[ATTENDED: April 18, 2023] Lead Into Gold
I figured that Skinny Puppy would have an interesting opening band. I vaguely remembered hearing of Lead Into Gold. When they projected the logo on a screen at one point it looked very familiar.
I see that they put out an album in 1990 so I might have heard a song (apparently “Faster Than Light”), but I don’t really recall.
I also had no idea that I was in the presence of Industrial Royalty, as Paul Barker himself is Lead Into Gold. Barker was known as Hermes Pan and was the engineer and producer for Ministry as well as many other bands.
When the duo came out on stage, I wasn’t even sure who was the main person because the guy with the keytar, yes, keytar, was wearing a shimmery gold pajama-looking suit. But he stepped aside as Barker played the gadget that the gold man was standing in front of to make an interesting industrial instrumental.
Then he moved left and the gold man took over the gadget and Barker took to the microphone. Turns out the gold man is Josh Holley, co-owner with Barker of Malekko which makes guitar pedals and keyboard tech.
So they played nine songs. The sound wasn’t as good as for Skinny Puppy. I’d actually had earplugs in pretty tight because it was quite loud and that impacted my overall impression. I couldn’t really hear Barker’s vocals, but they may have been drowned out in the mix anyhow.
After the first full song, Barker jokes “It’s just hit after hit” (amusing given that this was all new stuff).
The guy in front of me knew some (possibly all, but definitely the older songs) really well. And there was a small contingent of people who were really excited to see Lead Into Gold.
Barker played bass for a few songs (which was mostly drowned out by the keys, although a few times it kicked in).
They had a small screen behind them and they projected things onto it. Mostly random images that kind of went with the music.
Toward the end of their 45 minute set, Barker played guitar and Holley returned to the keytar, which was fun to see.
Barker even said some of you may know this song and some of you may even love it. Then he laughed and said, I don’t love it. I don’t even know it. “Faster Than Light” must have been something of a hit, I guess (although it doesn’t rank very high on Spotify).
After Hard Won Decay, they quietly left the stage.
I didn’t love the set, but I quite enjoyed it–the beat was so heavy that it as easy to sway along to and it was loud enough to drown out the three women who were talking through the whole set.
- (unknown instrumental)
- The Sea the Sun the Past the Sum ∝
- She Lies Beyond ∝
- To the Throat ≅
- The Eternal Present ∝
- X 0000 ≅
-
(Unknown) (Lyrics: “Your world is burning down.”)
- Faster Than Light ∇
- Hard Won Decay ≅
∝ The Eternal Present (2023)
≅ The Sun Behind the Sea (2018)
∇ Age of Reason (1990)
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