The Black Angels delivered a stunning series of live performances in San Francisco, California on September 4th, 5th and 6th presented by Folk Yeah at The Chapel. The shows were highly inspired, their sound was dialed-in, the crowd was high and ready to experience an outstanding colored light show and optical sounds. The Black Angels version of psychedelic rock is not bubblegum pop but instead, dark and heavy with layers of trance inducing effects, reverbs and echoes that distort time and place, sinking the listener into an ocean of undulating sound. They delivered night, after night.
They played their first three albums, cover-to-cover over the three nights. Night one, The Black Angels played their debut album Passover (2006), a seminal album for the psychedelic rock genre of the 2000s. Night two was the experimental psych-rock album Directions To See a Ghost (2008) and Night three the psychedelic retro acid rock album Phosphene Dream (2010).
The Black Angels of Austin, Texas are known for their live performances, especially during their peak decade starting in 2006. I was just getting into psychedelic rock at that time and I remember that the guys in local bands would always tell me, “You have to see The Black Angels live. They are one of the best live bands.” I have since seen them 13 times and their sound has always been artistic, experimental and immersive.
September 4th, San Francisco Night One, Passover:
The Chapel, located in the famous Mission District of San Francisco, along the glittering sidewalks of Valencia Street is a lively neighborhood with shops, restaurants and multiple bars for live music. The Chapel’s entry is illuminated by an old style marquee with “The Black Angels Play Passover with Asteroid No.4“.
This music venue and bar were converted from an old Chapel. Haunted, gritty and oh so inviting to any music lover. Upon entering I was immediately confronted by The Black Angels‘ merch booth full of tour specific tee-shirts, many records and four beautiful limited edition posters by guitarist Christian Bland and well-known poster artists Fez Moreno. Moreno‘s poster had a retro design with a fairy holding a skull against a Bill Graham Fillmore psychedelic era pattern with color blocking straight out of 1969.
The venue was ornamented with an extravagant psychedelic light show, projected across the walls, cathedral ceiling and stage for 360 degrees of moving undulating surfaces. The music combined with these visualizer-digital projections highlights the classic psychedelic concert experience. San Francisco has been famous since the 1960s for its concert light shows and screen printed concert posters. For The Black Angels the visuals were performed all three nights by TV Eye Media with Branson Fairbrother aka Phantastic_Lights and Timothy Nuehaus aka @european.sun.
I slid through the growing crowd, dazed and lost in the lights, until I was in the front. The venue was close to a sellout with many people buying tickets at the box office upon arrival. The crowd was mostly middle-aged and excited. Demographically, there was a even ratio of men and women, a refreshing change from the average rock show. The Black Angels have those sexy rhythms that delight all genders with a hypnotic groove.
Asteroid No.4 kicked off the three day event. They are a San Francisco shoegaze band with a vast spacious sound. The walls of shoegaze reflecting off the 40 foot chapel ceiling plastered with light projections gave a sense of open expansiveness. Their icy tones were crisp and sustained with the vocals flooded in wet reverb. They played a number of new songs including the new single, ‘Captive‘ as well as fan favorites like ‘Juniper‘ from Northern Songs (2020) album. They offered a gentle warm-up for the rich tones to come.
The Black Angels took the stage moments later to belt out the sick guitar line that starts the album Passover with plastic melting fuzz-distortion and the most psychedelic square wave tremolo heard anywhere. Alex Maas‘s vocals are always on-point dripping wet with reverb and echo. The rhythm section had the audience moving sensually to the music. Featuring Stephanie Bailey with rock solid tribal drumming and Mitsi Hamrick-French offering deep pumping bass.
Christian Bland and Jake Garcia laid down stunning guitar performances. Their guitar tones are creative and wild with the most mind-bending sounds that can come through a guitar rig. This band is a pleasure to listen to and the listener is richly rewarded when engaged in nuanced listening.
The Passover set was a heady stoner psychedelic trance with the makings of a cult-rock experience. The swaying audience was fully immersed in a wall of sound that was textured with humming Mellotron, bass and the two talented guitars doused in mind-expanding effects. All this with intense projected visuals on every wall, ceiling, person and surface of the venue. These dark songs are a throwback to another time when the style of psychedelic rock was breaking free from the 90s grunge and embracing desert, stoner and vintage 60s underground rock.
