“After receiving a message from fellow Post-Duluthian [and proprietor of this blog] Sam Haraldson, I had a feeling that this was [a] show not to miss.”

Soon to be embarking on a world tour, Duluth’s own Retribution Gospel Choir was scheduled to appear for a private performance somewhere in the East Hillside. Upon my walk through downtown to get to the show, I had the chance to make a few quick words with Aaron Molina, whom if you don’t know by now is credited with the artwork for RGC’s new album “2″.

After arriving shortly after 9pm and being greeted by open arms, not to mention the bonfire, and the kegs of Surly, the early attendees and I waited for the band to arrive while listening to my advance copy of the new album. As more people arrive the band appears. It quickly becomes 10pm as we watch the traffic from the front window.

It’s now 10:30pm, I have my camera in hand, and my Surly is on the mantle: it’s show time.

The band starts the show with their classic rock anthem “Breaker”. As the band plays on through to Midnight with a collection of songs from the new album, the band seems larger than life. Steve and Eric’s stage presence have now grown equal to, being previously shadowed [by] that of Sparhawk. Towards the end of their set, each member continues to be focused and still being able to feed the group empowerment.

This was truly a performance to remember. For more photos of the show visit Ryan’s Flickr Gallery

This has been a guest post by Ryan Dahlberg, maintainer of theduluthscene.org, hosting a broad array of aural and visual content relating to Duluth music and culture.

The show at the 501 was full of people who were definitely fans as I could see the emotion in their eyes and the mouthing of song lyrics around the room. Alan Sparhawk, Steve Garrington, and Eric Pollard played a set that was (in my opinion) far too short, leaving out a couple of tracks from the new album 2 which is to be released January 20th, 2010.

The set was similar to the live shows of the past six months that have bootleg recordings available, focusing on the same tracks. It was obvious the band had been in the studio as the numbers were very tight. RGC’s typical poppy, melodic verse-chorus-verse was dead on. But the real proof the band is tight came during their famous dubby, noisy, freeform interludes. There was emotion on their faces that poured out through their instruments and right into the minds and bodies of the audience.

A short encore closed the set and when asked to play more, Sparkhawk declined stating a long drive back to Duluth that evening as reason. The show was well worth listening to as will their upcoming sets and soon-to-be-released album.

View photos at Retribution Gospel Choir – 501 Club, Minneapolis Flickr page. ]]> http://www.walloftvs.org/music/theblackeyedsnakes/2010/01/05/retribution-gospel-choir-501-club-minneapolis/feed/ 0 http://www.walloftvs.org/music/theblackeyedsnakes/2009/02/05/retribution-gospel-choir-finishing-new-album/ http://www.walloftvs.org/music/theblackeyedsnakes/2009/02/05/retribution-gospel-choir-finishing-new-album/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:11:45 +0000 samh http://www.walloftvs.org/music/theblackeyedsnakes/2009/02/05/retribution-gospel-choir-finishing-new-album/ From the Low e-mail newsletter:

“…Alan’s side project, Retribution Gospel Choir, just finished tracking new material with Steve Albini in Chicago for an upcoming release — more to come on that soon.  Best wishes for 2009 for you all.”

=Low HQ

“It’s about being so loud and so relatively ferocious that nothing hurts anymore.”

I don’t quite understand what a “Daytrotter session” is, but it recently featured some free songs by Retribution Gospel Choir and a strange and somewhat insightful essay on Alan Sparhawk. Cheers.

Retribution Gospel Choir Daytrotter Session