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Booking tours must be a bitch now. People have less to spend, so it takes more to get them to come out. Tours now are often traveling festivals, with huge, multi-band packages. Cancellation by even one act can be disastrous. If the contract between venue and booker specifies performers by name, and the booker fails to provide one of them, then the booker has breached the contract. The contract must then be renegotiated. At least that is the thesis behind this account of the recent Blackened Fest debacle involving Mayhem.
The Cognate House of Courtly Witches…
Absu’s current tour has also experienced upheaval. Dubbed “CIII,” it was to showcase some of Candlelight’s finest in black metal — Absu (reviewed here), Averse Sefira (interviewed here, reviewed here), and Glorior Belli (reviewed here). Averse Sefira and Glorior Belli dropped off the bill for various reasons. Now Absu is touring with Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, a middling thrash band not even on Candlelight, and Sothis, a band whose live set once literally put me to sleep. This show begs for late arrival.
That is the cup half-empty. The cup half-full is (1) fewer bands means an earlier bedtime, and (2) the headliner still makes the show worthwhile — the way shows originally were. I am excited to see Proscriptor McGovern do his Phil Collins sing/drum routine behind the kit. Can he keep up vocals over the awesome clatter of songs from Tara? Reports from Maryland Deathfest say yes. The new Absu merch people have been sporting looks sweet also.
For a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Absu show this Sunday, 6/21, at B.B. King’s in NYC, email invisibleoranges at gmail dot com by midnight EST on Thursday, 6/18, with the subject header “Six pack Absu” and your full name. I will choose a winner randomly.
Poorly organized tours are inexcusable. And in a recession, too? What the Hell are these people thinking?!
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder are probably not a good fit with Absu as the headliner, and I would agree that they are fairly middling in terms of originality. However, I will vouch for them as a good live band – I've seen them twice and they put on a fun, high-energy show that is better than their records.
Just sayin'….
Ugh, I'm going to this tour tonight, assuming that Averse Sefira and Glorior Belli would still be on the bill. Oh well, looks like I'm gonna be drinking in the Pearl Room parking lot before Absu goes on. Rumpelstilskin Grinder is just horrible.
Absu did a split with Rumpelstiltskin Grinder on Relapse. Maybe they're friends now or something? Anyway, the switch doesn't make sense. Rumpelstiltskin's music isn't really the problem for me as much as their band name and lyrical aesthetic. It's a little too… zany. Hope somebody loves them.
RG is alright, but Absu is plain excellence. HAIL MIGHTY PROSCRIPTOR! He's a madman with his drumming and vocals. In the near future, Absu needs to bring their buddies in Melechesh to tour the US. Now that's a worthwhile tour package.
I saw this tour in Los Angeles last week. To make things even more ridiculous, Sothis didn't show up in time for their slot, so they had to switch spots with Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, and I was unable to miss Sothis's set as planned. I'll agree whole-heartedly with Cosmo's assessment of Sothis…even if they weren't standing stock-still the entire time, the fact that every single element of the drum kit was triggered was pretty depressing. So is their middling songwriting. I liked RG's last record a lot but the live set was weaksauce and piss-poorly attended.
Absu's bassist handled most of the vocal duties but every now and then Proscriptor hissed from behind the kit without missing a blastbeat. Hearing him talk to the audience between songs in his Sumerian rasp was a hoot.