Heavy driving rhythms carried throughout the performance making a ritualistic krautrock stoner rock groove; the guitars chittered and slither through the rhythmic foundations. The vocals ride a top this deep madness as a guiding light reverberating across the soundscape. The lyrics are dark and poignant telling a story of war and its psychological torment. The Black Angels embrace the activist storytelling lyrical spirit and this has been constant throughout their albums.
The songs from Passover speak out against war and describe consequences of the corporate war machines. The Night One set opened with the song ‘Young Dead Men‘ about a person fighting in war and their inner mindset. The album, and the first part of their set, ends with a hidden track, ‘Mistress Brown (Fighting In Iraq)‘ about a mother who receives a letter that her son died in the Iraq war.
The album came out in the years following the tragic attack on 9/11/2001. The USA initiated the Iraq and Afghan wars. President Bush Jr. was accused of war crimes and sent a whole generation of millennials and their friends into war zones. The intensity of those times and the grief hung in the room as Bland sung those emotional final lines of the Passover album, ‘Your son is dead and he’s fighting in Iraq’. Bland add new lyrics saying, ‘Fighting in Gaza, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan‘ emphasizing his opposition to war anywhere and pointing out the tragedy it causes.
The message hit the audience powerfully, there was a notable silence and shift in the air as Bland strummed his clean toned hollow body guitar. This middle-aged group of millennials and gen-xers had lived through those years and felt the losses of war which are so rarely spoken of. The gravity of the Iraq and Afgan wars are rarely acknowledged today but it impacted those generations in a way only experience can understand. We stood painfully awaiting Christian Bland‘s line, ‘Your son is dead‘. I couldn’t help but think of how those wars had changed my friends who lived it.
Their live interpretation of the Passover album departed in several ways from the album because the songs evolved over the years but all were clearly recognizable. It stood out how Christian Bland‘s guitar was a defining part of that album’s instrumentation and Alex Maas‘s vocals and lyrics are so powerful. Bland is a true connoisseur of fuzz pedals and Passover’s fuzz guitar tones changed lives.
The brilliant thing about Christian Bland‘s guitar playing is that when he is playing leads he goes right into the weird psychedelic effects and pushes it to the edge. The notes are there but whirling, sweeping, echoing and fizzing. The real time response to what his gear is putting out makes for a unique sound each night as he adjusts to what he hears and adjusts for the feedback of the amp.
I expect this guitar style will be on full display night two as Directions To See A Ghost is some seriously heavy dark desert psychedelia and the guitar of Jake Garcia plays a larger role in the leads and has a stronger contribution to the dual guitar effect mastery.
The Passover set ended with an intermission followed by a second set of newer songs including, ‘Without a Trace‘ and ‘Firefly‘ from The Wilderness of Mirrors (2022), ‘Currency‘ and ‘Death March‘ from the album Death Song (2017) then one new song was debuted only known as ‘Song 6‘ according to the setlist taped to the stage. The new song was gentle with beautiful droning auras of sound. The music had openness, intimacy and was much less aggressive then the angst on Passover. The classic Black Angels rhythmic groove was present with 80s dark wave flavors added.
September 5th, San Francisco Night 2, Directions To See A Ghost:
The Black Angels played their second album Directions to See A Ghost released in 2008. It was a Friday night and the audience had more energy and high vibes. The music was more danceable bringing life into the crowd. This was the least attendance of the three nights but my favorite performance. I gave a lot of energy to night one and I admit three nights at The Chapel had a element of endurance and dedication which only a true music lover can muster.
After the heady smoke-out of night one, the security kept the cannabis joints to a minimum. Passover is an underground stoner album and long-time fans treat it with reverence. Directions To See A Ghost was even more musically impressive then the first night and had better mix and balance from the PA speakers, in fact, the sound on night two was ideal. The songs are spacious with open room for the two guitars to make magic. The rhythms and bass lines were potent and less stoner trance oriented and more dance grooves. The lyrics on this album are about love and relationships with plenty of friction to keep the storytelling engaging.
