Thursday, October 9, 2014

The War On Drugs, and I've been listening to them forever: TBD Fest, 2014

Adam Granduciel, The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
Adam Granduciel, The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
Occasionally, very occasionally, you come across a band, a musician, a sound, and though you've never before heard a single song, the moment the first note hits your eardrum, you've known them forever.

I'm like that with Marillion's songs: they hit a chord so deep that it feels like part of eternity. And, on Saturday, The War On Drugs did the same thing. It was just as if their songs, which I'd never heard before, had already been playing somewhere just-beyond my hearing, waiting to be set free and known..

The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
The War On Drugs, TBD Fest 2014, Sacramento
I'd never heard The War On Drugs before: never experienced Adam Granduciel's guitar, hadn't even had a clue what to expect, musically, because there were so many bands playing at the festival, and not enough time to preview each and every one in time for the weekend... and the PR description, try as it might, can't paint sound and emotion.

The band was getting ready to play; there were some challenges with the sound, it was taking a little longer than expected. On of the phototographers was muttering about "the guitar techs giving the show", but who could have heard one note of Granduciel's guitar and not known it was the real thing??? So worth waiting the extra few minutes for...

Charlie Hall, drums, The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
Charlie Hall, drums, The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
Photographing festivals, we shoot the first three songs of one band, then zoom off to the next stage for three songs there, then the next stage, then the fourth, three songs each show, never hearing an entire set; and as festival sets are condensed versions of a band's usual tour show (forty-five minutes, or an hour maybe, instead of an hour and a half, two hours or more). Sorry, other bands whose sets overlapped with The War On Drugs: I stayed there, and listened to the entire show.

Robbie Bennett, keyboards, The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
Robbie Bennett, keyboards, The War on Drugs, TBD Fest, 2014
Like my favorite parts of Bob Dylan and Dire Straits, blended with a manic, insistent and persistent drumming, and something very unique and heartfelt and born of pain and joy and darkness and morning. "Under The Pressure" has been playing in my head ever since Saturday... so very glad I was there for this show at TBD Fest.

Adam Granduciel, guitar and vocals, The War On Drugs, TBD Fest 2014
Adam Granduciel, guitar and vocals, The War On Drugs, TBD Fest 2014

More photos in the Toon's Tunes photo gallery for The War On Drugs.

More about the band on their website: many upcoming tour dates are already sold out, so grab tickets fast: USA, UK, Europe and Australia coming soon.

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