Rolled down to Fishtown for this one and met up with Mr. The Twin Atlas and Miss and Mrs Amanda Jones for pints and food before hand. Clutch parking directly across the street from Johnny Brenda's and a table was acquired inside. A few Victory Stouts and lots of babble (check out Harry Crews!) later we headed upstairs, alas, we missed the beginning of Ghost's set. A strangely semi full but not packed Friday night show. We headed to the balcony for more beers and a better view. Not sure what exactly we missed, but when we rolled in things were a little haphazard/not clicking. That said, by the time I finished my pint there were taking off quite well mainly thanks to Kurihara's subtle colorings and then over the top lightning bolt leads. Seriously, the best modern psychedelic guitarist? Perhaps. His crunchy spizzle grot note fuckery is just the best. Helena Espvall from the Espers sat in with the band and added some cello drone and vocals for a pretty decent effect. I was kinda buzzy and the players seemed to mesh a little better towards the end. It was all worth it just to hear Kurihara's solo on the encore, which I think was identified by Batoh as being "Comin' Home" (though maybe it was a diff arrangement of the Cosmic Invention song "Callin' Me Home")... just pure gorgeousness. That guitar solo is so far freakin' out, I wanna take it with me. A tad bummed they either didn't play "Hazy Paradise" or I missed it and they didn't play my other fave Ghost jam "Guru in the Echo" in spite of some calls from the audience for it. Alas... I think I first saw Ghost in 1995 opening for Magic Hour and it really kick started my interest in the whole Japanese psych thing so it is great to see them playing even further out 14 years later. We love you, Masaki!
Download of a live show from May 1 2009 Seattle here
