Something was rotten outside of the Vic Theatre on this blustery October evening. I mean that literally; something -- or someone, perhaps -- really, really smelled bad! It was all I could do not to regurgitate the flaming cheese and Northshore potatoes I had scarfed down mere minutes earlier. That, coupled with the hordes of drunken frat boys parading around in their makeshift Halloween costumes, was enough to make any reasonable soul duck into the spacious Vic for cover.

After absorbing several minutes of gratuitous verbal abuse from the rather overzealous security guard who seemed to believe that my camera was a bomb, I made out way inside to catch Euphone, who had just taken the stage.

Euphone, it has to be said, rocked a honey badger’s ass. Over the course of their 30-or-so minute set, they unleashed a torrent of primal rock n' roll and demonic grooves. Drummer and band leader Ryan Rapsys led the group through a series of intense and shifting rhythmic workouts; these mostly showcased tracks from their soon-to-be-released new album Hashin’ It Out, but occasionally rolled out a choice cut culled from their outstanding debut, The Calendar of Unlucky Days. Euphone's potent brew of groovalicious post-rock was even good enough to get the usually stuffy SDRE crowd bouncing in place.

Euphone departed from the stage to rapturous applause, and the enthusiastic crowd settled down to wait for Sunny Day Real Estate, now just a set change away.

Then the lights went out. Touring bassist Nick Macri and additional guitarist/pianist Greg Ciran, wearing festive masks, wandered onstage and began picking and plunking out the intro to "Pheurton Skeurto". William, Dan and Jeremy, also decked out in masks for Halloween, made their way to the stage to complete the lineup as well as the song. After "Pheurton…", the band launched into a ferocious version of "One", followed directly by a blood red reading of "Killed by an Angel". Then, in keeping with the heavenly theme, they delivered an impassioned-yet-thunderous "Song About an Angel", which sent the capacity crowd into absolute rapture. A gorgeous version of my favorite song, "8", followed. The band was bathed in red light as they sent the song soaring towards its sky-melting crescendo. It was breathtaking. With this, SDRE really hit their stride, rolling out perfect renditions of "100 Million", "The Ocean" and "Every Shining Time You Arrive". Stunning versions of Diary faves "48" and "In Circles", as well as a demonic reading of "J’Nuh", rounded out the regular set. But the best was yet to come.

After taking a short breather, Enigk et al returned to the stage and dove into a sublime version of "The Prophet", with Jeremy doing his best Jon Anderson impersonation during the song’s hectic and rather incoherent finale. Then they played "Seven". I'd waited years to actually see them play it, and there they were, right in front of me, thrashing their way through it. It was almost enough to make me start sobbing like a little girl. I said almost.

SDRE ended the evening with a delicate rendering of "The Rising Tide", which went on for the better part of 10 minutes before finally fading out in a sea of cacophonous feedback and glowing keyboard drones.

Even with the memory of the band playing "Seven" still fresh in my mind I shuddered at the prospect of having to navigate my way through the packs of even-more-drunken frat boys and horrid smells to catch the train home. But at least this time I had the memory of the music to keep me sane.

Article and photos by Jason Jackowiak.