Jesu
W/ Wolves in the Throne Room, The Lotus Experiment
Words: Becca Nelson   

Appeared:
October 15, 2007
The Social, Orlando

Monday night marked a couple firsts for me, my first metal show and my first show at The Social.  I was delighted to find a healthy crowd of quiet metal boys and their somewhat louder (in dress and vox) girlfriends lit festively by a disco ball hung from the rafters of the beautiful and rustic barn-like venue.

Orlando local experimental outfit The Lotus Experiment opened, and while not offensive to the ears, did nothing for my experience at the show.  Carefully crafted and delivered prog(ish) rock, while pretty at times, completely belied the magic waiting in subsequent acts.

Wolves in the Throne Room provided the very loud backdrop to a conversation with a DJ from next door (BBQ Bar) and when I finally turned away to face the stage, I was completely amazed to see a frenetic three-ring circus of head banging speed metal accented by guttural screams that may have been singing words, but it didn’t matter… it was gloriously loud, masculine and almost too painfully beautiful to listen to… I loved every minute of it.

After a respectable but not tremendously long break, Jesu, AKA ex-Godflesh and experimental rock pioneer, Justin Broadrick took the stage, welcoming the audience politely in a diffident British accent. I was introduced to Jesu just in time to prepare to see them live. Swelling and distorted guitars built slowly to exhilarating melodies: these are slow constructs of songs grounded by Justin’s near monotone, droning vocals. Their performance was utterly magical, and I was quite astounded at how big the sound was, but how simultaneously delicate the delivery. Even Broadrick’s near-five minute long feedback solo, a duet between guitar and amp, was gorgeous to hear, and nothing like the self-indulgent jamming that can disintegrate into naval-gazing boredom for the crowd so typical of moments like that.

The final delight came in the form of one last first for me: to see a musician offer to do an encore even before he left the stage. Quietly stating, after finishing what was announced as the last song, that “stop the door, I can play more,” Broadrick launched a ten minute encore to an ecstatic crowd.

Surprises, pleasant ones especially, are rare for me in seeing live music these days, but this show proved both: Jesu is a rare specimen of band to whom one loses time while watching and leaves one wanting more.