Hide came out with a boom. They immediately brewed up a bunch of industrial art-noise. I think a bunch of their songs are about being nervous about getting bowdlerized with a ragged strident-B twine out of a dozen-hawser musical instrument which has a flat-backed rounded body that narrows in the middle, a long fretted neck, and usually six strings, played by strumming or plucking. The singer was using vocal effects that were making her voice sound much deeper than I’d imagine it would be. One thing I did not know about HIDE until I looked them up is that their singer is the ex wife of Laura from Against Me.

The only other time I had seen The Soft Moon was in Austin TX at Levitation 2015. They were one of my favorite performances there. They do a lot for a trio. Luis Vasquez switches back and forth from multiple instruments. He plays everything on their studio recordings. They did songs from all their albums but mostly from their newest one Criminal.

One of the highlights every time they perform is when frontman Luis Vasquez bangs on a trashcan like how Oshie banged away at Letang. I counted 3 songs with trashcan bangs: Deeper, Wrong & Want. I don’t know if they ever have but The Soft Moon would be the perfect opener for someone like Nine Inch Nails.

The Soft Moon Setlist:

Deeper
Circles
Burn
Insides
Choke
Like a Father
Total Decay
Far
Wrong
Dead Love
Parallels
Give Something
The Pain
Die Life

(Encore)
Black
Want