Directions To See A Ghost is not f*cking around when it comes to psychedelic sounds. Blasting fuzz, strange and enjoyable doubled guitars, sitar like instrumentation that sounded out-of-this-world. The Black Angels are still unlike any other psych band in the world today.
Directions To See A Ghost is that 60s hippie commune album that had a deep dark acid trip. The immersive light show and intense music could easily become overwhelming and overstimulating. The witches brew of guitar tones splashing against each other with their creeping, menacing sounds twists the mind. The music slithers like a dangerous snake in the grass. A spell was cast over the venue as the shamanic grooves drew us deeper into the underworld.
The Black Angles didn’t just play an album, they treated the audience to an extended trip into their music. This second album was from when they wanted to tune-in and dropout of standard thought patterns and make beautifully weird psychedelic music.
From the first note of ‘You On The Run’ the audience and the band were linked in a beautiful synchronicity which extended through the entire set. The audience was focused on the music and engaged throughout making for an unforgettable night of music.
They played exciting versions of their classics songs like, ‘You On The Run‘, ‘18 Years‘ with the sing along line ‘She’s got Control of you, and you love it.‘ No Black Angels set feels complete without the classic tripper, ‘Snakes In The Grass‘. This brought the crowd into a small mosh, dance, bouncing circle of friendship disturbing the older audience members from their position giving more room for dancing up front.
‘Deer-Ree-Shee‘ was a very cool song live because it features the Hurdy Gurdy and a middle eastern sounding string instrument along with an ‘electric sitar guitar’ played by Jake Garcia. The instrument gives off sitar sounds run through the full spectrum of guitar effects. The Hurdy Gurdy has droning strings, sliding notes and a hand crack that rubs on the strings like a violin bow. They jammed out in world music psychedelia that was awesome. The hands of dancing audience members were in the air making interweaving patterns in a ode to South Asia dance. This jam went on for sometime with Bland making strange appealing guitar sounds and a meditative 60s acid vibe surrounded the space awash in trippy lights from the incredible projections.
After this 75 minutes of psychedelic wonder known as Directions To See A Ghost I wondered how much more the band had in them. I wrongly assumed we would get two more songs. Instead the second part of their set went after curfew making it the longest night of music in the San Francisco residency. They came back with ‘Medicine‘, and ‘Grab As Much As You Can‘ from Death Song (2017) ‘El Jardin‘ from the newest album Wilderness Of Mirrors (2022). Then they did the new track ‘Song 6‘ and nailed it.
The guy next to me said he came from Santa Cruz to see the show tonight and was yelling to hear ‘Young Dead Men‘. I explained to him that they played it last night, not sure if they would do it again. Sure enough his request was granted and they ended with a highly energized and hard hitting performance of ‘Young Dead Men‘ that set a new standard for that track. The audience seemed to pop with each hard hitting fuzz riff. Alex Maas was riding a high from a full night of perfect sound and inspiring performances. After nearly 2 hours of music they ended the set and I was lit with enthusiasm and ready for more.
September 6th, San Francisco Night 3, Phosphene Dream
September 6th, Saturday night was Phosphene Dream, The Black Angels third full-length album released in 2010. Phosphene Dream was a new direction for The Black Angels. They left their core sound in place but opted for a more retro approach with concise songs and catchy vocals often with vocal harmonies. The album features classic songs like the opener ‘Bad Vibrations‘, ‘Yellow Elevator #2‘ and ‘River Of Blood‘.
The feeling of the audience on night three was different from the other two nights at least where I was up front. The crowd was a bit older, well-dressed and mellow for a Saturday. I spoke to a few folks near me who all were from out of state so perhaps its a tourist crowd.
The music was awesome, The Pink Mountain Tops opened the shows with their dream pop shoegaze music setting up for a great night of music. The Black Angels came out with much anticipation from the crowd. The set-up took a little longer and it seemed there were a few audio issues that took several songs to sort out as the mix was off. Some of the instruments were nearly absent in the mix which was really emphasized when a solo would come and there was a low volume lead coming through. Alex Maas kept fussing with his earpiece pulling it out putting it in. I was surprised because the night before the sound was perfect. They did dial in the sound eventually. At one point Jake Garcia cranked a guitar solo by turning up his drive pedal and it was awesome, sure it was too loud but I would have been pretty happy if his guitar was raging loud all night because it sounds so amazing.
