Classic Rock Radio

The Goastt (Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger) at

 Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon on May 24^th 2014.

To say I was excited to see Sean Lennon and his band The Goastt would be a total understatement and that was the vibe at Mississippi Studios for Goastt’s sold out show on May 24th. Everyone was excited that Sean Lennon was in their town!

 

The show started at 9pm with a band from Canterbury, England called Syd Arthur, made up of four lads Liam Magill/singer, guitar, Joel Magill/bass, Raven Bush/violin, keyboards, mandolin, and Fred Rother/drums. The name of the band is derived from Buddah, Syd Barrett, and Arthur Lee. They did a great job warming up the crowd with a 40 minute set of whimsical, melodic progressive rock wrapped around the psychedelic 60’s.

Goastt hit the stage at about 10:10pm and after the first song, “Too Deep” Sean explained that the name of the band came from a short story his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl wrote as a child. Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Goastt) is Sean Lennon on vocals and guitar, Charlotte Kemp Muhl on bass and vocals, Conner Grant/percussion and there is actually another band within Goastt called Invisible Familiars consisting of Jared Samuel/keyboards, Tim Kuhl/drums, and Robbie ‘Seahag’ Mangano/guitar.

“Xanadu” was the second song on the set, a sexy tune with a kaleidoscope of sound from the funky rhythm, the haunting synthesizer, the shaking of the tambourine, the cries of the wah-wah pedal, and on top is Sean’s mellow voice singing of anarchy. Sean is very relaxed on stage whether he’s performing or talking and the audience enjoyed his jokes and stories between songs. At one point, during one of Sean’s witty stories, Charlotte said, “Can we just play Animals now?” evoking more laughter from the audience.

Goastt not only performed songs from their latest album 'Midnight Sun,' but they included songs from their last two albums 'La Carotte Bleue' and 'Acoustic Sessions.'  Their sound is very unique and grooves around Sean and Charlotte’s harmonized duets. “Animals” is just one example of how their voices compliment eachother and take you on a dark and dreamy trip through lyrics of mystery.

Goastt performed two superb covers. Both are included on the new album ‘Midnight Sun.’ The first song was written in 1947 by Victor Young, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans called, “Golden Earings ,“ and sung by Peggy Lee. The Goastt did an excellent job updating this song with a slow eerie psychedelic rock sound in which Sean delivered a mean guitar solo making me fall powerlessly into the dark heart of the song. The second cover they played was Syd Barrett’s “Long Gone,” and they ended the concert with this stunning performance.

There is no denying the chemistry between Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl.  Together they have created a sound all their own, which proves to be difficult these days, and gave a top shelf performance of brilliant music that sounded as great, if not better, than on their albums.  This was an experience that will stay with me forever!  They are on the last leg of their tour playing in Toronto and Montreal, Canada, then heading to the East Coast to finish with four more shows, catch em' if you can!

Setlist:

Tour Dates:

The Goastt are still adding tour dates so visit their FB page and website for more dates.

The Goastt Website:

http://www.thegoastt.com/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/thegoastt

Sean Lennon Website:

http://seanonolennon.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/seanlennon

Review by:

Jill Maciel

West Coast Correspondent CRRdotEU

All live photos by:

Scott Banning