I guess, in retrospect, its good they didn't, since I'm still here. For those who aren't die-hard Sleep fans, let me enlighten you to the monolith that is Dopesmoker. This track, originally written in 1995, was released three years later as a more mainstream-appropriate song, cut 5 minutes short and titled "Jerusalum." In 2003, Sleep released the original Dopesmoker, 63 minutes of what is often regarded as the heaviest song ever. Lyrics are few and far between, and describe an epic pilgrimage through Israel for none other than weed.
If you've got an hour to spare, (and you do, for this) lay back and listen to Dopesmoker, I guarantee it'll alter something in your musical world. After listening, try to imagine seeing it live. Obviously, as it was first played more than 15 years ago, the sound has changed a bit. All the instruments are just as heavy, and the drummer currently playing with Sleep, Jason Roeder of Neurosis, does a great job of recreating the original sound of this drum-lead track. The only thing that I think has changed significantly is Al Cisnero's voice. It'd have to be considered a true miracle if his voice was the same throughout decades of singing, drinking, and of course, takin' bong rips. The pure heavyness of the vocals in the recorded Dopesmoker is replaced by a wonderfully strange, syncopated, higher-ptiched voice of what might be considered pure evil. Both work for me, Al, so keep on with that crazy singing.
But lets get back to the original point of this post: the show. It begins, as always, with Al and Matt on stage, tuning guitars, practicing riffs, and then just droning, easing in to the first song of the show: Dopesmoker. Needless to say, I'm beyond stoked, especially when they keep playing past the part they would usually end a segmented version of this song. The hypnotic power this song has over fans in incredible, everyone's in a trance, bangin' heads at exactly the same time, knowing without question the next riff, anticipating that awesome moment where drums come in and the song gets really fucking heavy. From my not so reliable calculations, the marijuanauts, as they refer to themselves, played the first 20 minutes of dopesmoker before moving on to the rest of the set.
1 - Dopesmoker
2 - Holy Mountain
3 - Dragonaut
4 - Antarcticus Thawed
5 - Aquarian
6 - From Beyond
7 - Nain's Baptism
8 - Sonic Titan
9 - The Druid
10 - Dopesmoker
I couldn't have imagined a better set, unless they decided to play their Sabbath covers, which, fun fact, Ozzy once commended as the best Black Sabbath covers released, particularly Snowblind. Holy Mountain was amazing, and, at both Sleep shows I've been to, you can tell who doesn't really know Sleep, as they'll start cheering 3 minutes into the song, when it appears to be over, only to come back slowly and heavily, until the epic climax. Dragonaut might be Sleep's most popular song, with its catchy opening riff and satisfying conclusion. The crowd went wild for this song, leading someone to scream "play it again motherfuckers" afterward. Good thing they didn't play it again, since they left time for so many more awesome songs, which I could continue to verbally (typographically?) fellate, but instead I'll leave you with the knowledge that they were all amazing, especially Sonic Titan and The Druid, which just fucking own me musically.
The thing I loved most about this show was the amazing Dopesmoker sandwich they had going, starting with the first 20-ish minutes of the song, and ending the show with the last 5 minutes of it. Truly awesome riff-age, more than worth the fact that I couldn't hear for a while after.
And since I'm just a whore for merch, I had to pick up a poster and some stickers, one of which will soon by adorning the back end of my dinged-up civic.
Lastly, to give you a little taste of the legend that is Sleep, and to make Steve Jobs proud of the mic quality of the iphone:
I never would've imagined, when I first started listening to Sleep, that I would've been able to see them live, not once, but twice. Hopefully this trend continues, and my favorite dirtbags return to LA again next year. Thanks, guys, for the two best shows I've ever seen, and keep on going hard.
I couldn't have imagined a better set, unless they decided to play their Sabbath covers, which, fun fact, Ozzy once commended as the best Black Sabbath covers released, particularly Snowblind. Holy Mountain was amazing, and, at both Sleep shows I've been to, you can tell who doesn't really know Sleep, as they'll start cheering 3 minutes into the song, when it appears to be over, only to come back slowly and heavily, until the epic climax. Dragonaut might be Sleep's most popular song, with its catchy opening riff and satisfying conclusion. The crowd went wild for this song, leading someone to scream "play it again motherfuckers" afterward. Good thing they didn't play it again, since they left time for so many more awesome songs, which I could continue to verbally (typographically?) fellate, but instead I'll leave you with the knowledge that they were all amazing, especially Sonic Titan and The Druid, which just fucking own me musically.
The thing I loved most about this show was the amazing Dopesmoker sandwich they had going, starting with the first 20-ish minutes of the song, and ending the show with the last 5 minutes of it. Truly awesome riff-age, more than worth the fact that I couldn't hear for a while after.
And since I'm just a whore for merch, I had to pick up a poster and some stickers, one of which will soon by adorning the back end of my dinged-up civic.
Lastly, to give you a little taste of the legend that is Sleep, and to make Steve Jobs proud of the mic quality of the iphone:
I never would've imagined, when I first started listening to Sleep, that I would've been able to see them live, not once, but twice. Hopefully this trend continues, and my favorite dirtbags return to LA again next year. Thanks, guys, for the two best shows I've ever seen, and keep on going hard.
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