Boris at The Tralf

I arrived early enough to catch the opening Torche set, which was just some in your face metal. I mean, when the guitarist has a handlebar mustache, you KNOW he means fucking business. When they launched into their last song, a smoke machine filled the air with obscuring clouds, and when it cleared, we could all see the drummer from Boris, who had jumped up onto the stage...and started playing a gong. Yes, a full size gong. He then hopped onto a second drum set and alternated between the two, banging the hell out of both as Torche thundered their way onward. It may have been one of the most metal moments of my life.

When Boris did take the stage, they put on a pretty great show. I'm kind of a casual fan, but I still really dig their style and ability to create an ocean of guitar noise. That, and I can stand and watch a cute Japanese girl play the guitar forever and never get bored. Seriously. I was kind of disappointed by the crowd, everyone was so subdued, but really I think we were all just in awe of the mighty entity that is Boris. They don't really inspire moshing or even head banging, it's more of a zen like trance you fall into while listening to the impossibly dense and deafeningly heavy riffs. I'm really glad I went, because I don't know if I 'll ever have a chance to see them again. It's pretty amazing that they're even doing a US tour, I never would have expected to catch these guys in Buffalo.



Below are few edited clips from the show as witnessed through the eyes of my cell phone. The audio is awful, but it does give a sense of the intensity of the show, so I kept it, in all of its low quality glory.