mistressofmuses

Thursday night we went to a concert! First one in quite a while.



Beborn Beton is a German synthpop band. Apparently the last time they were in the US was back in 2002, as support for Apoptygma Berzerk (Alex's five-ever favorite obsession.)

If you've ever heard of them, it's probably from their hit (within the goth scene) from 1997, "Another World."

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I got off of work slightly early, having come in slightly early, which was good... but we still wound up running late. (Had to make a grocery trip that I assumed would be done before I was off of work, ha.)

It took a bit to find parking, though we wound up not too far away. Then of course it took a minute in the car to pre-game.


A very small ladybug landed on the car window as I was getting out.


Rainbow crosswalk.


I like the snake. And of course the queer stuff in the window.

We ran into PJ outside the venue and chatted with her a while. It sounds like she's doing well, which is good. She and Mark broke up last year, which was sort of a shock to everyone, I think, and then she also quit basically all social media (minus a wordpress blog that I never remember to check in on.) But sounds like she's happy in her new apartment, maybe has a new boyfriend, is doing well at work, etc.

Sadly we missed Faces Under the Mirror/Jake's set. ;_; We got inside just as he was finished and packing up. We did get to talk with him for a little while, though.

We were there in time for Voicecoil! (Mark) He played some things that are new to the live rotation, which was cool. Also the single off the album that will be coming out sometime this fall.



Got to chat with him for a bit after his set, as well. He's also doing well, it sounds like, minus some potentially-scary eye surgery stuff coming up.

Then Beborn Beton!


The struggle, even in a small venue, to get all the members of a band at least sort of in focus under stage lighting...

They did play quite a few favorites of mine. I'm a basic bitch who loves the singles, so I was very glad (if utterly unsurprised) that the single from a couple years ago, "Dancer in the Dark," got played (with a joke about whether we should go hang out at a nearby bowling alley, since the music video is, inexplicably, the band bowling.) A few others that I really like from that same album, like "I Watch My Life on TV" and "Last Chance."

Their intro to "Newborn King" was about how yes, it was 1997, and of course he was obsessed with Dana Scully... (the song being about aliens coming to earth.) I mean, same, bro.

And of course, "Another World" as the final encore. (With "yeah, I guess it would be a dick move not to play this one...") Afterwards, Alex said he had forgotten about that song entirely which was very funny to me. That's like... their one song that they're known for, lmao. I'm pretty sure that was one of the songs he sent me before we were dating!

Five more pictures + two youtube links:

Voicecoil! On keyboard is a new partner, Kat. I didn't get to meet her, but it seems to be going well.


One more of Voicecoil.


Beborn Beton, doing their introduction.




I do love catching everyone in a weird position, lol.

Watch on YouTube

The "Dancer in the Dark" music video.

Watch on YouTube

"Another World," definitely what they're still best known for.

At the end, I got one of the setlists!


Which I did get signed. <3

Mildly bummed that "Dr. Channard" (though a deeper cut) apparently replaced "Burning Gasoline," which is one of my faves, but it was fun to hear, too.

It was a very fun show, and I'm glad we had a chance to go out. We haven't been out since... last fall?

One more show coming up next week, too! We were really spoiled for a lot of excellent shows coming through between this and next week, but we had to be choosy, ha.

Still trying to catch up on things we did!

We went to Goth Prom!



It was fun! "Reelworks" was the venue, but it used to be called Exdo. It's a warehouse-style club that's attached to Tracks, probably the most well-known of our gay clubs.

We got there and discovered to our horror just how much construction and development has gone into the area. Like... genuinely a bit horrifying. That used to be a kinda rough area, though with a lot of artist lofts and weird little galleries and things. Now it's just unending samey apartment buildings. I realize we hadn't been there since pre-Covid, but still! That's only a few years!

There were a bunch of performances - some dance, some burlesque, some drag, some silks. Many talented people in our scene!

All attendees were given the option of putting in a raffle ticket for prom royalty, which was then a random drawing. I didn't know either of the winners, but I kind of like doing it that way rather than a nomination/popularity contest.

We managed to stick to a spot right at the end of the catwalk part of the stage. That wasn't used for the main performance, but did mean we had a mostly unobstructed view!

The headlining performer was Nitzer Ebb, which was pretty cool. I'm under the impression it was just a weird little one-off show for them, too.



I really should have spent more time taking pictures of the decor and attendees and performers, but I didn't think to!

