Sometimes rare gigs come along you just need to attend f you can. Legendary American Doom metal band Saint Vitus playing the tiny, 150 person capacity Little Devil bar, a venue with its own cult status and following, was just something I knew would be special. And having the Norwegian heavy fuzz-groovers Tombstones join them, is just a pure bonus. On a nice, warm sunny Saturday may 6th, I go find some refuge from the sun and cheer in the cold desolate tones of Doom!
Tombstones are probably the most groovy way to get tinnitus. The Oslo-based stoner doom trio manages to create so much resonating sound in the tiny back room. That it makes your teeth shake and you hair sway. The flags draped over the amp stacks move in the sheer wind their remarkably melodic and precisely fuzzed set creates. The sound, however loud n fuzzy, punctuated by feedback is still crisp and tight throughout the whole tiny venue. When their set winds down, feeling way too soon, the crowd still goes to enjoy the last rays of the sun.
Slowly the room fills up during their set as outside the first true sunny and warm day for a decent while drifts into dusk and cools down as the tunes inside heat up.
Saint Vitus give one hell of an old school doom show and have an expressiveness not often seen in modern doom. Tonight they are joined by Scott Reagers, instead of Scott “Wino” Weinrich (The Obsessed), on vocals. The vocals sometimes drown out a little in the front and the occasional whistle is heard from the mic; but these veterans know what they are doing and the crowd eagerly lap it up, pressing as tightly as they can into the tiny venue, as close to the stage as possible. The claustrophobia of the first few rows definitely adds something to the ominous rumbling that is the backbone of the band’s sound. Between songs the banter of the olden days when they only used to play venues this small makes for a very fun and special show, and it’s more than clear the only reason this gig happened is that the band wanted it to, and are enjoying themselves. Sadly, the set is a lot shorter than advertised, but them playing several songs they themselves announce as rarely played live, make up for any of that.
It’s one of those special little shows you’re glad you were there for, and one that, for me, cemented Saint Vitus’s status as a legendary live band.
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS