On October 30th, 2022, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Marissa Anderson performed at Chelsea’s Live, a new concert venue in Baton Rouge. Both artists performed completely instrumental music which carried a lot of emotion behind them. The opener Marissa Anderson had the crowd in a trance-like state with her beautiful guitar style and her extremely detailed and dark explanations surrounding the songs. She was very well-spoken when she eventually spoke, but most of her set was her melancholy songs played on her electric guitar. The audience fell silent when she started her performance, and when she finished her set she left the audience wanting more. 

Following Marissa Anderson, was the main act, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Throughout the performance not a single word was said, they simply played a set of 7 songs, ranging from their new and old albums, without interruption or introduction. Since Godspeed has such a small following the crowd etiquette was immaculate. The crowd was polite and not too crowded, people stayed to themselves and enjoyed the beautiful music in front of them. The band’s orchestral sound made it hard to concentrate on one thing at once, but that added to the charm of the band. You had to pay attention to every musician individually to hear the overall sound, and when you could finally hear everything at once the experience was heightened. The entire band consisted of 4 guitars, 2 drum kits, a bass, an upright bass, and a violin. The songs were extremely lengthy, coming in at around 10-15 minutes each, but the music would always come full circle in the end. While the band performed as an ensemble, the violinist, Sophie Trudeau, was the most breathtaking. She seamlessly led the band with her phenomenal skill and control of her instrument. While there were no words of explanation spoken throughout their performance, the sheer emotion of the music and visuals they provided with a projector, was enough to catch everyone’s attention and keep their attention.

Overall, this was an amazing band to see live. The energy of the crowd and the remarkable music made the performance all the more incredible. Hearing Godspeed You! Black Emperor on streaming service is amazing, but hearing them live is a breathtaking experience that everyone should see.