words by Patty Riek
photos by Jon Bauer
Cigarettes After Sex played to a full Oakland Arena on October 5, 2024 as the Bay Area stop on their X’s tour.
Opening with the titular track, Greg Gonzalez floated on stage wearing sunglasses into the arms of an adoring crowd. With Randall Miller on the slow, steady, bass and Jacob Tomsky’s gentle, heartbeat drums, Cigarettes After Sex followed up with “Pistol,” “You’re All I Want” and worked through their 18 song set including “Dark Vacay” and “Dreams from Bunker Hill” off the new album and all of the favorites from previous albums.
Cigarettes After Sex is sultry boudoir music that is not usually associated with a big arena show. The effective use of lights, screens, and fog made the Oakland Arena feel intimate. The dusky ambiance was created using only white light, often diffused, evoking a smoky room . Conical beams of light, sometimes three, sometimes many, gradually layered directed the audience gaze. Another key component of the light show was the fan cell phone lights. As soon as hearing the opening cords of “John Wayne” filled the arena, thousands of cell phone lights made it feel like a candle lit living room with 19000 of your closest friends.
Two square screens flanked a rectangular screen – often depicting each band member individually. The center screen used angles to show different aspects of Gonzlaez’s movements creating a three dimensional effect. The ever present fog interacted with the lighting to create shadowy effects. Sometimes the backdrop of the stage seemed to disappear and the band floated in space. At times, the light and fog evoked a British heath.
Throughout the night, the audience crooned along with Gonzalez. This fan base knows all of the songs – even though a lot of the people there were just wee babes when Cigarettes After Sex formed in 2008. A few twists of life allowed for the intersection of a moody slowcore band and fan base in their 20s. Cigarettes After Sex released Cry in October of 2019. In March 2020 the pandemic kept a generation of young people away from many of their peers. At its core, Cigarettes After Sex is about longing for romantic connection despite fraught relationships. Coming of age during a time when connecting on a deep personal level was hard explains why lyrics like “He’s got so much in his heart/But he doesn’t know what to do/All he wants is her/Lying inside his room” from “John Wayne” resonate. The open vulnerability of both Gonzalez’s silky voice and seductive lyrics speak to a deep, universal desire: “Tell me it’s love, tell me it’s real/Touch me with a kiss, feel me on your lips/Because this is where I want to be/Where it’s so sweet and heavenly” (“Heavenly”).
Juxtaposed with deep desire is the murky reality that romantic relationships are fraught because sometimes, “My heart just can’t be faithful for long” (“Cry”). Or, if you aren’t the perfidious one, your partner breaks your heart: “When we were lyin’ in my bed that night/You were acting like a different person/As if, suddenly, you wanted to just be friends (“Touch”). Or maybe we are all just unrealistic when looking for love to complete us because “Each time [we] fall in love/It’s clearly not enough.”
Saving the best effect for the most iconic Cigarettes After Sex song, a disco ball descended during “Apocalypse,” creating a starry night effect. We all want to capture the feeling: “Your lips, my lips/Apocalypse” knowing that “When you’re all alone/I’ll reach for you.”
“Opera House” closed out the magical evening as Gonzalez gently passed out guitar picks to the lucky few. A woman in front of me raised her hand and whispered wistfully, “I want one.” Encapsulating the appeal of Cigarettes After Sex— many of us are searching for love and connection amid conflicting desires and longings.
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