God Is An Astronaut

Founded nearly a decade ago, the post-rock band God is an Astronaut has grown a large fan base in their home country of Ireland as well as around the world. Although this band is not new by many people’s standards, I recently discovered them and have been impressed with their sound. When I heard they were bringing what has been described as an epic show to one of my favorite venues in SF, Bottom of the Hill, I had to see for myself.

Some friends and I arrived at the Bottom of the Hill as the doors opened, there was already a huge line stretching down the street. Those of us who were at the club early were greeted by the dark experimentally produced sounds of local Bryan von Reuter from the band Cloud Archive. His set was intense, smooth and at times abrasive as images violently flashed on the backdrop while we anticipated the arrival of the headliner.

Bryan von Reuter

Crowd provided lasers bounced on the ceiling as we eagerly waited for God is an Astronaut to take the stage. Finally the time had come, keyboardist Jamie Dean took the stage and started playing a resonating intro. Each of his fellow band mates joined him on stage one by one as they each received a roaring welcome from the crowd. As they began playing their respective instruments, the song developed into something that was absolutely mind-blowing. The sound at the venue was dead on for this show as each instrument was heard with great intensity.

Following the opening song, front man Torsten Kinsella voiced the band’s love for playing in the city of San Francisco. He also shared that it had been nearly three years since their last visit to SF. During “Shadows” the smooth intro was enough to send me off into a trance, but not before they shook me awake by rocking through the last portion of the song. This also had members of the audience fiercely pumping their fists in the air to the beat.

They continued to deliver songs that moved back and forth between beautifully melodic sounds and powerful rock bits. They wrapped up their set by playing fan favorites – the smooth evolving track “Forever Lost” and then closed their set with the heavy hitting rocker “Route 666”.  The crowd wasn’t quite ready to head home as they begged for one more song. The band came out to thank the crowd one last time by playing a final song. This show was certainly epic and I definitely will not miss another opportunity to see them live.

You can pick up God is an Astronauts latest album Age Of The Fifth Sun today on Amazon

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