy as “solid,” he slapped hands with people in the front rows and seemed to genuinely appreciate the crowd’s enthusiasm.
If Behrens’ signature is his energy and non-stop dancing (and pigtail braids!), then stoic Turner’s signature is a shiny, Dracula-style cape slick enough to make any sports-entertainment wrestling showman jealous. It’s hard to steal attention away from Behrens, but Turner and his cape capture your attention.
Unlike past tours, Ghostland Observatory now performs with a staggeringly-impressive laser show that couples with the smoke in a way suggestive of a small-stage Pink Floyd performance. Turner strikes quite the compelling image contrasted against that backdrop while Behrens seems to weave and dodge his way between the random rays.
In all, the show was amazing. Unfortunately for now, Ghostland Observatory is not playing locally at any time in the near future. If you missed them, and you cannot follow them to places like California, Texas, or Oklahoma, make sure to do the next-best thing and check out their website for their albums and their recently-released Austin City Limits DVD.
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