[DID NOT ATTEND: October 6, 2023] Gladie
I saw Gladie open for Otoboke Beaver late last year and really enjoyed their set a lot. I would happily see them again, although a Free at Noon didn’t really seem like a worthwhile trip.
Here’s the blurb from the show and what I missed
After a successful tour with Jeff Rosenstock, today’s Free at Noon performer Gladie made a pit stop at the World Cafe Live stage to dazzle fans with their indie rock magic. Performing songs from their last album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out, along with a few favorites from other projects, the band truly came to impress.
The stage was decked out in the best gear, necessary for a classic Indie Rock experience. Guitarists Pat Conaboy and Matt Schimelfenig had full pedal boards, and used them frequently throughout the show, conjuring waves of distortion, their eyes were glued to the floor in true shoegaze fashion. The band started with their song “Mud,” immediately exploding into the room with a beautiful wall of sound that demanded the attention of everyone — a common theme that remained through the entirety of the show.
Lead vocalist Augusta Koch sang with intense power. She was able to strongly project (and even scream during some songs) her voice over the volume of the band, and listeners could also eel the emotion within her voice, whether the track had a somber energy or an exasperated energy. Koch’s lyrics were very impactful, influencing the tone of her vocals, as we heard during “20/20” where she and Schimelfenig harmonized to sing “I am angry, I am lonely, but I’m optimistic too.” Later, Schimelfenig took over vocals for “Fixer,” a song where he sings lead with a bit of a country twang from the band’s 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re In Until You’re Out.
Drummer Miles Ziskind was astounding to watch. The movement of his hands was difficult to track throughout the show due to his fills being so quick and precise. At stage left, bassist Liz Parsons accompanied the music with interesting lines throughout the set, especially on “Hit the Ground Running,” which was a bit groovier than the rest, allowing her to show off her skills. As the set came to a peak, “When You Leave The Sun” from Gladie’s 2020 album Safe Sins was the most commanding part of the set. It was faster, heavier, and built up a breathtaking ending with the band members blaring their instruments, hitting the crowd once again with that wall of sound.
That’s a lot of blurb for this fairly short set. Here’s the setlist and you can listen to it here
- Mud ⇔
- 20/20 §
- Hit The Ground Running ⇔
- When You Leave The Sun §
- Fixer ⇔
- Nothing ⇔
- Chaos Reigns [new single]
- Born Yesterday ⇔
When I saw them they played:
- When You Leave The Sun §
- thank you card ¥
- Mud ⇔
- Twenty Twenty §
- …Heaven, Someday ⇔
- Hit the Ground Running ⇔
- Nothing ⇔
- Born Yesterday ⇔
I Just Read About That... 