Heaviness Perfected: Yob, Cave In, and Yakuza at Thalia Hall 6/6/2023 (Live Report + Photos)
Yob, Cave In, and Yakuza performing together? On the same bill? If it wasn’t at Chicago’s Thalia Hall (a large, independent venue), I’d ask what year it was. To that point, Yob frontman Mike Scheidt even reminded the crowd of a time in which Yob and Yakuza played together at long-defunct venue The Note at a show which started at 2 AM. I am glad this show started at 7 PM!
Hot off the release of their newest album Sutra, their first in over a decade, was Yakuza. Performing choice cuts from said album, Yakuza’s blend of metal, free improvisation, and, most importantly, jazz (frontman Bruce Lamont is a prolific saxophone player) took the unsuspecting crowd by storm. Though it could be said that this long-standing band’s heyday was back in the 2000s, watching this newly reinvigorated band, with new bassist Jerome Marshall in tow, was like seeing Yakuza “back in the day.” The band exuded energy, power, and creativity throughout their set, and a lengthy tribute to the late Kenneth Anger ventured through Yakuza’s sound kaleidoscope.
While Yakuza’s set was a serious piece of art, Cave In‘s rocking riff worship was simply about having fun. After finishing their first song (which was incredibly heavy), bassist Nate Newton raised his fists in the air and let out a loud “FUCK YEAH!” setting the tone for the rest of the set. Cave In’s spacy, low string riffery was a perfect middle ground between Yakuza’s headiness and the soon-to-be-onstage Yob’s suffocating heaviness, but by far the most interesting part of their set wasn’t even an original song. “This song is where we got our name,” said singer and guitarist Steve Brodsky, leading into a sufficiently doomed rendition of Codeine’s “Cave In,” complete with a massive guitar solo. All in all, having never seen Cave In before, I’d definitely see these guys again.
Now, it had been a while since I last saw Yob and it was at a much smaller venue (the Empty Bottle, owned by the same folks who run Thalia Hall), but this larger than life doom metal band’s sound traverses stage and venue size. Yob could play a small bar or a huge festival and it would make sense in either simply due to how intimate of an atmosphere frontman Mike Scheidt and company create in a live setting. Yob is love, after all. Opening with “Molten Ball of Lead,” I knew I was in for a treat, and throughout their set Yob adventured through their discography, even going so far back as to revisit a song from the recently reissued Elaborations of Carbon (their debut). Yob also played a delightfully long set. Scheidt even joked that the set would be “Five songs, 90 minutes,” and it honestly came mildly close (and without a dull moment). What sets Yob apart from their peers is their stage mastery. Thalia Hall isn’t a small venue, and bassist Aaron Rieseberg owned a good portion of the stage, headbanging and moving about with an energy which matches Yob’s heaviness. Scheidt even made his way to the front of the stage to ecstatically yell and howl with the crowd. Having not seen Yob for a very long time (maybe ten years or so), they didn’t miss a beat, even with the latest addition of new drummer Dave French, who fell right into place and performed exquisitely.
-Words by Jon Rosenthal, Photos by Ted Nubel
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Keep scrolling for photos below.
Remaining Yob (w/ Cave In through the 12th, then Pallbearer):
June 9th – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
June 10th – Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub
June 12th – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
June 13th – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
June 14th – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry
June 15th – Asheville, NC @ Asheville Music Hall
June 16th – Atlanta, GA @ Hell at The Masquerade
June 17th – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues New Orleans
June 18th – Austin, TX @ Oblivion Access Festival 2023
June 20th – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
June 21st – Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theater
June 22nd – San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
June 23rd – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
June 24th – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Metro
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Yob, Cave In, Yakuza - Thalia Hall 6/6/2023
