King Buffalo is touring on a new album and hit Portland last night!

Opening band LA Witch put on an excellent show. An all-female trio, they reminded me at times of Acid King (but less doomy) and Hole (but less aggressive), with lo-fi surf punk reverb guitar effects. The ladies were on top of their game and all about their music ... which is fairly mellow, and ... well ... I'm not mellow. I liked their live act more than the recorded work. I'd gladly see them again.

The new King Buffalo album Doomsayer comes out in December, so it was unusual timing to kick off their tour a month prior to that date. I met two people at the show that already own it. A dude sitting behind me named Steven (Good to meet ya, bud!) collects 'pre-press' vinyl records, apparently mostly to hang them on the wall, so he very frequently gets early releases. He was a serious fan who was able to identify individual songs as they played them. The other guy sitting in front of me bought an (as of yet unreleased!) CD at the merch stand.

Between the sets, while I was discussing the new album with these gents, the roadies got the headline act ready. Oops!!! No. That was not a roadie. The unimpressively attired, baseball-capped, Sean Roa (vocal/guitar) did his own sound check. And that was nice, because that was by far the best look at him that we got all night.

This act, being a big-sound three piece, uses a fair amount of keyboards and programmed assistance. After sound check, the lights died down, a keyboard number played, and all you could see on stage was the lit up base drum. When the band actually came out, you could barely see more than that. The lights were mostly purple and blue with LOTS of stage fog rolling out, and half the time, those lights were projected out at the crowd.

I'd say King Buffalo definitely is going for psychedelic and definitely does NOT care about image, in that they were shadows with no detail. Sean does a lot of singing and a bit of keyboard manipulation, so he stayed close to his mic and gear. Dan Reynolds (bass) was far more active, wandering around the stage a fair amount, occasionally working with his own keyboard and gear. Every now and then I could see Scott Donaldson (drums), workin his ass off in the back.

The set opened with one of my favorite songs off of Dead Star, Echo of a Waning Star. The guys played a pretty full set, a good 90 minutes or so, lotta long songs. They only did a couple from the new (unreleased) album, playing the new single The Slick and the Dead 3rd song in.

I liked the classy way these guys closed out the show. They announced that they had 3 songs left. They played (I think) a new song, and then did Black Sabbath's Into The Void. My buddy Steven says that's the 3rd time they've done it on stage, and they killed it. And then ... they walked off stage without a word for a two minute break and came back for the 'encore' without a hint of pretense. Dude is like, "Sure, we'll do one more for you." The closing song was Eye of the Storm, an excellent choice that gave Sean a chance to make his guitar scream a bit.

A note for folks in Portland or bands booking shows in Portland ... Aladdin Theater is a gorgeous venue with full theater seats over the entire auditorium and a balcony. Immaculate sound, every fukin show I've seen here. I've no idea how they keep the place as beautiful as it is. There isn't a lot of room for mosh pits, and at no point did I see one starting. Aladdin doesn't do wands, pat-downs, or metal detectors. And that's nice. I don't want some bouncer feeling my nuts before I go through the door. Take my ticket and point me at the beer.

I've seen a lot of music lately. This event was a highlight of the year. I'd always heard King Buffalo puts on a good show. It's true. Check them out if you can.