1. We were lucky to be first.
Molchat Doma kicked off its U.S. tour like a cold slap to the face. The A-Lot at Area 15 was transformed into a fog-soaked crypt on January 16, and as the first synths droned through the speakers, it was clear this was the real deal—icy, alienating, and hypnotic, just like the headlining band’s ambient sound. The crowd, tightly packed in a sea of black and pleather, soaked it all up as they awaited the Belarusian post-punk rockers. LA’s Sextile opened the gig with biting industrial, surf-punk and darkwave noise. Rather than easing us in, the group relentlessly pried open the night.
2. This language of sorrow can transcend borders.
Frontman Egor Shkutko’s vocals felt like a prophecy, one you might not understand but could definitely feel. Sure, we couldn’t mentally translate every lyric, but the aching was understood. I witnessed half the crowd mumbling along the Russian lyrics as best they could, but who cares? The way this audience moved together, even at times breaking into mosh pits, told us everything I needed to know—this show was more about moving than talking and there's something weirdly sublime about a crowd that can sing in a foreign tongue and still feel like they're part of a secret language only the forsaken understand.
3. “Why are these people so f**king depressed?”
A friend mentioned to me that he’d overheard someone jokingly questioning this bunch’s mental stability. Maybe it was the extended line of black clothed people. Maybe it was the crowd yelping along to Radiohead’s “Creep.” I had to laugh, because yes, I’ll be the first to admit that this flock is more on the melancholic side, but that wouldn’t be an outsider's perspective mid-show, given their inability to quit dancing. It was kind of a sick, twisted release.
4. Things got all fogged up.
Towards the end of the show, the machine-pumped fog got so thick, I half-expected the gig to turn into some kind of cold-wave acid trip. But the crowd wasn’t having it—phones out, TikTok and IG-ready, documenting every strobe-lit moment. But the trio’s sound—a cold, heart-thumping fusion of post-punk, industrial, and synthwave—was so atmospheric it practically turned the venue into a mausoleum, which was more than fitting.
5. Encore: They weren’t done with us yet.
Even as the band exited the stage, we didn’t budge because we knew an encore was coming, especially since Molchat’s most viral song, “Судно (Sudno)” had yet to be played. But what we hadn’t expected was the four-song run-through that sat like an aperitif following an already satisfying meal. It felt like the culmination of everything Molchat Doma had been building since its inception in 2017, and everyone under that tent was grateful to just bear witness to the live sound.