The Black Angels have some of the best guitar tones available and Phosphene Dream really shows that off with the guitar solos, energetic transitions and in your face rock outs. Phosphene Dream is the album where each member of the band is in balance, they all contribute equally to the music and trade off fronting responsibilities. Alex Maas has arguably the best vocals of his career on this album and it came through live. Even with the monitoring problems he was hitting every note with nuance and confidence. The retro psychedelia was delicious and the short format of these songs stood in contrast to the long kraut styling of Passover or Directions To See A Ghost.
Phosphene Dream is a short album giving them time to play nine additional songs after the album. They took a short break and came back with the sound finally set in place with a strong mix. Its not that the sound it was bad before but just missing something.
The second half of their set was hot rock music. ‘Bloodhounds‘, ‘Manipulation‘ from Passover. ‘The River’, ‘Icon’, ‘La Pared (Govt. Wall Blues)’, ‘Empire Falling’ from The Wilderness of Mirrors.
Conclusion:
Three nights of The Black Angels with around 45 unique songs and over 5 hours of music was a psychedelic rock experience that I would highly recommend. My exhaustion, second guessing, lack of sleep, transportation challenges slipped away the second the music started. These three nights felt like a gift given by the stars thanks to the extraordinary generosity The Black Angels for playing so much music.
Each night was so different from the other in terms of music played, audience, overall vibes and sound. Night one and three were close to selling out with a packed house but night two was my favorite and had the least people. The commutative effect of being in front of The Black Angels for three nights with outstanding lighting and unbelievable musicianship was magical. I felt the afterglow for days to come.
They debuted a new song with some 80s darkwave vibes played on two of the nights and they played all my favorite music from the first years of the band. I did note that the album Indigo Meadow (2013) was overlooked entirely without a single song played same is true for their various EPs. They played Passover, Directions To See A Ghost and Phosphene Dream in full. Cumulatively through the three nights they played most of Wilderness of Mirrors and nearly half of Death Song album. All the while they blew the minds of 1000’s of people. The impact of three nights on SF was notable I overheard people taking about it at the Haight Street Art Fair the next day and on the bus as some young people had heard from a friend about how amazing it was and they discussed how they had never been to a live rock concert before…
The Black Angels have a routine of playing multiple nights in San Francisco and I hope they are cooking up something amazing for next year as well and maybe a new album too. I also attended all three nights in 2024 in San Francisco when they did new arrangements for their songs which also blew me away.
In San Francisco, late summer and fall are known by bartenders as ‘rocktober‘ because all the American underground rock and psych bands come through between late August through November often prompted by psychedelic rock Levitation Music Festival in Austin which The Black Angels play every year. This year, in San Francisco we are lucky enough to have three nights Osees, three nights Black Angels, Brain Jonestown Massacre, Beach Fossils, The Sword, Blood Incantation, A Place To Bury Strangers, Babe Rainbow, King Stingray, Orb, Swans, Castle Rat, Rose City Band, Acid Mothers Temple, Die Spitz, Earth Tongue, Kula Shaker, Dandy Warhols, White Fence, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Frankie and The Witch Fingers, Drugdealer, Earthless, Minami Duetch, La Femme, Mint Field, Hippie Death Cult along with local bands like The Spiral Electric, Asteroid No. 4, The Green Door and many more all in a 3 month time period.
This time of year in San Francisco its hard to hear about all the great bands playing and even harder to catch everything you’d like to see. Our concerts often have incredible lights and limited edition posters made special for each show. Truly a live psychrock music paradise!
San Francisco is the best live music city in the USA and three nights of The Black Angels is just the glowing tip of the iceberg of this years live music events. Thank you to The Black Angels for the lifelong memories that are burned into my mind. I see myself saying, ‘remember when The Black Angels did their first three albums three nights in a row’ for years to come.
The Black Angels stand as one of my favorite live bands and this three night event was a big treat. Thank you to POW Magazine for commissioning me to write this article. See you in the venues of San Francisco.
