Isis At The Troubadour - Final Los Angeles Date

     
     Isis recently announced that they will no longer be continuing as a band.  More can be found on that here.  I was fortunate enough to scoop up a ticket to their last performance in LA at the sold out Troubadour.  Normally I don't go to shows by myself but there was no way in hell I was about to miss this.
     Rarely does a band come along that transcends genres and captures an audience with wide arrays of musical taste.  Creating an unique sound and an idea that matches it is easier said than done.  Music that makes you think differently and casts a new light on your perception of life is something many bands strive to pull off but generally fall short.  This is something bigger than putting on makeup or shooting off pyro.  This becomes almost a hypnotic state that combines emotions, vulnerability, sight, and sound.  Records that you get lost in and it's almost like they stop time.  Before you even realize what's happened, you've listened to the whole album straight through.  Isis is such a band.
     The Troubadour provided a perfect setting for such a band.  One that's intimate so you can experience that hypnotic state live, for one last time.  The crowd of indie rockers, metalheads, people dressed up, people in cut-off sleeveless shirts, drunks, potheads, and all around music enthusiasts responded passionately towards a band giving one of the best live shows I've had the pleasure of seeing.  Everyone in the crowd was transfixed on the music, some watching the band on stage while others closed their eyes and let the music consume them.  To put into words something you feel is nearly indescribable.  The audience knew this was the last time Isis would be seen live in LA and nobody took it for granted.  An hour and 20 minutes is all the set lasted for.  It could have gone on for another hour and 20 minutes and nobody would have left. 
     Unfortunately, the night had to end and the band said goodnight.  But it wasn't goodnight for the night, it was farewell.  To see a band like Isis, a band who casts their own shadow and knows no boundaries for what music can make a person feel, call it quits is not easy to do.  In a world where attention spans grow shorter and shorter by the minute, it's hard to envision many bands creating music as layered and lengthy as that of Isis.  From Mosquito Control through Wavering Radiant, thank you Isis for putting out music that was true.