Lately, I've noticed that opening bands have been getting a lot of attention from Buffalo concert goers, and last night once again the majority of the flock assembled early, this time for I Break Horses, who justified the hype thoroughly with their epic yet dreamy set consisting of songs off of their 2011 debut Hearts. From start to finish, this band from Stockholm mesmerized the crowd with a gorgeously layered sound that folded synths, spacey guitar, a driving heartbeat back-beat, and the ethereal vocals of Maria Linden together into a warm cascade of sound. Some could quibble that I Break Horses plays in the same sandbox as M83's 2003 second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, but I won't, because that album is staggering in it's use of familiar old synths to create heavenly, ecstatic music, and for my part it's not a bad starting point at all, especially considering I Break Horses definitely has their own thing going. In any case I Break Horses set dazzled the packed house, and the stage perfectly for M83.
Other serious highlights included a gorgeous "We Own The Sky" followed by a delirious "Steve McQueen" that had the crowd going bonkers before getting chilled out by the smoldering and properly epic "Wait." After a Daft Punk cover ("Fall" I think, that's what the Interwebs say at least), the show built to a proper, thunderous climax with "This Bright Flash;" the hit for which none of this would've been possible "Midnight City;" and a retooled "Outro" that (appropriately) closed out the main set. Predictably, the crowd went bat___ for "Midnight City," but interestingly enough, so did Anthony Gonzalez because I think it was at this point that he howled "Buffalo!" and whipped his bottle into the crowd nailing an unaware concertgoer in the face. My sense of time got a little fuzzy last night so my timeline could be off, but I distinctly remember that poor woman catching that water bottle cap first in the kisser (a reminder that like at hockey and baseball games, you've got to keep your eyes open at these things). She'll be OK though, and in any case it was all for the art (at least I think she will; they didn't carry her out or anything clutching her eyeball, and I think she finished the show no worse for wear). After a brief intermission the exhausted crowd was sent home with "Skin Of The Night" and "Couleurs" to keep them buzzing and warm, wonderful parting gifts from M83.
Indeed, time did get a little fuzzy last night. Even Tweeting the setlist in real time and forcefully breaking my M83 experience into individual increments, I had no problem at all losing myself again in the music before coming up for air and then doing it all over again. It was a potent and powerful experience intentionally stepping back out only to submerge effortlessly once again in the music and the whole M83 experience, and it's a show and experience that I will never forget. I can't say that everybody won't forget that show, because there's always got to be haters- that's just the way it is, you can't do anything about them anyways, and I can only speak for myself. That was my first time seeing M83, and I hope it won't be the last.
PS- Big ups to everybody who made last night's show happen. Not for nothing, but last night's M83 show was something that doesn't happen in Buffalo all that frequently. Hell, those shows pretty much never happen in Buffalo- a band very much on it's way up, on the cusp of mainstream success, a band at their current apex... those bands generally skip our city. Take Phoenix for example. In about a year and half, they went from indie to Madison Square Garden, and not once did they play Buffalo. They passed by here on their way hither and yond, but play here? No. Last night however a band following a similar (if not identical) trajectory played our fair city, and it was ____ing excellent. And let's also take stock of the last 2 weeks in Buffalo: Cults, Death Cab For Cutie, Portugal. The Man, St Vincent, and M83. That's an incredible 2 weeks of shows, with more on the way (Santigold, Talib Kweli, tUne yArds, Childish Gambino, Sleigh Bells, Youth Lagoon, plus, based on murmurings in the Force, others). Is there something significant going on in Buffalo with it's music scene? I think there is.
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