A lively atmosphere in Antisocial Skateshop proved to be a sign of what was to come. 50 or so bearded men and raven haired ladies, Pilsners in hand milled in and out of the sparsely decorated Main St skate haven. I had few preconceptions of the opener Friendship and The Fawn, having only glanced across their Myspace to see the descriptor Folk/Bluegrass/Minimalist. We chuckled about it on the way to the venue, Planets being one of the loudest and fastest bands I can imagine touring with such a group seemed almost comical. However when the lights dimmed, candles where lit and everyone took a seat on the floor, I realized this was serious. Friendship and the Fawn lived true to their genre, however instead of resenting them I was quite impressed. It made sense to have a slow and almost droney band open for the complete opposite, no band is truly like Planets so why bother trying. The two ladies of Friendship and the Fawn plucked lazy at various instruments including banjo, ukulele, glockenspiel and accordion, incorporating a few members of the audience to aid in vocal harmony in two songs. Minimal is the perfect word for these two, relying heavily on vocal melody I wasn’t left wanting more, however I was left wanting one thing…Planets.

Wasting no time after the Friendship and The Fawn, Planets took the stage to do final sound adjustments before laying waste to Antisocial Skateshop.  As the bassist did a quick pedal test, and I could feel my chest cavity begin to rumble, but this was only a slight hint of the onslaught that was about to ensue.   Now, I have been a pretty big Planets fan for quite some time, and their album has been on pretty constant rotation, but to hear them live was a completely different story.  You can get a bit detached listening to such technical music from the album, so to see the songs performed in front of me, probably one of the most engaging shows I have been to in a while.  Planets were relentless, only taking a few seconds in between each song to let out some hoarse “thank you”s, and the odd hoot and holler before diving headfirst into the next song.  All in all it was an intense and exhausting experience, in the best ways possible.

Friendship And The Fawn – Sleep By Your Ghost
Planets – Vow of Silence

-lionsteeth & iceonthetrail