Sound//Vision: Deerhunter

I religiously followed this band around the Southeast during 2007-2010, watching as many performances of them and Atlas Sound as I could. One of the greatest shows I have ever seen was at the Georgia Theatre circa 2007-2008, shortly after Cryptograms was released. They had just started to take off and clearly had new found money to invest in this absurd light show and stage display. They also began experimenting more and more with their performances, droning out double length versions of their songs and riding the light waves of their stage show until the audience couldn’t see anymore. The sound and visual pulses synched so well and it was the closest to “seeing” a sound wave I had ever experienced.

This was all overshadowed by the Black Lips headlining after this performance, showing up with their shock and awe perfomances. Near the end of their set, they decided to proceed with on of their last and most absurd NSFW antics, shutting down the event early as the band members started chanting RIOT RIOT RIOT at the crowd. Both bands were barred from the venue for the foreseeable future and it was the exact opposite image that Deerhunter’s performance created.

(This video is the closest performance I could find to that era. It is clearly after the above described performance and in Birmingham)