Drove down to Minehead with me mate Ian to see Yob at the ATP 'inbetween days' event.
Weird weird weird. The place was desolate, not a sign of life when we arrived. Music billed to start at 6, first band was on at 7.45 so we sat in the car shivering and smoking rather than stand at an empty bar shivering.
First band - Mugstar - fairly decent space-psych-groove thing going on, but with a pillock up front playing bad guitar and bad keyboards and loving himself. At the end of the set he smashed his guitar up (don't think I've ever actually seen anyone do that before) in front of a laid-back beardstroking crowd and his embarrassed-looking bandmates.
Next band - Moon Duo - like Wooden Shjips with the rhythm section replaced by synths. Pretty good but not that exciting, fortunately I'd managed to get a solid stone on by this point.
Third band - Urfaust - poor, not worth much more of a review in my book.
Then after a LOOOONG wait Yob were due to start at 11.45 I was interested to see what the reception/crowd would be like, it was mostly arty/hipster/scene types, mid 30's/40's, musing at the entertainment and I wasn't sure how they'd enjoy some mind-melting cosmic doom. As Yob opened to about 20 people I thought everyone had just come to see Urfaust's 'avant-garde BM' then gone to bed but I think actually Yob just started a bit early.
I got up front and got my nod on. Class as at Roadburn, Burning The Altar especially crushing. Some sound problems, including being told to turn down by the organisers but the sound remained good and full nevertheless. Got a couple off The Unreal Never Lived and a NEW SONG in the encore. Strangely it was really fast and Metal, kept waiting for 'the slow bit' which seemed inevitable but apart from settling into a galloping chug for a while the pace didn't let up. Good stuff, be interesting to see if this is a one-off or a change in direction. And if the latter be interesting to see how the fanbase receives it! Anyway they went down well, the room had filled up a bit by the end, all smiles and fist-pumping and hopefully planning to come back to the UK another day.
Long drive home was less fun.
_________________ ...Satan is good, Satan is our pal...
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