Goat | Live Review & Photoset

Photos (c) Patti Aberhart

Are Goat are all the things they claim to be? Tonight they showcase such an intense aesthetic and sound that you’d struggle to doubt it.

Stepping into Circomedia for Goat’s return brings both excitement and curiosity. The crowd are handed masks along with paisley gowns and promptly told to shuffle into the expansive hall. We’re here for the Red Bull Music Academy Tour, the month-long programme which has also seen Danny Brown perform in a mansion and Lonnie Liston Smith take over Bristol’s planetarium… of course.

It feels like we’re being initiated into some kind of clan as everyone lingers around, waiting for the Swedish troupe to arrive — there’s even an imperative sign adorning the wall saying simply ‘surrender yourself’, which could allude to anything. It admittedly seems like an odd partnership for the enigmatic band to partner with a big name energy drink, considering their famed artistic isolation, but luckily for us it really is happening.

They arrive as expected in elaborate outfits and are fully obscured behind masks. Goat’s music is very much about a sense of community and inclusiveness, everyone is the same here and nobody is an outsider. The band open with ‘Talk To God’ and the mob moves in unison. Projections behind the animated figures on-stage only add to the surreal nature of the whole thing.

It really is a spectacle, as they roll flawlessly through material from both albums. The venue is a beautifully clad setting for their world-wary jams — songs that have become renowned for throwing convention to the wind. Allegedly from a small town that practiced voodoo worship, no-one can be sure as to the whole truth behind this group - but anybody can be dead certain on the intelligence and passion behind their music. Highlights on the setlist include ‘Run To Your Mama’ and ‘Goatman’.

The Red Bull Music Academy have done a sterling job with this show; they’ve absolutely nailed it, opening a vast number of peoples eyes to a new space in Bristol along the way. They’re welcome back with open arms anytime. And are Goat are all the things they claim to be? Tonight they showcase such an intense aesthetic and sound that you’d struggle to doubt it.

Watch Goat’s ‘Hide From The Sun’ here: