Goes Cube Tour Day Thirty-two

After thirty days on the road, playing as a mostly unknown band to unpredictable audiences, what exactly would Goes Cube be coming home to? How many of their friends and fans would show up, and would they be prepared for how tight the band had gotten over the past five weeks?

Regardless of what the turnout was to be, show after show (after show) had already proven to me that Goes Cube is always ready to deliver their raw power. No matter how few (or many) people they play for, no matter how terrible (or excellent) the venue/bill/soundsystem, if there's one thing to be learned from spending a month documenting this band on tour it's the fact that they bring it every night. And, to be honest, the homecoming show at Mercury Lounge was circled as the important show from day one. Not actually circled. I mean, not like they're a college football team who'd gotten together one day after practice to watch their coach circle April 6th and say "boys, this is the day...you can lollygag all you want on every other date, but you better bring hell at Mercury Lounge." Then again, it was kind of like that. But without a coach, and all much more implied. Still, this was the one we'd all been waiting for...yourselves included. Goes Cube back in New York City after taking on America. After kicking America's ass from coast to coast, and everywhere in between. You want to know how the show was? In short, not for one second of their set did Goes Cube disappoint. It was the best show I've seen them play.

The band that was on stage before them (Pilot to Gunner) got off to a late start and didn't finish until a few minutes after 10pm, which is when Goes Cube was supposed to start. They ended up being ready to go by about 10:20 and were promptly told they'd have to be off the stage at 10:45. Because of reasons outside of their control, the band coming off a month long tour was going to have their set cut short?! Yeah, welcome home. I was extremely pissed off at the situation, so I can only imagine how mad the three guys were. The thought of waiting all this time for the homecoming show, only to have it cut short?! Goes Cube SMASH! And they did. More on that later. Ultimately, all this really did was help to fuel the Goes Cube fire. Yeah, like they needed any extra reasons to bring the thunder.

Given the time constraints, Goes Cube launched into their set with added urgency. This show was supposed to be about playing to a home crowd full of fans and friends but what it turned into was something else altogether. From the very first chords following the violin bow intro to Goes Cube Song 34 the band set a blistering pace. All business, all rock. Loud. Perfect. The sound was out of this world, compared to the clubs we'd been at for the past few weeks, and the band responded accordingly. They paused ever so briefly between songs to catch a breath of air, and to mention what song was next, but that's all. Rather than halt momentum for a second too long, Goes Cube pushed forward and destroyed song after song, eardrum after eardrum, as only they can. To top it all off, David unleashed his new guitar on the audience for Goes Cube Song 33. By unleashed I mean to say that he jumped down into the crowd (as he often does) and smashed the guitar on the floor right in the middle of everyone (see the above picture, taken by Charlie from Nerd Litter). It was their final song of the evening, and I couldn't have come up with a more perfect punctuation for the tour if I scripted it - Goes Cube played their best show of the tour (best ever, in my opinion) on the final date to a home audience. And smashed a guitar right smack dab in the middle of said audience. Shit yes.

Speaking for myself, and the band as well, it's really great to be back home. Friday night was an instant reminder of why New York music fans are some of the best in the country. Thanks to everyone who came out, both on Friday and throughout the tour, and thanks to the band for letting me come along to document the whole thing on video. Stay tuned for updates about my work on the post-production side of things with the video, and for future posts relating to, and reflecting upon, this tour. It'll probably take me quite a while to edit the film, so hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

Now, who wants to pay us lots of money to do it all over again?

Listening to right now:
Explosions In The Sky - "What Do You Go Home To?"

Visit Goes Cube on MySpace

Full tour schedule HERE

**read more about the show (from David's perspective) HERE, and from another blogger's point of view HERE**

***also be sure to go HERE and submit some questions for me to ask the guys***