For the second year in a row, the masters of the odd...the bringers of truly musical weirdness...The Residents...have returned to San Francisco for a halloween stint at the Fillmore. In support of their first new album since 1991's Freak Show, Wormwood: A collection of Curious Bible Stories, the Residents presented San Francisco with An Evening of Bloody Bible Stories. As the starlit covered curtains of the Fillmore parted and the Residents struck up their first noted it was clear we were in for a great surprise. Not having had a chance to hear any of Wormwood to date I was even more anxious to see the show. What I was greeted with was one of the finest works the Resident's have done since Cube-E. Musically, the compositions were much more dynamic and varied than any of those that had been produced for some of the other media and performances such as Freak Show or Disfigured Night. Although the subject matter was sordid and twisted the individual pieces had their own unique voice and variety. This performance also involved one of the larger casts I have seen in the creation of a Resident's performance since possibly the Cube-E shows.
Their first set had already delivered some of the finer puppetry, musical performances, and costumes in years. The costuming was of the day-glo and black body suit variety(what has become almost typical for the Residents now), however the interaction with props as in How to Get a Head (the story of Salome) was well choreographed and extremely tasteful.
After a short break the Residents returned to the stage for a second set. Damn if I didn't manage to count at least 17 performers on stage as we were presented with a flawless and haunting Residents gamelan ensemble. This was a completely unexpected surprise. It was even remarkable just to watch the ensemble depart the stage after they had accompanied the core Resident's for several songs. This was a brilliant return to the stage and set the audience up for the even stranger tales that they now had in store for us.
A major highlight of their performance was their finale Judas Saves. It took a somewhat unusual spin on the story of Judas turning Christ over to the Roman's by simply pointing out to the audience that Mankind would not have been saved from their sins if Judas had not engaged in this act of betrayal. With the Hallelujah Chorus blaring and the dark undertones of the Residents droning beneath as rising, arms outstretched, backlit and triumphant Judas, the Residents had somehow recreated the strange mystery and eerie spellbinding quality that surrounded their finale of the Black Barry portion of their Cube-E shows.
In this years Halloween performance, the Residents had managed to reawaken many of the Sunday school tales of Cain and Abel, Lot, Ezekial, Jael, and many many more only with an extra artistic and cynical spin - just as it should be. Their presentation also managed not to be a defamation or slam of the Bible at all but, as they had intended, managed to remind the audience that the Bible is alot more than sweetness and light and goodness. As a matter of fact it managed to remind us that the Bible had some downright sick and twisted stories, and as Mr Skull pointed out midway through the show "(It) is probably what kept these myths and mumbo jumbo so popular for so many years".
The curtains closed, the crowd roared and clapped, and the Rez's returned for an encore which included none other than a fine two-Rez singer rendition of Walter Westinghouse. Whew! All I can say is that I certainly hope that the Resident's Halloween shows at the Fillmore are going to become a tradition, and if so, I certainly can't wait for next year.