So, I broke my vow to myself to not go to any concerts for a while almost immediately. On Monday we went to see Caspian, an American band, at B72. I was in the throes of sickness, having caught a cold from the Minkus, but I decided to suck it up and go anyway, because I’m not writing a blog about staying home and drinking tea with lemon (although that is obviously another enjoyable activity). Here’s one of my favourite songs by Caspian to accompany this post:

I didn’t know their music at all, but they are friends of friends of Mink and it’s always beneficial to support people doing what they love! Especially if you know them. Matthew introduced me to the lead singer, whose name is (I think) Tom. He’s the super tall dude in the middle of the photo:

B72 is a really cool little bar underneath of the U-Bahn, which means that every so often a train would shake the entire building somewhat ominously. We were actually going to see Yelle here at the end of November, but she was playing on the same night as The Bloody Beetroots and, while she would have been really fun at such an intimate venue, she can’t compare to those crazy, wrestling-masked Italians. B72 was tiny and adorable, but the sound system was unbelievably loud – almost to the point where it would distort the bands’ notes into cacophonous garbage. It was a little disappointing, since we didn’t even want to go all the way into that room for the two opening bands and just ended up chilling by the bar. From what I could hear outside of the doors, however, they were swell.

We went inside for Caspian, and they were phenomenal! I can best describe their music as kind of like the epic guitar riffs from Explosions in the Sky, with hints of Dredg and The Album Leaf mixed in for originality, but with no lyrics. Whoever they were channelling, it worked perfectly. I’ve seen The Album Leaf and Dredg (unfortunately I have yet to see Explosions in the Sky, my favourite of that list, but Mathis says that their set is just one long rise and fall of musical ingenuity). I’ve included links to all of those bands for more info, but obviously this comparison works better if one knows the bands already. Regardless – Caspian managed to give an incredible set, all the while rocking out hard themselves:

Their sound adjectively, in one sentence: it’s a long, drawn out build-up that results in a wave of intensity washing over the crowd. Unfortunately, the sound was also crazy-loud for their set, but it kind of cleared out my sinuses, weirdly enough. Matthew said that this was their best concert yet, and he’s a veteran since he’s seen them seven or eight times. Mink and Mathis and I left to catch the U-Bahn home, but Mink and I ended up missing our last connection – it’s too bad that the U-Bahn now runs all night on the weekends and holidays, but the last trains run at 12:20 or something on weeknights. This does not accord well with my social functions (because, ideally, Vienna should adhere to my schedule. Take note, Vienna, if you’re reading this!).

We don’t have too many events lined up for December, and I actually exercised some restraint by not seeing MGMT a couple of days ago. We might go to see Handsome Furs at B72 on the 17th, just because they’re from Montreal and I like their music. And we’d just have to blurt out that we’re Canadian and get star treatment of some sort, maybe-probably-delusionally. Also, they’re pretty rad in general, as this picture evinces:

But that’s a story for another day.