Late last year, Philadelphia shoegaze legends Nothing revealed that they had very special plans for the ten year anniversary of the band’s seminal 2014 album Guilty of Everything. The band would be playing the album live and in full, but, instead of stepping into the spotlight to simply celebrate their own legacy, Nothing had decided to use this moment to share the stage, very literally, with those who have inspired and shaped the shoegaze genre and those who continue to carry the torch.
Dubbed “Slide Away,” and given the simple description of being “the fest that celebrates itself,” the two shows took place in Nothing’s hometown of Philadelphia and the band’s home away from home, Los Angeles, and each bill boasted a stunning array of multigenerational musical talent, from the legendary to the up and coming, and held something for everyone.
As a genre, shoegaze proliferated in the late 1980s and early 1990s with bands like Ride, Swervedriver, The Swirlies, Slowdive and more, but by 2010, when Domenic Palermo began to write for the project that would become Nothing, the popularity of shoegaze had dwindled. In the show announcement, Palermo stated simply that, when Nothing began, “there weren’t many playing the type of music we were playing. We never really had a home until we broke in and made our own,” and now, with Slide Away, Palermo was going to open the doors and welcome everyone into the house that shoegaze built.
On March 30th nearly 1500 enthusiastic fans filled Los Angeles’s Belasco Theater to witness an evening of pioneers and powerhouses of a genre reinvigorated and pushing forward once again. The theater was transformed into a psychedelic daydream with visual projections provided by Zachary Rodell, a multidisciplinary visual artist based in San Francisco, and the audience stood in awe as band after band met the moment with equal parts elation and distortion. Mo Dotti, Peel Dream Magazine, Astrobrite, Glare, Film School, and Tanukichan all played phenomenal sets, and each seemed to enjoy the show just as much as the audience before them, raw emotion and dreamy camaraderie washing over the packed theater in waves.
The crescendo of a beautiful evening came as Nothing delivered on their promise to play Guilty of Everything in a way it has never been heard before and surely never will be again, welcoming former band members and friends to the stage in a celebration of all that had come before and a nod to all those who continue to pave the way.
After the show, the buzz was unanimous. Slide Away was a runaway success and the only question left to be asked is, “who do you want to see play next year?”
Photos: Matt TxF
Nothing
Tanukichan
Film School
Glare
Astrobrite
Peel Dream Magazine
Mo Dotti
