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Ghostland observed
Music: Aaron Behrens is the most charismatic performer in Austin right now. Onstage at Hogg Auditorium, he blazed like an entire fireworks stand.
Ferociously androgynous Behrens and his cohart, Thomas Turner, himself a one-man, all purpose band, are Ghostland Observatory, and within the first minute, they proved why all their concerts sell out.
At the end of a 17-hour workday (12 coffee shops included), this midnight concert shocked me into complete submission to their dance craze.
Here is music contributor Will Mills’ take on the concert, to be published in XL on Thursday:
“It’s impossible to watch them and not smile.
“Ghostland Observatory is a two-man, invading dance-pop horde who convert all in their path into swaying, fist-pumping, grinning believers.
“Friday night at Hogg Auditorium the mournful rock of openers the Black Angels — imagine Jim Morrison on psychedelics being lead through the desert by loud thumping tribal drums — echoed off the walls, leaving gaps in the sound.
“Gaps that Ghostland immediately filled with Thomas Turner’s synthesizers, samples and synthetic drums for Aaron Behrens to belt out high-pitched choruses over while he dances so enthusiastically that it’s almost uncomfortably funny.
“But it works. The man can dance. And, it’s infectious. From the opening song, Ghostland had the entire sold out audience leaping from their seats and letting loose like a dormant volcano was erupting and this was the last night of their lives.
“When the crowd watched the band relinquish all reticence, they quickly followed. Behrens is Freddie Mercury meets Pocahontas meets a robot sent back in time to simply dance. And Turner, reviving the cape, resembled a disco Phantom of the Opera hunched over the keys as he played a dance version of the theme song.
After all the show was being billed at ‘Ghostland at the Opera.’ Although, I don’t think a laser light show is typically part of the opera experience. They created such a spectacle that every address toward the crowd was met with wild applause. So Ghostland answered back with a chorus of ‘Hey you, just keep on dancing!’ “
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