NORWAY’S SHINING PREMIERE A NEW SONG AT SXSW (WITH VIDEO FOOTAGE!)

Norway’s Shining were the unequivocal highlight of Thursday’s SXSW action. So it didn’t end up being their first-ever U.S. show as I’d previously thought — Mr. Adrien Begrand corrected me via Twitter (apparently they played in 2008) — but the excitement in the room was bubbling up out of every corner nonetheless, as most if not all the Americans in the room had never seen them before. They took a long while to soundcheck and made a couple of U.S. Rookie mistakes (trying to get the audience to clap along over our heads — lol!), but the mix was crisp, clear and LOUD from the very first note and the performance was completely perfect. So tight, so much energy, saxamaphone and HOLY FUCK SO GOOD!!! Easily the best band I’ve seen down here so far, and we’ve seen some awesome bands: all the bands at South by South Death, Primitive Weapons, Pilgrim, etc (more on that next week). They’re gonna be tough to beat.

Amidst all the blackjazzy goodness Shining squeezed in a new song, and hey, guess who filmed it? Based on a brief and lazy YouTube search it seems as if this is the first time they’ve played it live ever, so here ya go, a [maybe] MetalSucks world exclusive:

-VN