Cloud Cult Acoustic
The Southern Theater
12/7/2013
I could feel energy from the ends of the hairs on my head to the tips of my toes. In the stripped down acoustic setting, Craig Minowa was angelically sincere on a spiritual level (as he is at every live show) and a personal level. The old age of the Southern Theater brought an incredible charm and sense of history but also some inconvenient temperature shifts, forcing the musicians to tune and retune compulsively. Not a soul in the audience could be bothered by this.
The imperfections brought more life and humanness to the music. Perfectly tuned, clear, and steady music comes from computers, plastic and metal, electrical signals sent at a calculated rate. As an engineer I can appreciate the artfulness of this, but that night music came from trees, from hair, from warm breath, and from human hands.
Classic Cloud Cult songs were reinvented around the Minowa Christmas tree at their home in Wisconsin. Many fan favorites were given fresh tempos, creative intros, and unexpected transitions with the intention of engulfing listeners in a truly new experience with known songs. A show like this could easily become a tradition. (Hey, Mason Jennings and Doomtree have them!) The only thing that could have made the night better: to come home and already be able to listen to the live cd.
