Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Ritz. 1st October 2024

Godspeed You! Black Emperor have been working through the city’s venues over the years. I like this, it’s interesting to see how they sound in these different spaces. Tonight they’ve opted for The Ritz. It’s perhaps not noted for its acoustics like other venues they’ve played, but this art deco dancehall does have some genuine character. Something I don’t think I’ve really appreciated the hundreds of times I’ve been here. It’s perhaps something about GY!BE that gives your brain space to open up and appreciate these things. That sounds pretentious doesn’t it, I don’t care. The people inside this packed room know what I mean and if you’re a fan, I suspect you do too. As the lights dip and a low hum begins to emanate, a hush descends. You can hear feet shuffle as everyone gets into place. The projection fires up and a lone violin joins, leading us in gently to two hours of magic. As band members slowly join the stage, the sound of ‘Hope Drone’ swells. Guitars and strings build, until the percussion joins and they hit crescendo. Fun as the loud stuff is, you can’t have heavy without the light and as ‘BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD’ builds, the separation in the sound is hypnotic. It’s almost jaunty. I find my foot tapping. Not sure that’s happened at a GY!BE before. The slide guitar, violin and projector comprising of beautiful natural shots behind them, make it all feel very positive. Bombast and graveyards are never far away though and you have to surrender yourself to it all. As ‘Fire at Static City’ starts, I can hear the projector running up on the balcony above me. It’s wonderfully tactile and reassuring and that sums up GY!BE for me… tactile and reassuring. I’ll admit it’s not always easy to separate songs. They’ve a new record out this week and there’s some new stuff in the set, like ‘PALE SPECTATOR/GREY RUBBLE’. With guitars, violin, two drummers in places and double bass though, who cares about what part of this epic set is called what. The world burns behind them and the Ritz temperature rises, the new stuff sounds magnificent and ‘RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD’ in particular is a bit of a monster, with a steely echo penetrating its core. I’ve said this before, but songs like ‘Piss Crowns are Trebled’ are the soundtrack of the apocalypse. Both it happening and the aftermath. You’d think that maybe a band like this wouldn’t be that entertaining to watch, I’ve thought this myself in the past but they really are. Arms swing to generate the militaristic drums and draw bows across violins and guitars. That said the projection does draw the attention and I could enjoy this with my eyes closed and do on many occasions tonight. There are some “woops” and “yeahs” as the lilt of ‘Moya’ breaks through. It’s dark, helped by the ominous cock fighting and falling planes on the archive film footage. The projection as always is marvellous, it’s an art installation in its own right, both feeding off and adding to the score. They follow with ‘BBF3’ completing Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada, with a thunderous finale that’s spun out with a coda of feedback leading us right up to the brink of curfew and transcendental ecstasy. Sublime as ever, they made The Ritz their home tonight, but wherever they choose next, I’ll be there.