Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s North Panhandle, The Independent is an unassuming venue hosting some of the biggest artists in today’s music scene. As I made myself comfy near the front of the intimate, dimly-lit space’s stage, I leaned back to scope the crowd coming to see tonight’s headliner, Squid. The audience was quite diverse in age, ranging from small kids giddily running around to older folks nodding their heads to the music.
FearDorian, the opener, shook the stage early on with bass-heavy cloud rap beats and mopey, contemplative lyrics. His energy set the mood incredibly well for the main artist, as he generated a great amount of hype with his jolting beats and showmanship.
As Squid came on stage after FearDorian’s opening set, the vibe shifted suddenly from electric to eerily calm. Taking their places, they began creating a consistently evolving soundscape in the form of “Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)”, broken occasionally by the drummer Ollie Judge’s chops and spoken lyrics. Known for their richly-composed, complex art-punk music with touches of surreal ambience and satire, the band is no stranger to keeping the audience on their toes. With songs like “Narrator” and “Devil’s Den”, Squid hits you in the face with invigorating vocal deliveries and odd, catchy ostinato riffs. The next few songs, “Crispy Skin”, “Building 650”, and “Swing (in a Dream)”, were incredibly fast-paced yet cohesive. With backing vocals from guitarists Anton Pearson and Louis Borlase and an utterly throbbing bass, the band’s harsh delivery shook me right to my core so much that even my jeans started trembling.
The energy kept on rolling as Squid brought out old hits from their previous albums along with the new “Cro-Magnon Man”. Ollie screamed his lungs out on every song, and the crowd was equally just as hoarse from chanting the lyrics back while dancing along. Before taking a small break, the band decided to tone it down a bit with calmer songs like “Cowards” and “The Blades”, both quite rhythmically complex to play and rich in texture. “The Blades” was particularly outstanding, with the sheer amount of layering the band made with the atypical time signatures and syncopated guitar riffs. They kept mostly faithful to the studio version, albeit with some more lengthy, immersive jamming (I don’t blame them, honestly—it’s nice to be self-indulgent once in a while).
As soon as the band went backstage for water and a breather, the audience immediately began pushing for an encore. Bringing back a plush squid (which Ollie endearingly named “Squid”), the band started the new mini-set with their latest single, “The Hearth and Circle Round Fire”. After another small jam session, Squid ended the gig with a blast with the fan-favorite “Narrator”, in which the energy both onstage and on the dance floor became truly electric.
Squid truly does not disappoint when it comes to live music—the show at The Independent was no exception to their amazing quality and musical prowess.
Review by Kat Leong
