The avant-garde Oakland-based band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is packing it in. A dozen years into their trailblazing, three final shows have been announced for LA, San Francisco, and San Diego. The final scenes of a live DVD/film are to be filmed at these shows and some new material may be on display, as the group is still recording a new album. For some, this will be the first time such an intense act has been before them, but for everyone, it will be the last. Their unique blend of live theatre and musical mastery has never been achieved and may never see a successor.
Tickets are still available for the Troubadour show (which is all ages and starts at 8 on Friday) but once the significance of the show becomes more clear to the public, expect a sell-out. The band has built a cult following by providing new experiences, from songwriting and lyrical content, to elaborate homemade instruments and integration of everyday objects into a cornucopia of cacophony. To be able to craft a cohesive narrative and obtain harmonic musical composition with so many variables most artists won’t touch is not only impressive, it is stunning. Sure, you may not run out of the venue wanting the lyrics to “The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion” tattooed onto your back, but it may just make you think more about what art is.
Check out ticket prices here (a measly 13 dollars is too frugal to pass up) and don’t forget to sharpen your memory before the show, as this will be the last time you can be shown the light. The show will no doubt be as important to the band as it is to their fans, something you can't always guarantee about live music.
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