There are ups and downs to seeing a rock show at a church. For acoustic music the sound is amazing- the high ceilings and spare furnishings fostered reverb so thick you could cut it with a knife. Everyone is seated, and there is not a bad seat in the house. However, those seats were wooden pews, and after a couple hours my butt was numb and my neck hurt. Also, the lack of any kind of HVAC system made it increasingly stuffy and humid as the night wore on. But the pros outweighed the cons on this night as premier noise-punk pioneer Thurston Moore reinvented himself as an acoustic troubadour.
I saw Jeff Mangum play a breathtaking set last summer at this same church, so I jumped at the chance to see Thurston here too. It was the perfect venue for his new band. He played a six-string and a twelve-string, both acoustic, and was joined by a second acoustic guitar, drums, violin, and most surprisingly, a harp. Not a blues harp- a classic, gigantic stringed harp, the kind the angels strum up in heaven. I’ve never seen one played in a rock context before, and was pleasantly surprised that there is actually a place for it in this setting. The harpist plucked out chords and punched through the mix in tasteful intervals. Thurston also gave us a couple moments of stompbox-induced feedback and noise during the otherwise pastoral set, providing a nice jolt to break things up and giving the crowd a glimpse of the Thurston Moore that we all know and love.
He was comfortable in this intimate format, cracking jokes and reading a couple of his poems between songs. Besides playing most of Demolished Thoughts they covered the best of Psychic Hearts as well. There was a nice acoustic version of “Queen Bee and Her Pals”, and they concluded the set with “Ono Soul” and “Psychic Hearts” before coming back out for a pair of encore songs.
I also got a kick out of the music played in between sets. It was strange to hear The Stooges‘ “Search and Destroy” while sitting in a church. But the real thrill was hearing Slayer‘s “South of Heaven” blasting from the speakers as the crowd filed out after the show. I don’t know if they play that number after every show, or if it was more of a wink wink moment. Either way it was hilarious, and a fitting end to a night that was outside the box from start to finish.
