As an exclusive concert, Neurosis teamed up with ex-Swans singer Jarboe (whom they worked with on their 2003 album "Neurosis & Jarboe") on July 21st to play songs from that album live for the first time ever and also to debut the material from their new album, "The Eye Of Every Storm". Seeing as this was Neurosis' first ever concert with Jarboe, and there would be no opening acts, and further Ð it was a debut performance for the band's new material as well Ð I was quite eager to catch the show. After the drive up to San Francisco, I waited outside the music hall for a couple of hours, and fortunately it paid off with an excellent spot in line, and thus an excellent spot in the crowd Ð I was literally leaning on the monitors and the edge of the stage Ð for the entire show. I was directly in front of the microphone of the one of the band's singers, Scott Kelly. The venue was fairly crowded, but it was a relatively small hall. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed, so I was unable to capture any pictures of the performance.

After about an hour and a half of waiting inside the hall, the lights finally dimmed and Neurosis took the stage. There was a strange atmosphere in the hall, and the fans were very respectful and silent. A soft violin melody began to loop on the loudspeakers as the band entered the stage and did the final setup. No one said a word; no one introduced themselves or the performance. The band opened their set with a new song: "Left To Wander". Many fans had already purchased the new album and were enthusiastic about the song, but there were still quite a few who were unfamiliar with the new material and were not as energetic. However, when the second song started, "The Last You'll Know", from the well-known album "Times Of Grace", more fans began moving around and the energy seemed to pick up. There seemed to be a fairly even mixture of the straight-up headbangers and the more experimental-scene type fans, though it was the headbangers who brought up the energy of the show.

Neurosis continued with a few more songs, mixing in ones from the new album with songs from their album "A Sun That Never Sets". All the while, there were abstract moving images being displayed on a circular projector screen behind the band. The visuals were similar to those on the "A Sun That Never Sets" DVD, though they were more varied to match the moods and ambience of the different songs. After a few more songs, which were played extremely well, the band began to ease down somewhat. The equipment was toyed with here and there, and all the while Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till were messing with feedback from their guitars. Noah Landis was constantly setting up bizarre-sounding electronic and keyboard loops as transitions between songs, and this gave the show a very smooth feeling. Of course, none of the band members said a word to the audience. The mood that was created was very enthralling, yet it was still very energetic and there was a lot of moving going on in the crowd Ð though thankfully no moshpits.

After the band performed "A Season In The Sky" from their new CD, they paused while Jarboe entered the stage. She had a very strange and hypnotic presence, and it was mostly quiet while she knelt down on the stage to pray before singing. She wore a long black dress that was partly transparent (you could see strange words and designs written in sharpie all over her legs and arms), and her hair was dyed black. She was very somber looking throughout the whole ordeal. Of course, the band started off the combined set by playing the opening track of "Neurosis & Jarboe", called "Within". Unfortunately, Jarboe's microphone was at first turned quite too low, and it was very hard to hear her eerie, southern-accented chanting of the lyrics "I tell ya, if god wants to take me, he willÉ" over the music. After finishing the first section of the song, she began panting heavily into the microphone and going into severe abdominal convulsions on stage. The entire spectacle was entirely entrancing, and I'm sure many of the metalheads who came for the heavier Neurosis songs were unsure of what to think of Jarboe. After "Within", they continued with the songs "His Last Words", "Receive", and "In Harm's Way". Jarboe seemed truly focused on her singing the whole time; all the while she stared off into the ceiling somewhere.

On the song "His Last Words", she took on a different presence altogether. She seemed full of disgust and hatred, and was taking out this hatred through her singing. The song was written by Jarboe about her dying father, and his state of severe mental decay Ð and about her hatred for drug users and how they remind her of the vacant stare of her father as he was dying. That considered, Jarboe conveyed live exactly what this song was meant to convey. It seemed as though she could not contain her rage when she began screaming her father's last words, "Burning, burning", in a manner that rivaled even Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy. It was unbelievable to see her performing this song, and it was definitely one of the high points of the night. More "Neurosis & Jarboe" songs followed, and they were accompanied by interesting visuals to involve the crowd even more. The Jarboe set was finished by a performance of the Patti Smith song "Easter" (which was a surprise to everyone). Jarboe had altered some of the lyrics to the song and added her own, and a tall black man (who I believe was the singer of the experimental rock band Oxbow) even came on stage toward the end of the song. He had some poetic lyrics written in white letters all over his back, and he began to remove all of his clothes while kissing Jarboe on the neck. He soon turned around so that Jarboe could read the words on his back, and he began making pelvic thrusts and started screaming and flexing his muscles. At this point, I was sure that about half of the audience really didn't know what was going on, but no one broke the atmosphere. No one could break the atmosphere Ð it was all strangely hypnotizing, and the fans were drawn into the performance quite well.

When Jarboe left the stage, there was a fair amount of cheering for her, but many fans seemed to be waiting for more straight ahead Neurosis-only songs. These fans got what they wanted when the band kicked back in with one of the highlights of the show: "From The Hill", off of "A Sun That Never Sets". The song was amazingly powerful, energetic, and inspiring. After that, the band played the title track from the new album, which was slightly more ambient and melodic than "From The Hill". They closed the set with classics "Locust Star" and "Stones From The Sky". Of course, the fans went nuts for "Locust Star"; everyone was moshing and headbanging like crazy. The atmosphere in "Stones From The Sky" was pretty intense as well, as everyone could tell it would be the final song. The whole show had a strange energy to it that I'm sure is unique to Neurosis. All of the songs were much more "alive" feeling than on the recordings, and they were all much more powerful and wrenching. The only complaint that I have is that the vocals were often turned much too low for the music, but this varied from song to song. Overall, I was very glad to have witnessed this unique performance with Neurosis and Jarboe both, together.

The official setlist of the performance was:

1. Left To Wander
2. The Last You'll Know
3. A Sun That Never Sets
4. Burn
5. A Season In The Sky
6. Within
7. His Last Words
8. Receive
9. In Harm's Way
10. Easter [Patti Smith cover]
11. From The Hill
12. The Eye Of Every Storm
13. Locust Star
14. Stones From The Sky