Iceage brought their increasingly infamous live show to the Great Scott in what turned out to be the most interesting concert I’ve attended in a long time. Fresh on the heels of the release of their new album, Plowing Into The Field Of Love, the quartet tore up the Great Scott in their typical fashion: with killer guitar and a marvelous stage presence.
The night’s openers all varied in genres and styles, but still managed to fit together in a sort of punk-inspired sampler. First, duo Ketamine The Benevolent got on stage and channeled what could only be described as Death Grips on horse tranquilizers. The vocalist even hid himself in a dark raincoat as he screamed into his mic and smashed his broken, rune-covered drum.
Brazilian psychedelic punk band Rakta took the second spot of the night and blew everyone away with their energetic set. Performing in the dark, the band laid out droning soundscapes that constantly shifted tempo, which left everyone only to guess how each song would evolve.
Dark ambient artist Helm was the third and final opener. His violent, jarring soundscapes were enough to make even Merzbow proud, but his music held more than just sharp noise. Also included in the mix was some impressive sub-bass that rattled the crowd’s ribcages, and shook the venue’s walls.
It was then Iceage’s turn to take over the small stage at Great Scott. For those that listened to Plowing Into The Field Of Love and cast it aside, you missed out. Iceage is a completely different band live. Their show was wild, sloppy and downright punk as hell.
Iceage stripped down their sound for the show, sticking to bare-bones rock n’ roll instrumentation. The four-piece consisted of the classic setup: guitar, bass, drums and vocals. The stage even seemed large with them on it, they had so little gear with them. But for so bare a rig, they squeezed out an impressively burly, solid sound.
Because Iceage’s recorded songs are a little more fleshed out, a lot of responsibility landed on guitarist Johan Wieth to handle the live sets. Wieth handled every nuance with ease, his skill best showcased during the eponymous song “Plowing Into The Field Of Love.”
Frontman and vocalist Elias Rønnenfelt acted as ringleader for the night. He has, in the past, played guitar with the band, but they must have realized that his showmanship was much too valuable to be hidden behind an instrument. Rønnenfelt managed to spit and drool out the lyrics for every song with a whirlwind force while looming over the crowd with discomfort. Despite his complete lack of interest in the crowd itself, he had their utmost attention, and at any given moment whipped the place into a frenzy of moshing limbs.
Iceage made the interesting choice to only play songs from their new album. The whole crowd had a great time during the show, but afterwards there was some disgruntled muttering from a few fans. Those that had been following Iceage from the beginning (which wasn’t all that long ago) wanted at least a morsel of old songs, and the reasoning behind their choice didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Maybe they just wanted to antagonize the crowd, who knows? All that was obvious is that Iceage puts on an incredible show and that you’ll be missing out if you don’t devote the time to go and catch them the next time they’re in town.