Boris

The Japanese metal band, Boris, approaches their performance with a form of directness that is both captivating and exhilarating. Their passion for music can clearly be conveyed by their frequency of touring and album releases. The force behind their music is undeniably strong and the way it is presented is flawless and precise.
Boris is a highly unique band, but their distinct influences also clearly come through their music. The band is influenced by a vast array of genres ranging from sludge metal, drone metal, noise rock, and ambient music. They also are influenced by many diverse artists such as Nick Cave, Nick Drake, and Sleep.
Boris’ live performances are highly intense with the loud, pounding sounds of drums and face-melting guitar shredding that their guitarist, Wata, so keenly produces. The bass player, Takeshi, often plays a double-neck bass, which he fiercely strums to create low resonances that really add a depth and structure to the cacophonic sounds produced on the guitar. Boris’ music can often be slow, droning, and ambient, and at other times it can be loud, fast, and heavy. Wata uses an E-bow on her guitar, which is used to vibrate the guitar’s strings to create an orchestral, sustained sound of ambient drones.
Their stage presence is also very captivating. They are all usually dressed in black attire and have long hair, which they fling around stage when they are rocking out to their heavy metal songs. Layers of smoke usually fill the stage that is dimly lit creating a dark, eerie atmosphere, which appropriately compliments their music. During more intense parts of their concerts a bright, flashing light is strobed across the stage creating a sense of excitement.
Boris is sure to impress their audiences with their diversity of musical style. During some parts of the concert they will create long, ambient noise rock that will drone on for large extents of time, and at other times they will play fast paced, in your face metal music that will keep you rocking on your feet.

The duo t.A.T.u. was one of the first groups I saw live. I saw them in 2006, a few months after they released "Dangerous and Moving." I had just graduated from high school, and my parents chose to reward me with tickets to the group live, since my mom knew how much I loved them.

They were so amazing, especially in such a large crowd. The venue must have had hundreds of people. The girls of t.A.t.u. were sensual and emotive performers. They walked onto the stage wearing similar blue jeans and similar tops holding hands the entire time as they sang their first song. I loved how carefree and fun the singers Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova were. They looked like the kind of girls who I would want to be my friends.

Their set was a comprehensive list of all their best songs "All The Things She Said," "All About Us," "Not Gonna Get Us." In between those songs they spoke to the crowd, and it was actually a really chatty crowd with people screaming back comments to them as they performed and them responding. I was so appreciative to be able to see them live just so I could see how they worked together. I would definitely go see them again.