The 20th installment of the Noise Pop music festival was in full swing in San Francisco last week. Last Tuesday night was highlighted by the colorful stage show of the Flaming Lips playing to a packed house at the less than 700-person capacity venue Bimbo’s 365 Club. I was disappointed not to have landed a ticket to this sold out show. Fortunately for me, Wayne Coyne wasn’t the only one who brought a vibrant lightshow and props to town for the festival. Born Gold was one of four artists that played the sold out concert bill at the Rickshaw Stop on Wednesday night. This show also included fellow Canadian Grimes co-headlining with oOoOO.
Hailing from Edmonton, the three-piece experimental pop band took the stage and requested all of the lights be turned off. Once the darkness had set in, explosions of red LED lights erupted in unison with blaring synth and glitchy drums. The sleeves of Cecil Frena’s, leader of the space carnival, leather jacket began to illuminate with bright rolling white lights. If there is a familiar image to go along with a space creature abduction – this can’t be too far off. His friend soon left the stage to join us in the crowd wearing stilts and carrying a shovel that was strapped with a mixer.
Frena beamed powerful flashlights out at us as he slowly scanned over the crowd. The band members walked through the crowd hitting drumsticks together during the intro to “Lawn Knifes” off Bodysongs. Shortly after joining us, they dropped helmets onto their heads and began drumming on the helmets while the lights flashed violently. The crowd became a part of the show as a large black cloth surfed over the crowd with a pulsating strobe light that traveled along with it. As if our senses weren’t already stimulated, Frena’s friends danced in synch with Chinese fans that shot out rays of light. Prior to leaving the stage, Frena (looking like a hipper version of John C. Reilly in the lights) thanked us for listening to their weird music.
Following a strong witch house set from oOoOO, Born Gold jumped back onstage to back Grimes for nearly her entire set. Born Gold is definitely best at owning their live shows. Not taking anything away from their great studio material, but it is nearly impossible to get bored when Born Gold is onstage. The only thing I wish that they wouldn’t have done is to have changed their name from Gobble Gobble to Born Gold. It is way more fun to say Gobble Gobble!
Make sure to check this must see live band when they make a stop near you and stay up to date with all things Born Gold on Facebook and Twitter
Upcoming Tour Dates
02-27 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room*
02-29 - Austin, TX - Lambert's*
03-01 - Denton, TX - Dan's Silverleaf*
03-02 - New Orleans, LA - LBC Quad (Tulane University)*
03-03 - Oxford, MS - Cats Purring Dude Ranch*
03-04 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
03-05 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn*
03-06 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum*
03-07 - Orlando, FL - Backbooth*
03-08 - Miami, FL - Bardot Miami*
03-09 - Savannah, GA - Savannah Stopover Fest*
03-10 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506^
03-11 - Columbus, OH - The Basement
03-13 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry*
03-14 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle*
03-15 - Austin, TX - SXSW
03-16 - Austin, TX - SXSW
03-17 - Austin, TX - SXSW
03-19 - Toronto, Ontario - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern*
03-20 - Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox*
03-21 - Baltimore, MD - Str8 Cavin*
03-22 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie*
03-23 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge*
03-24 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands*
03-26 - Allston, MA - Great Scott*
03-28 - Peterborough, ON - The Spill
03-29 - Wakefield, QC - Black Sheep Inn
03-30 - Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
03-31 - Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret Mile End*
* with Grimes
^ with Bleeding Rainbow
