I originally ordered 4 tickets in advance to see Ulrich Schnauss last night at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, expecting 3 of my friends and I to go, and possibly one more who might join and pay at the door. As it turned out, our little group ended up becoming 10 people by the time we were in the venue and enjoying the show. Dinner in the city took a bit longer than expected, so we finally showed up a little after 9 PM (doors opened at 8, first opener went on at 9) and hung out in the downstairs lounge for a while telling stories of old memories. Unfortunately, we missed Soundpool, the first band to play.
We headed upstairs to where the concert was around 10. After wandering around for a bit trying to find a good spot, we ended up right in front on the right side of the stage. The other 2 opening bands, Elika and Mahogany, were both pretty good, combining guitar-driven indie rock with electronic ambient music. I happened to turn to my side for a moment and noticed that Ulrich Schnauss was standing almost directly behind me wearing an Atari Teenage Riot shirt. I always like it when the main act is in the audience appreciating the openers.
Mahogany ended at around 11:30 and Ulrich disappeared up the backstage stairs to go get ready. His setup basically consisted of a keyboard, a laptop computer running Ableton Live, a few synthesizer racks, and about a million miles of wiring. There was also a single guitarist that set up on the other side of Ulrich’s table.
Ulrich Schnauss formally took the stage at exactly midnight to huge applause. He sat down in front of his equipment and began playing while psycahdelic film clips were projected from the soundbooth in the back of the room, casting a perfect silhouette of him and his electronics on the screen behind the stage. The entire crowd seemed to go silent as the first ethereal tones surged through the miles of wire, out the speakers, and filled the air. Then as the songs got louder and more intense, everyone started moving around and really enjoying themselves.
For the first part of the set, the songs flowed continually from one to the next without breaking in between. Some songs were louder and crazier than others, but there was always some kind of sound eminating from somewhere. Ulrich Schnauss played probably a half dozen songs or so before he paused to bring out his guitarist before playing “Shine”, the second song on his current album Goodbye. This was an absolutely stunning performance. The combination of acoustic guitar and ambient electronics sounded just beautiful, it’s no wonder the ongoing sounds came to a stop for this. It really set the song apart. “Shine” was also the only song that had vocals the entire show, provided superbly by the guitarist.
The set continued with a few more songs, each one getting a little bit faster and a little bit louder than the one before, until “Medusa” when the guitarist came back. But this time, he was playing an electric guitar over Ulrich’s infinitely layered soundscape. The music grew louder and louder, converging into solid walls of sound that came out at you. By the end of “Medusa”, Ulrich was frantically twisting knobs and pounding wildly on the keyboard while his guitarist was on the ground grinding the strings across every surface he could find. I’ve seen and heard bands do all they could to create the most distorted sounds possible, but this was like all of the sonic chaos and distortion in the universe came together and struck the stage in a thunderous roar. I have never heard such a disturbingly awesome sound before, and I don’t think I ever will again. Ulrich gave the keyboard one last swipe, probably hitting every key on it, and the guitarist dropped his guitar and they walked off stage. The sound continued.
After a minute or two, Ulrich Schnauss re-appeared on stage. In a single Godlike push of a button he shut off the thunder. He spoke for a moment, thanking the crowd and his opening bands, and then returned to his seat at the keyboard. The last few songs were much more calm. He played my favorite song from his album A Strangely Isolated Place, “Clear Day” and a few others. After these last few songs, he walked off stage without a word. As I walked down the side stairway back to the lounge below, I noticed him standing in the corner so I talked with him for a minute and thanked him for such an amazing show. Not only is Ulrich a phenomenal musician, he’s also a really nice guy.
If you haven’t had the chance to see Ulrich Schnauss live in concert yet, I strongly recommend that you go take the opportunity to do so. He’s still on tour in the United States and Canada until the beginning of October, so check out his tourdates to see when he will be in your area. You won’t be disappointed.
