DARKSIDE
Masonic Cathedral Theatre
Friday, March 14
There’s no greater pleasure in my life than introducing music I love to people I love.
It’s probably rooted in some deep people-pleasing need that I’ll no doubt blame my parents for with the help of more therapy, but I’m not too bothered by it.
Really hit the jackpot on Friday. The trio DARKSIDE played at the gorgeous Masonic Cathedral Theatre inside of the Masonic Temple. For those not from Detroit, it’s the largest Masonic temple in the world and regularly hosts big-time concerts.
And I know this sounds simple.
“Wow, you were able to get your friends to go with you to a concert. Big whoop!”
Which… you’re right. As I get older, however, I’ve noticed it’s more like wrangling cats to get your friends together to do something you’re into that they’ve got no clue about. That’s the big thing here. All three guests with me had never heard of DARKSIDE.
In a world where everything seems to be ready to suck away all of your attention, how willing are you to agree to go in blind to a concert of a band you’ve never heard of?
That’s where my gratitude is for this trio of friends and the trio of musicians behind DARKSIDE.
Within 20 minutes, my guests were completely converted. (Getting seated in a private box hanging directly above the stage didn’t hurt my chances.)
Musically, it’s hard to find a net that can capture all of DARKSIDE’s musical influences -- but I’ll give it a shot.
Across three albums since 2011, the group, founded by electronic musician Nicolás Jaar and guitarist Dave Harrington (now a trio with recent addition of drummer Tlacael Esparza), has always embraced a sense of blues – albeit a loose, cosmic sense of the blues, las if B.B. King were tripping on LSD and decided to try to count all the stars in the sky.
That’s all laid on top of abstract samples of soul records, dub-techno polyrhythms and, most recently on their latest album “Nothing,” big-time guitar licks that don’t sound too far removed from something you’d hear Jerry Garcia lay down.
Somehow, it all works on their records.
And as a live show? It’s transformative, powerful and fills every audible inch of the room. The music alone is trippy, but the light show they’re currently traveling with doubles down on that feeling.
It was slightly disappointing to see the room a bit undersold. I doubt the rest of their tour will look like that considering they haven’t been on the road like this in nearly a decade.
But for me, with my three friends going in blind and trusting my taste, everything was just right. Converting them to new music was so damn rewarding. And the fact that DARKSIDE delivered on all accounts only made it better.
