Alternative rock royalty visited Carrboro, NC for a dazzling performance demonstrating Kim Gordon remains a generational artist with so much more to say.
The Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC felt different. Filled nearly to capacity well before the opening band took the stage, a sense that something amazing was about to happen hung in the air. An older crowd who bought Sonic Youth albums when they were first released were in strong attendance along with plenty of youth who were equally as excited to be in the room. It’s not every day a living legend of alternative rock music visits to perform.
Kim Gordon was not the only reason for this North Carolina crowd to be excited. Opening the evening was the local supergroup, Object Hours, hailing from Carrboro, NC. Object Hours is comprised of guitarist Nora Rogers (of Solar Halos), guitarist Jenny Waters (of Work Clothes), and drummer Harrison Haynes (of Hellbender and Les Savy Fav). Together, these musicians delivered a hypnotic, all-instrumental groove that had every head bobbing and every body swaying. Using drums and two guitars with extensive arrays of distortion and modification pedals attached to each, Object Hours’ set mixed a strong, heavy drum foundation with haunting guitar-based bass lines and intense, searing guitar solos on top. Intense yet restrained, soothing yet grating, the songwriting was subtly complex as it lulled the audience into a rhythmic trance.
Object Hours were all business, not engaging with the audience until just before the last song where they announced Kim Gordon was up next. At the end of their set, brief, timid waves were given to the audience before turning and breaking down their gear. The juxtaposition of the individual shyness with the intensity as a group is jarring. When they are locked in on stage, it’s as if the world disappeared and Nora, Jenny, and Harrison transcended to another plane where they need no words to communicate. The experience for the audience witnessing this ascension was an inescapable captivity within their sonic grasp. Object Hours performed a perfect set that set the tone for what was to follow.
After an extended break, Kim Gordon took the stage to enormous applause. Lit only from behind, with no front-of-house lighting at all, Kim Gordon and her three-piece band began with “Bye Bye” from Kim’s latest release, The Collective. Immediately, it was clear this performance was going to be amazing; the band brought to life the electronic, tracked-back song with such detail and energy that it exceeded the power of the recorded versions. The musicians joining Kim Gordon on stage were young, multi-instrument virtuosos whose talents were able to transform the Cat’s Cradle into an industrial avant-garde poetry slam house.The first and primary set was a beginning-to-end performance of Kim Gordon’s latest release, The Collective. Each song, including “I’m a Man,” “Psychedelic Orgasm,” and “Tree House,” was expertly performed by combining traditional drums, guitar, and bass with a variety of trigger pads, track loops, and using very non-conventional methods of playing traditional instruments such as stabbing guitar strings with metal objects to create otherworldly searing, soaring screeches. For “Shelf Warmer,” Kim Gordon brought all the house lights down to nearly off, darkening the entire venue for the rest of the set, leaving only a single video screen on the rear of the stage displaying random shapes, colors, and images to light the room. The effect magnified the intensity of the experience, pulling the audience into another dimension of sound and vision controlled by Kim Gordon and the band.
When The Collective tracklist was complete, a short break was followed by a five-song encore filled with songs from No Home Record and concluded with the single, “Grass Jeans.” Pausing only once to speak with the audience, to offer the politically charged background of “Grass Jeans” and to introduce the band, Kim Gordon commanded the stage like a veteran artist, immersed in her art. Kim Gordon performed as if it was a personal sharing of her art, not a pre-scripted delivery of songs. Kim Gordon was in the building physically, spiritually, and emotionally and the inescapable gravity of her performance was proof.
Kim Gordon is an artistic legend who hasn’t slowed down or lost her edge in any way. The Collective is a powerful work of art and the Cat’s Cradle audience who experienced it performed live was nothing short of dazzled. The Collective Tour moves starting June 22, 2024, to an extensive tour of Europe and Asia Pacific before returning to North America on August 30 in Vancouver, BC.
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