The Garden Go Apeshit On Night Two Of Observatory’s Anniversary Shows

The Garden and Andre Nickatina
The Observatory
3/8/2016

The Garden and Andre Nickatina packed the Observatory last night for the second day of the week long festival celebrating the 5 year anniversary of Burger Records putting on shows at The Observatory.

The venue quickly filled up as the night was opened up by Go!zilla, a trio of shaggy power pop dudes with a heavy penchant for fuzz pedals. Next was LA Witch, a female compliment to the night’s openers in the form of 3 long haired rock clad chicks playing mellow stoner rock.

Jessie Jones was up next, and took the show in a slightly different direction. Opting to go sans guitar, they have two synth players and drums, playing catchy yet almost tranquil upbeat tunes somewhere in between trip hop and psychedelic while Jessie makes her way around the stage channeling Brooks Nielson and intermittently filling in the sonic space with yet a third synthesizer.

Next, Levitation Room took the stage and transported the dance floor to the late 60s via a 13th floor elevator. They were the embodiment of Psychedlic Rock throw back, with extended reverb laden guitar leads, simple bass grooves, and a lot of floral print shirts. This seamlessly transitioned into the next band, Dead Meadow, who was a throwback to the same era, but on a different side of the spectrum. A projector cast an image of a liquid light show over the band as they trudged through heavy psychedelic riffs akin to a mixture of Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath.


No transition necessary for the night’s co-headliner Andre Nickatina, whom at least half of the crowd had shown up for, yet everyone in the audience moved and rapped along with him to his pre-recorded tracks. In between most of his songs he prompted his congregation to “put their hands up” for Mac Dre in reverence.

It was after midnight when the main event The Garden took the stage, but it seemed that the floor was just as packed as it had been all night. Singer/bassist Wyatt thanked the audience for “sticking around” right before they ripped into their first song, “Crystal Clear” which immediately had the anxious fans galvanized in the pit of the dance floor. The stage was donned with blown up cardboard images of playing cards, the band’s current visual aesthetic to go with the release of their new full length ‘Haha’.

Drummer Fletcher jumped over his drums and into the crowd as they began their pre recorded song “Darkness.” The brothers danced and somersaulted around the stage while their loyal fans cheered along to the lyrics. Fletcher assumed his position back behind the drums and they tore their way through the second half of their set.

To get tickets for the BurgerxObservatory 5 year anniversary festival, go to the Observatory website.

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