(http://www.hopesandoval.com/pics/hope27.jpg)
"Who even is Mazzy Star?" most young people would ask, today. To answer this question: Mazzy Star is an alternative rock band with shoegaze and psychedelic influences whose popularity peaked around the late 1980s and 1990s. Their time in the spotlight was far before the existence of any current 20-something. With that said, I felt like a six year old in the audience, whose average age must have been somewhere between thirty and forty. I had known about the group for quite awhile. Tracks like, "Fade Into You" and "Into Dust" off of their 1993 sophomore album, So Tonight That I Might See, were more than familiar to me. The two tracks have often been used in movies and television, so if someone who had never previously heard of the band were to listen to one of these songs, they would probably recognize them.
Stage Set up and Crowd for Mazzy Star @ Mill City Nights
My decision to attend the event was a bit last minute; my roommate gave me the two tickets after telling me that a promoter had given them to her free of charge while she was at work in a local coffee shop. I unfortunately missed the openers, DJ Jake Rudh and Psychic Ills, however, I can attest that Psychic Ills, a very experimental psychedelic rock band, would have complemented Mazzy Star quite nicely.
The group played material from their newest album, Seasons of Your Day, but did not hesitate to dive back into older material from their previous three albums. The crowd cheered happily for fan favorites, "Fade Into You" and "Into Dust'. Hope Sandoval, lead vocalist of the group, had one of the most ethereal voices I had ever heard. Her gorgeous croons were breathy, yet very controlled. Having a history of not interacting much with the audience, it was not surprising that she only said a few soft "thank you"s after select songs. She seemed to be either queueing up sounds or performing some other kind of operation on a digital tablet set up in front of her.
There was a sign on the venue that asked for no photography. This made sense as the stage was very darkly lit, evoking a dreamy, chill mood recycled from the nineties. A projector played an eriee, psychedelic stream of images throughout the show onto a white backdrop. Some of the moving images were colorful, and some seemed to be mimicking vintage photography, both of which suited the mood.
Dimly Lit Stage for Mazzy Star @ Mill City Nights
There were five to six performers total that night, and they all rotated in and out of the mix depending on which songs they played. The guitarist, David Roback, who was part of the original Mazzy Star duo with Sandoval, played beautiful acoustic melodies and steel guitar licks. The other members, many of whom seemed to be multi-instrumentalists, played bass, drums, keyboard, violin, and pedal steel guitar. They rotated their instruments often between songs, while music with strange, simple melodies and odd sound effects filled these gaps.
They returned to play a few songs for an encore at the end of the night. By the end of the performance I felt calm and very much at ease. The soothing waves of music washed away any bit of anxiety I had earlier in the night. I feel lucky to have seen this group; it was almost like taking a time machine back to 1993, before I was even born, and hearing alternative music at its finest.
I probably would have seen many of the older fans in that crowd in back in time. Now that I think about it, I have been finding myself in this older crowd more and more frequently. I experienced a similar age gap when I saw Black Rebel Motorcycle Club last spring at First Avenue. I suppose that if I continue to explore older music, I will undoubtedly find myself amongst original fans at performances. I guess I'm just an old soul.
Until next time,
Sam
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