Sleep / Superwolves @ El Rey Theater, Albuquerque, 4th April 2022
In all my years, decades at this point, of listening to stoner/doom, I’ve never seen Sleep. Not one time. Not in their original incarnation, not after they reformed, not after Neurosis’ Jason Roeder replaced original drummer Chirs Hakius in 2010. I missed them when they played a benefit here for a local Albuquerquemusician. I also missed them when they dropped The Sciences in 2018 and toured it pretty hard. For a variety of reasons, it seemed that whenever Sleep was playing, something came up that I was forced to miss the show.
I’ve also never seen OM. I’ve never seen the monk, the high-priest of the stoner bass himself; Al Cisneros live in any form. I have however seen the riff lord, Matt Pike, live with High On Fire multiple times, but even then, the last time was 2008 or so. So, when it was announced that Sleep would be performing in my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, coming out of the pandemic, on 4/20 no less, I vowed I would not miss them again. No matter what. I was pretty blown away that they had chosen Albuquerque as their 4/20 show, but Al Cisneros relocated here years ago, so obviously that helped with the decision.
My wife reminded me to buy tickets in January, as everything seemed to be opening up, and thus selling out. I also knew that Weedians around the country, certainly the western half, as this run was only shows in Colorado and New Mexico, would make the holy pilgrimage to see Sleep on 4/20. I also wouldn’t have been surprised to see people from other countries travel toAlbuquerquefor this show, as seeing this band, on this date, carries some weight in the stoner/doom world. With tickets bought, the date circled on the calendar, I kept my fingers crossed that nothing would blow this up. My wife and I procured a babysitter for our twin, 10-year-olds and joined the stoner caravan on its way to the historic El Rey Theatre in downtown Albuquerque. The El Rey is a very cool, very old, theatre right in the heart of downtown Albuquerque, and made the perfect setting for this show.
It was completely sold out, and I offered up some gratitude for my wife kicking me in the ass to buy tickets back in January…
It was completely sold out, and I offered up some gratitude for my wife kicking me in the ass to buy tickets back in January. My wife and I arrived and got in line with the other Weedians. I stupidly forgot that both my knife and my retractable ASP club were in my pockets, as we got to the front of the line. I didn’t want to be kicked out and/or have my weapons confiscated because my dumb, stoned ass forgot I couldn’t carry these into a show of this magnitude, so we had to run back to my vehicle to stash them there. Fortunately, an old friend who works at the El Rey saw us outside in line, and kindly escorted up passed the line, and into the show.
The El Rey was packed to the gills, and we got in just in time to catch the last few songs from openers Superwolves featuring Matt Sweeney, and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. I was familiar with them, as I bought their album a few months back, and I know of Matt Sweeney‘s work through his collaborations with Dax Riggs, Josh Homme, and The Desert Sessions. I thought they were great as an opener, in the little bit we caught. Sounding nothing like Sleep, Superwolves come across as more of a mellow, trippy introspective take on rock & roll, made all the more interesting due to Sweeny’s cool, finger-picking guitar work. Not stoner rock by any stretch of the imagination, but still cool, and they served as a nice sonic elixir, a smooth entry point, before stepping into Sleep’s sonic portal.
Superwolves come across as more of a mellow, trippy introspective take on rock & roll, made all the more interesting due to Sweeny’s cool, finger-picking guitar work…
At this point, I attempted to navigate the insane merch situation. Maybe it’s the fact shows are back, but the merch situation at two of the three shows I’ve attended the last two weeks, was, how should I say this…?
Fucked. Up. At Sleep, and Testament (I saw the Bay Strikes Back tour with Testament, Exodus and Death Angel, good, old-school American thrash metal three nights before Sleep) the merch line stretched, wrapped and lopped around several points. As well, there was one person working merch at both shows. Holy Fuck. I gave up at Testament, but at Sleep I was determined to get the only-of-course-420-pressed limited, tour LP Sleep New York 2018 no matter what. The problem was, the line was moving at a glacial pace, and after waiting for about twenty-five minutes, while bull shitting with the others in line, we heard some crackling, some tuning perhaps, and I said ‘fuck this’ as there was no way I was missing Sleep, not even a note, again. We left our place in line and maneuvered through the packed crowd to Matt Pike’s side of the stage. I wanted to be in front of the riff lord.
