A Place To Bury Strangers

March 31, 2010 / No Maps / No Comments

About a year later I am in Webster Hall, alone, watching A Place To Bury Strangers. This is the first band I see alone in New York City.

The stage itself, when you’re walking in, is magic. It’s like you’re watching some kind of ritual take place, participating.

When the band first comes on they play ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head.’ There are strobe lights which pierce through the fog-machine mist. I keep thinking that the light show mirrors and complements the sound really well.

The sound is like nothing you can imagine just going from the mp3s. It’s sound that you feel – in your heart – and not just hear. It’s like something physical. It’s surprising to see it coming from just a 3 man band.

They don’t play for very long – about 50 minutes – but they go through all of my favourite songs.

As they are playing I remember these things:

that I found what I was looking for
that it was about a year ago while listening to them that I decided to come here
that the things we cannot see – the things we feel intensely and somehow know to be true; these invisible support systems that keep us alive, are the things that are most important to me
that it is beautiful to experience the result of the human desire to create and to beautify
that I want every moment of my life to be experienced like I am experiencing this one

Although I am alone, I don’t really feel it. I feel like the other people around me are interested in the same things that I am and that maybe the things that are important to me are important to them too.

When they finish playing I understand the importance of being here.