The last time Unsane came to town was back in 2010, when they headlined a killer triple bill with Today is the Day and Keelhaul. After not having been particularly active in these past few years, they delivered a solid comeback album a couple months back, leading to a rare winter tour hitting down on a frigid December evening.
Unfortunately, I was a little late leaving my humble abode, so I missed the first two bands entirely, getting to the Hard Luck just as Big Brave was getting down to business. I wasn’t particularly enthused when they opened for Sleep almost two years ago, but their slow, experimental style of noise rock was much more complementary to the NYC noise vets than the aforementioned sonic titans of stoner doom.
Y’know, I’ve seen the Melvins a handful of times since I last saw Unsane live. And while the latter puts on a much more understated performance, I think they’re every bit as sonically effective. Plus, there are no Cobain kids trying to start a squish pit at an Unsane show, so that’s an added bonus.
Note: Since this was the last show of 2017 for me, I’ll be counting down my top concerts of the year in a week or so.