Suddenly, there they were. No intro, none of the fuzzy, NASA transmissions I’d heard about, they just walked out, nodded, and Al Cisneros said ‘Happy 420’ as they blasted, literally, into Holy Mountain. It was like being hit with a wall of sound. First of all, and I’m no guitar player, or gear guy, but I instantly noticed that Pike had a new rig. He wasn’t rocking his usual Orange setup that I’ve seen on online live videos, he had Soldanoheads, and ‘Electric’ cabinets as well as one labeled ‘Emperor’. Again, I’m no gear guy, but I’m attempting to be descriptive. I did instantly note his new, white, Gibson SG. Pike wasn’t wielding his usual Les Paul, so it was a trip seeing him with a new axe. Cisneros and Roeder completely killed it as the rhythm section. I mean killed Holy Mountain. Roeder does more with a smaller kit than most metal drummers do with their epic set-ups. Roeder controlled the groove and tempo all night, as did Cisneros, who was literally mesmerizing to watch live.
No intro, none of the fuzzy, NASA transmissions I’d heard about, they just walked out, nodded, and Al Cisneros said ‘Happy 420’ as they blasted, literally, into Holy Mountain…
They flowed right into both Marijuanaut’s Theme and Sonic Titan off The Sciences. It seemed like Pike was having some issues with his pedalboard, or his heads, as he seemed to be gesturing to the side of the stage a few times. It didn’t make one lick of difference from our perspective as he sounded fucking massive, and if there were issues, I certainly didn’t hear them. His spider-finger-like, frenzied solo at the end of Sonic Titan, coming out of Cisneros’s trippy mid-song-groove, and Pike’s own massive riff at the end were mind blowing live. Again, Roeder really did a killer job holding that groove down, bashing away with power and nuance, while flowing with Cisneros, all the while Pike did what Pike does.
Next up was the colossal Leagues Beneath, as Roder’s fills rolls, and cymbal crashes initiated a trance-like affect live while dancing with Cisneros newly-donned, signature, custom, double-neck Rickenbacker. Sleep rolled through, Leagues Beneath at a mountain-moving pace, before Pike disappeared towards the side of the stage, behind his rig, as Cisneros and Roeder grooved on. Pike them re-emerged with another new axe, this time a white Les Paul, white Gibson’sseem to be the guitar theme this run and proceeded to unleash one of the grimiest tones I’ve ever heard from him as the thundering, opening riffs of Dopesmoker rattled the El Rey crowd to its core. Sleep played a few bars of Dopesmoker as I thought they might, it was 4/20 after all, before weaving backing into Leagues Beneath at least that’s how my 4/20 addled brain remembers it, as I did attempt to take ‘notes’. They then moved through a crushing rendition of The Clarity before flowing into The Botanist.
Roeder really did a killer job holding that groove down, bashing away with power and nuance, while flowing with Cisneros, all the while Pike did what Pike does…
By this point, my wife and I had moved away from the front of the stage and towards the back bar, so we could try to get some good pictures and grab a drink as we were both parched. Soon the lights went red, and the unmistakable, iconic-stoner-anthem riff of Dragonaut leveled the crowd. We watched about 50% of the song, before my wife suggested another go at the merch booth, as this was undoubtedly Sleep’s set closer.
Feeling satisfied I’d finally witnessed Sleep I again went after the Sleep New York 2018. This time, the line was substantially shorter and was moving along at a brisker pace. I could seeSleep New York 2018 on the table, I was feeling confident I’d soon have a copy, but knew I wasn’t out of the woods yet. Sure as shit, once Sleep was finished an avalanche of people came pouring into the merch area. The once smooth-moving line seemed to deteriorate, and at this point, I was getting annoyed. Additionally, my wife was getting tired, as she had an early morning ahead of her, to say nothing of our kids home with the sitter. Fuck it. Time to go. I left, walking by Sleep New York 2018 at the corner of the merch booth, and into the warm spring, Albuquerque evening., resigned to the fact I’d be paying third-party prices for that album in the very near future.
Sleep were as good as I’d heard they’d be and as good as I imagined them to be…
It’s easy to say ‘that was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to’ but it most certainly was. It’s been a ROUGH few years for all of us, and the fact I’ve been able to get out, finally, and see some shows, experiencing the life-affirming power of live music, has been amazing. The fact I FINALLY got to experience Sleep live, on 4/20, in my hometown, with my wife at my side, makes this easily one of the best shows I’ve ever experienced. True riff-hypnosis and Sleep were as good as I’d heard they’d be and as good as I imagined them to be. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to characterize it as a transcendent evening, and I’ll most certainly be reminiscing about it for the foreseeable future.
Scribed by: Martin Williams
