Crossing the Bridge – Live in Boulder

This concert is an opening of a portal. It was inspired by cosmic metal band Blood Incantation’s invitation to cross the bridge of genre limitations and unleash our sonic passions together on the same stage for the premiere of their stunning “Absolute Elsewhere” album; it was an opportunity to present my live music to a new audience. The set was built from the elements of my 2024 US tour that presents the full range of my music over 2 hours. Mystical deep ambient – atmospheric to multilayered sequencer woven trance merging to tribal and acoustic infused Dreamtime realms. In this setting I took this 2 hour trajectory I have been performing in large Cathedrals and Churches and compressed this into a 60 min hyperblending of constant shapeshifting.

The moment I walked out on stage, I could feel the energy unleashing on all levels. An emotional sense of crossing into a hyper present state of focus – the place I love so much about the live experience. As the set unfolded, the response of the audience became fuel for the moment. It’s all here on this live recording like no other in my catalog as we cross the bridgetogether.

DECIBEL magazine
Blood Incantation, Steve Roach
Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO
October 4, 2024
by Cosmo Lee
The story goes that Decibel‘s Kevin Stewart-Panko, while slinging merch for Blood Incantation on tour, visits a record store in Arizona. The owner knows the management of Steve Roach. Blood Incantation are big fans of Roach. One thing leads to another, Roach becomes a BI fan, and this poster appears: Roach opening for Blood Incantation playing their album Absolute Elsewhere in the Boulder Theater.
This is beyond perfect. Metal band with mystical leanings befriends their synth spirit animal. Mystical friends play together in a mystical town literally a mile high. One of them is named Roach.
Roach is a giant in new age/ambient music. His discography is a mile long; I own 25 of his albums. I was curious how a 69-year-old with keyboards would come off live. He turned the theater into a cathedral. Serene desert sounds gave way to classic prog synths, then gentle tribal rhythms, then transcendental space. An array of wind and percussion instruments added analog interest. The rousing response afterwards seemed to genuinely surprise him.

Blood Incantation came on as a quintet, adding Nicklas Malmqvist of Swedish prog band Hällas on keys. Two sizable geodes flanked the stage. For all the hoopla about “are they ambient or death metal,” Blood Incantation say yes to both on Absolute Elsewhere. Morris Kolontyrsky’s Gilmourisms in “that Pink Floyd section” took me back to 1994, Rice Stadium, Division Bell tour (third haziest show ever). King Crimson and Tangerine Dream also loomed large.

But Absolute Elsewhere doesn’t skimp on the brutes. I got my bang on. All the spacey stuff only made the metal hit harder. I thought of forebears like Death, Atheist, Morbid Angel, and Nile who dared to reach for something higher. The energy was palpable on the street afterwards – excited chatter, I-can’t-believe-that-happened ecstasy. The crisp Colorado air was indeed elevated.