Stoned Jesus: "See ya... some day"
Last Sunday, on March 27, Stoned Jesus played their only concert in Ukraine as a part of 2016’s European tour. The latest setlist, Atomic Simao’s saxophonist's surprising appearance on stage and unbridled drive, for which the band has a reputation. On a recent day, the band is being waited in France, where one after another more than ten shows are going to be held. Next on the list: Spain, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, South America, and not before the Ukrainian summer festivals, the musicians will talk again with the public in their native language.
Long ago, Stoned Jesus have established themselves as the leaders of stoner/doom/psychedelic metal stage in Ukraine. Today, the band is not in less demand in Europe, this summer they are also being waited in the United States and in some foreign countries the musicians will perform for not the first time. That’s why, it’s hard to surprise anyone by saying that this Sunday the band had a sold out show in Kyiv. This is what happens at such concerts and festivals in which Stoned Jesus take part.
If you remember the band’s last shows in Ukraine, it should be noted how responsible the musicians choose their supporting bands. To all the above, Stoned Jesus is one of the groups, whose gigs are not boring, even those first half-hour, when the invited artists play. There have been cases and complete genres divergence, for example, the unexpected performance by Vagonovozhatye ("Вагоновожатые" which means tram drivers in English) last October. At this time, Lviv-based genre colleagues, a stoner/post/psychedelic trio Somali Yacht Club opened the show. The musicians presented the audience a few atmospheric original compositions, amused the people with jokes, and played a vigorous cover for the Canadian rockers Rush’s hit "Working Man", distinguished with their own expressive style.
Like on European tour concerts, after coming on the stage, Stoned Jesus welcomed listeners with powerful doom song "Rituals Of The Sun". After completing a 7-minute hit from their latest album "The Harvest", the frontman Igor Sidorenko thanked the audience for the warm greeting and compared the performance in hometown with returning to the family. After a few jokes about the busy schedule and long-awaited evening in Sentrum, the band rocked viewers badly with glib "YFS" and "Wound".
During the show, which lasted about two hours, Stoned Jesus pleased their fans with true compilation of the best songs. That evening "I'm The Mountain", "Stormy Monday", "Bright Like The Morning" and, of course, "Electric Mistress" and "Here Come The Robots" were played during several encores. The excited crowd eagerly sang along songs' couplets, been repeatedly thanked for this by the musicians.
Moreover, there were some surprises. During the first encore, the band returned to the stage, accompanied by Dmitriy Dudko, the saxophonist of Kyiv’s space/jazz/psychedelic rock band Atomic Simao. After a brief soundcheck, Stoned Jesus performed with such line-up the first semi-acoustic composition "The Harvest", which didn’t appear on the self-titled album in 2015. This one was followed by a very dynamic cover of David Bowie’s "Lazarus". Deep saxophone parts added flavor to the band’s already multi-faceted sound. Such kind of performance gave rise to the audience a real emotional outburst and endless chants "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!", once the main guests of the evening have hidden behind the scenes.
Saying goodbye until summer festivals, the band took some photos on the full audience background and jokingly promised to see them round "some day". For a long time, Sentrum was full of people, hoping to see show's follow up. They stayed near the stage at the time while Stoned Jesus hurried to pack their stuff for a long tour.
Setlist:
- Rituals of the Sun
- YFS
- Wound
- Stormy Monday
- Bright Like the Morning
- I'm the Mountain
Encore (with Dmitriy Dudko):
- The Harvest
- Lazarus (David Bowie cover)
Second encore:
- Electric Mistress
- Here Come the Robots
Text by Yuri Somov
Photo by by Dmythro, Yuri Somov
Stage photo by Stoned Jesus
Noizr Zine thanks Vlad Lyashenko for the accreditation