The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.gogolbordello.com/

I've seen a few things in my life.  I've seen a woman get run over by a car.  I've seen a man get shot in the back coming out of a nightclub.   I know for a fact what I saw those two times.  Those memories are burned into my brain.  A month removed from seeing Gogol Bordello, I'm still not sure what the hell I saw. I do know this.  It was way cooler than both of those other burning memories.

I've been waiting to see Gogol Bordello since their Super Taranta! release dropped back in the summer of 2007.   I watched their tour schedule religiously and despite the fact it seemed like they travelled like every day of the year, they never, ever came close to St. Louis.  Vegas one time and Chicago for Lollapalooza 2008 have been the closest and neither worked out for me.  I damn near gave up on ever seeing them.  And then one day I got an email from Pollstar.  They were playing The Pageant!  Fifteen seconds after the email I get a text from Nancy.

N: Guess who is playing in Saint Louis?

M: We are so there.

That was months in advance of the show, but finally the big day arrived.  We didn't even bother with the opening band.  Instead we arrived in just enough time to get in, get a drink, and grab some space near the back.  Stage left.   All week I wondered how many people would actually show up.  When I told people who I was going to see they all gave me the universal blank stare.  Obviously I didn't tell the right people because the place was packed.  From where we were standing I couldn't see if there was room in the balcony, but downstairs was SRO and then some.    Strange crowd too.  There were punk rockers, music hipsters, and even some old folk.  I think I even saw some retards too.  Maybe they weren't completely retarded, but they looked pretty close to Special Olympics unsavory.

The house lights lowered and Eugene Hutz came out holding a bottle of wine, dancing about on stage, and taking liberal shots from the bottle.  The crowd cheered loudly with each swig.  He put the bottle down next to the drum kit and started playing the guitar, dancing, and singing what sounded to me like a gypsy folk tune.  Hey, I'm not Eastern European so it may have been something else.  Whatever it was, it showcased the roots of Gogol Bordello's music and as the song got more intense, members of the band started showing up on stage.  First Thomas Gobena on a 6 string bass wearing a Bad Brains t-shirt, then Sergey Ryabtsev in a beret playing violin, followed by Yuri Lemeshev on accordian.  If I had never heard of Gogol Bordello and you told me I was going to see gypsy music with an accordian and violin player, I would have laughed at you.  I shouldn't.  These guys can flat out play and they all play with unparalleled intensity.  As the show wore on it seemed as if they all fed off each other.  Clearly, it was no laughing matter.

Well, sorta.  When the dancers come out wearing majorette uniforms and playing marching bass drums and cymbals, you have to laugh a little bit.  But if you concentrated on watching them, no matter how entertaining they might be, you were bound to miss something entertaining being done by Eugene, or Sergey, or Yuri, or any of the other member of the band.  There was, quite simply, too much shit to watch.  The whole time my eyes watched something for a few seconds, shifted to something else as I wondered to myself what I was missing on the other side of the stage.  So I would decide to look over there, knowing full well the whole time I was missing something really cool I just took my eye off of.  It was like watching a cross between Cirque du Soliel, a Broadway musical, and the Russian hat dance all mixed into one thick gravy.  With extra spicy coolness and it screamed party!

For almost two hours I watched one of the most intense musical performances I've ever seen.  When it was over I was actually sort of relieved.  Too much more of that and I think my brain would have exploded, partly due to sensory overload.  Partly due to still not knowing what the hell it was I saw.  All I know at this point is that I want to see it again.

October 25th @ The Blue Note in Columbia, MO

Who knows when they will be here again.