Talking Light, or how I saw The Residents tell ghost stories

[caldwell.the.great]

I got to see the Residents. Mind = blown. Everything clicked for me seeing them on stage doing their thing. Show was at The Middle East Club Downstairs, which isn't exactly tailored to fit their stage setup. But they made it work. The premise of the performance is Randy (the singer) telling ghost stories, most of which involve someone getting hurt or dying. All the stories are connected to the "mirror people," which Randy obsessively brings up throughout the show. Lots of great music. Heavy stuff with lots of guitar, as well as their signature clunky sound (lots of percussion, distorted vocals, circus melodies, and out-of-tune junk).

I took some photos, but they're pretty blurry. So there's some video and photos I've stolen from other sites in the next post. If they're coming to your town, see them. Easily one of the five best shows I've ever been to, and Randy is the best fucking front man ever (their guitarist kicked ass, too. Pulled a ton of crazy shit of that thing)...







One of the projections was a guy that looked like a diminutive Thing from the Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, I did not get a decent shot of him:







Another of the projections was a guy with a giant hot-dog mask on - his story about his pet snake Leonard and a bunny named Ralph was definitely one of the highlights. Lots of sexual innuendo and some really creepy references to being watched by a ghost...







Randy would whip out various objects at various points during the show... one of which was a neon purple light, which he used to search the audience, presumably because there were hidden things that couldn't be seen without the light... He also transformed himself on stage, looking into a mirror that scared him to death (I guess because someone else was looking out... his death scene was pretty fucking intense and I didn't catch all the dialog)... then he was resurrected as a more sure and confident ultra Randy:

[rape bear]

interesting. The polar opposite of Smegmas review.

Surprise?

[caldwell.the.great]

After the mirror incident, Randy became preoccupied with two things: Barstow and doilies (as I remember). Eventually he let loose and sang some terrifying shit. The band was incredibly heavy.







There was then a third projection (I may have this out of order). This time a smoking woman with seriously fucked teeth told us a story about her mother's skin being boiled off, with little christmas tree shaped pasta running down her face. The woman blamed it on her sister, but it was pretty obvious that her sister was a ghost... or maybe not there at all:





For the encore Randy put on a nice glowing suit, sang us some songs about being buried, and then blew us all away with another heavy four-on-the-floor dance number. Much fun was had. People chanted "Residents." I was floored.











I only got one blurry picture of the band leaving the stage:



So, I went and found some other pics for you. Hope these work. They are much clearer than mine:







And here's a video of one of the songs they played. The version I heard of this had a much heavier center part with tons of guitar wailing and big drum parts that were complimented by some fucked up synth noise. People were headbanging and dancing around. I became a fan forever. Fuck yea, Residents.

[caldwell.the.great]

Just read Smegma's review. I guess he's pretty accurate with the description, only they were much more active at the show in Boston and the music was the center of attention. They must be switching it up from show to show, because I feel like there was only about 15 minutes of story and maybe 10 minutes of crowd interaction, the rest was jams in various forms. And they played about 1 hour and 30 minutes...

I'm watching footage from other shows and they're definitely way more ornate than this was, but it was also in a tiny club where putting on a stage show of any significance would have been impossible.

This is also the first time I've seen them perform, so that might affect how I feel about it.

[caldwell.the.great]

Maybe it was 15 and 15... but there was always music going on... and when he was talking or whatever, he was fucking hilarious. It was like a music, comedy, horror story combo freakshow with some pretty awesome guitar playing... dude used that guitar about 9 different ways for all different kinds of effects.

[Bored, Esq.]

I'm amazed that Awesome Assassin still finds work as a photojournalist.