Live: Ghostland Observatory/Ceeplus Bad Knives

WAREHOUSE LIVE — 10/29/10: Perhaps I should have been prepared for the crowd that I encountered at the Ghostland Observatory show last Friday, it being Halloween weekend and all, but walking into a crowd of Lady Gagas and cartoon characters was pretty surreal. It might have almost been whimsical, if it weren’t for the high percentage of extremely drunk people — and this was before the show even started, mind you. By the time GO came on stage, an Indian chief and a cheerleader had sloppily made out in front of me for a solid 10 minutes, and a frat boy in a mini skirt had fallen onto me with a mumbled apology of, “Sorry, man, I am so fucked up.”

Not that the wait for the show to start was so short. Kudos and sympathies to DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives for spinning to a loud and impatient audience for almost 3 hours before the main act. I sincerely hope that the rest of that man’s weekend was better than that night.

Thankfully, when they finally came on, Ghostland Observatory did just what I had hoped they would: they played almost entirely from their sophomore album, Paparazzi Lightning. Aaron Behrens’ falsetto was in prime shape for the high-voltage dance tunes “Move With Your Lover” and “Piano Man,” and got most of the audience singing along to the group’s biggest hit, “Sad Sad City.”

Producer Thomas Turner delivered, as well, throwing some serious crunch into “Ghetto Magnet.” Though the duo did play the title track from their new album Codename: Rondo, they seemed to pick up on the lack of audience response to it, and stuck to their older material for the rest of the night.

As good as the music was, though, the show wouldn’t have been worth the ridiculous wait if it weren’t for the amazing light show that accompanied it. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t been to enough big-name rock concerts to get sick of lasers yet, but I spent much of the show gaping at the artificial Aurora Borealis dancing around the rafters. It was beautiful. Maybe Behrens wasn’t wearing sunglasses just for show.

When GO comes back to Houston, by all means, go see them. You are guaranteed a sensory experience that you won’t soon forget. END

Feature photo by Daniel Perlaky.