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The show was good - pretty much all the classics.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but right toward the end, I started to get really lightheaded. I wound up able to sit down on the moveable stairs that had been pulled to the side of the stage, and that helped.
I'm sure it was mainly dehydration + being too warm + drinking. It was the same thing that happened at the first Solar Fake show... I barely made it through the show, and then had to sit down through the encore so I didn't pass out. Frustrating!

We left after that. I think there were some more performances after, but I was still pretty shaky, and had to be in early the next day for work.

Glad we went, and it was a good time!

Friday night we had another show to go to!



Originally the first opener was going to be Voight, but they were sick. So our friend Jake, as Faces Under the Mirror, got to fill in for them. So that was cool - we saw him open at the Voicecoil CD release a while back, but it's always nice to get to see him.


Jake!


And Solar Fake!

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We headed home pretty immediately after. With the show starting so late, it was after midnight already, and we were pretty tired. I semi-miss the days of hanging out and mingling post-show, but sometimes the tired-sleepy wins.

It was also supposed to start snowing, so we wanted to beat the weather. We were half-successful on that count! We noted that it wasn't snowing at all when we left, and that it was still perfectly clear. About halfway home it was a bit hazy, and there were a few small, icy flakes falling. By the time we actually reached our apartment it was near blizzard conditions! But at least we weren't driving in it for too long.

Siamés is an Argentinian band known mostly for one pretty rad animated music video that got very popular several years ago:



After seeing that video, I bought the album, absolutely loved it, and continued to love most of what they've put out. (Including quite a few more very cool animated videos.) So it was very cool to get to see them live! They have been to the US to tour before, but not Denver.


Siamés!
(Sadly probably the best picture of them I really wound up with, heh. Annoyingly, my phone camera was being severely laggy, more so than I've ever had issues with before. I'm afraid the phone is on the way out...)

Taylor also loves them, so it was great that we got to go. The last concert we went to was... Silversun Pickups in February of 2020, right before everything shut down, ha.

We did take a rideshare down to the venue, because parking was so frustrating when Alex and I were there a few weeks ago. We got there about twenty-five minutes before doors, and it was VERY COLD to stand outside, but at least it wasn't snowing.


The tour poster in the window of the venue. (Sidenote - my friend from Voicecoil is performing as his other project, Gravity Corps, at Saturnalia tonight.)

We figured if we were going to be standing around waiting anyway, we might as well wait in the merch line. Semi good thing... Taylor and I got the last two (or damn close to it) Denver tour posters. :D (There are different posters for each stop on the tour... and somehow they were nearly sold out of Denver ones already!)
I bought Taylor the poster and a tour shirt as an Xmas gift, since they'd been struggling to come up with an idea for what they wanted.


(Crummy screenshot from a promo video, because that's the ONLY image I found of the poster, and mine is rolled up in a tube for safety at the moment.)

After buying our stuff, we headed back to the floor to hang out near the stage.

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Saturday night we went to our friend Mark's album release party for his band Voicecoil and their album Strange Days. Patrick played with him, and our friend Jake opened with his project Faces Under the Mirror.

I know that Saturday night is an ideal night for most people, but I had work both that day and the next, sobcry.

Still, it was really nice to get to go out and see people. Mark said he thought it's been close to 5 years since we saw each other, though I didn't think it had been that long. Then again... it might have been. Three years to Covid, definitely, but it may have been a year or two before that where we weren't going out all that much. (Ah, introversion and also a real job.) I think we ran into each other in passing at Tracks or Milk a couple times, but it probably has been at least 5 years since we hung out for more than a quick convo.

And I guess it's not too bad if the headliner still spent almost an hour talking to us pre-show, and Patrick spent another hour talking to me between Jake's and Mark's sets and after. <3 (Genuinely, it's kind of nice to feel like we haven't been forgotten even though we haven't been out and social for so damn long, including pre-Covid.)

Sounds like both Mark and Patrick have had a rough time of the whole Covid times... Mark lost someone super important to him several months ago (though not to Covid), and it really, really hurt him. Patrick is just isolated as hell living in fucking ALMA, CO, and he lost his job at the start of the pandemic, too. So I wish that everyone was having a better time all around. BUT STILL THE SHOW WAS FUN.


Mark and Patrick!


And Jake!

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It was very nice to get to see people and have a night out. I was also quite relieved that I did not wind up hungover after my fairly piddly three drinks (but I was pleasantly buzzed.) I deeply wish Covid wasn't Still A Thing, because it reminded me that I DO like going out (if only occasionally), but sadly it IS, so we've gotta stay careful about what we choose to go do.