On Saturday night, I had the great pleasure of seeing Skinny Puppy live for the third time. The short version is that the show was fucking awesome, easily the best I’ve seen in the past few years. If you like Skinny Puppy at all and they’re coming anywhere near you, go to the show. You won’t regret it.

As for the longer version: I showed up at the venue at probably about 5:30, with my latest pair of glasses (which are still not quite right). There were maybe 15 - 20 people in line, and it was a surreal experience waiting to see Skinny Puppy in the middle of Times Square. Big tourist families kept walking by in “All American Grandma” and “These Colors Don’t Run” t-shirts and either looking at us disapprovingly or asking what we were waiting for. We were let in at exactly 7pm, and I had enough time to hit the merch booth, the bathroom, and the bar before claiming a spot up against the barricade. I was over on the right but had an unobstructed view of the whole stage, which was awesome.

I’ve seen one or two other shows at Nokia Theatre and while I hate Times Square, I like that the venue understands they make money if they let people stand around and drink. There are bars everywhere, the hallways are huge with benches and tables scattered around, and there’s nobody shooing you out immediately after a show is over. I found some friends and acquaintances and settled in for the wait, as it happened standing near some people I met in line for one of the 2004 shows.

Otto went on at 8:30 and was even more Otto than last tour, if that makes any sense. I liked his set but was very glad I’d brought earplugs, since I was directly in front of a speaker. Sightings didn’t go over well with the crowd and were heckled pretty badly by a couple of people.

Skinny Puppy went on at about 10 or 10:15 and I loved every second of it. Highlights for me were Ugli (which was even more compelling live), Rodent, Amnesia, Testure, and Far Too Frail. I had a better view of Justin and Cevin than I did at either show I saw in 2004, and both were really kicking ass. Ogre seemed to really be enjoying himself, which was great, and the crowd loved it. One of the better crowds I’ve been in, too - lots of movement and energy, but no assholes distracting me from the show itself. Even one loud girl who’d been having a high-volume conversation with her boyfriend during the two openers shut up during Puppy, except to scream her head off from time to time (as we all did). I think security only pulled one person out of the crowd, during the second encore.

Anyway, the whole night was just about as good as it could be. At Webster Hall in 2004 the experience was slightly marred by the shitty sound at that venue, the asshole security people, and a crowd with a high density of dickheads, but this show had none of that. And oh yeah, that’s a signed copy of Back & Forth 7. It’s ok if you hate me a little bit.