Gay Witch Abortion go rolling on the river

The Gay Witch Abortion performance on Friday evening was something that needed be seen in order to be believed. It's like the old journalism adage: if a band says they are going to float down the river in a raft, you had better go check it out. Sure enough, the band loaded their equipment onto a free floating raft and were towed several hundred feet upstream while a crowd gathered behind the Sample Room in Northeast Minneapolis. As night fell on the curious crowd, the sound of a guitar ripped across the water and signaled the start of the show. The boat that had towed Gay Witch Abortion's raft pulled away and left the band on its own, and they slowly drifted toward the audience as they churned through a complex, syncopated guitar and drum riff. With a name like Gay Witch Abortion, one might think the band is prone to exaggerated shticks, but Friday night's performance was far more significant than a cheap publicity stunt. For one thing, it was freezing cold down by the river and the band could have easily tipped into the water at any moment; and for another, the show proved to be an incredible experience for everyone involved, with the band's sound traveling clearly across the water and providing a disorienting, mesmerizing spectacle that those in attendance felt lucky to witness.

The band threw an anchor into the water once the raft had gotten in front of the audience, and played a handful of songs before pulling up the rope and letting themselves get carried away by the quickening current. As the waves pushed them away, the duo continued to play as if they were unaffected by the water, the wind, or the fact that they were playing on a shaky little raft in the middle of the mighty Mississippi -- just another indication that Gay Witch Abortion are a tried and true rock band who have an uncanny ability to perform under literally any circumstance.

Click here for the full slideshow from Friday night's performance by Steve Cohen, including shots of Knife World, who followed up with their own set on the rooftop of a docked houseboat.