Boredoms' Psychedelic Ritual at HangarBicocca Precedes Terraforma Festival

The legendary Japanese noise band Boredoms performed a hypnotic, ritualistic concert at HangarBicocca in Milan on an unspecified date in 2016, as a preview for the Terraforma festival. The stage was set within Anselm Kiefer's permanent installation "I Sette Palazzi Celesti," creating an atmosphere of post-apocalyptic ruins. Leader Yamantaka Eye explained that the performance centered on the relationship between touch and sound, using a custom instrument called VIB-RA, built with Taeji Sawai and Kanta Horio, consisting of two reverberating boxes with sensors that modify sound through hand movements. The band also employed a metal hexagon played with drumsticks as the opening. The concert marked a departure from the band's earlier abrasive punk and noise performances, moving toward a more meditative, psychedelic, and percussive direction. Eye described the experience as an attempt to recover a primordial listening experience, exploring sonic vibration and ritual dimension. The Boredoms, formed in 1986, have evolved from controversial Hanatarash performances to a spiritual, cosmic noise practice, with key albums including Super Ae and Vision Creation Newsun. Their trajectory from punk to mysticism, influenced by John Zorn, Sonic Youth, and Nirvana, is characterized by concepts of freedom and liberation. The Terraforma festival, held at Villa Arconati in Bollate from July 1-3, 2016, combines experimental music with environmental sustainability.