Favorite Live Bands - Boris

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Years ago, right here, I did a series detailing my 10 favorite live bands. It was a fairly diverse list; Earth, Wind & Fire made the cut, as did the Butthole Surfers. But there’s one band that didn’t make the list, simply because I hadn’t yet seen them live. Now that I’ve seen them 4 times, I can definitely say that they are on the list. I’m talking about Boris. Taking their name from the Melvins song, “Boris,” Boris is a heavy rock trio from Tokyo. Known by their first names only, Wata (lead guitar/keyboards, vocals) Takeshi (bass/guitar, vocals,) and Atsuo (drums/percussion, vocals) have been at it since 1992 and have released over 20 studio albums alongside numerous EP’s, live albums, and collaborations. A very prolific group, Boris. I say “heavy rock” because that’s kind of how they describe themselves, but Boris plays a mix of heavy rock, doomy stoner sludge, drone, psychedelia, shoegaze, dream pop, acid rock, etc, etc, etc. Basically, they are a great stoner band. And very loud, live. Which is fun. Most recently, I saw them back in November 2025. And of the four times, it was the best Boris show I’ve yet seen, simply because they performed their 2005 album, Pink (their 9th studio effort,) in its entirety. Nonstop great song after great song, it was an absolute blast, from the speedy title track to the album’s closer and magnum opus, “Just Abandoned Myself” (my favorite Boris tune, although they did the shortened 5-ish minute version rather than the killer 18-minute version that ends my vinyl copy.) What made my night, however, was the encore, where they played the first 28-minutes of their 48-minute song, “Feedbacker” (another favorite, and since I hadn’t seen them do it live, I left a happy show-goer.) Wata is one of my favorite guitarists, she’s a rockstar on the guitar, yet stays away from the standard, cliche guitarist antics. She just plays, leaving the pure showmanship to Takeshi and Atsuo (a natural frontman, even from behind the drumset.) Live, they are incredible, and I’m already looking forward to their next Denver visit (they have just announced a UK tour, still doing Pink, but they tour a lot and should be back later in the year.) The video for “Pink” below. From the show I was at (The Gothic Theater in Denver.) In fact, whoever shot this was standing just a couple feet from me, so you get my vantage point as well!