Sara BricknerThe Besnard Lakes played the Crocodile on May 6For years, I’ve been making the unfortunate mistake of employing the word “shoegaze” as a synonym for soporific. I’m prejudiced. At least, I was until last night, when the Besnard Lakes singlehandedly wiped away any last traces of my irrational dislike of shoegaze with their bombastic, psychedelic performance. The band’s records are equal portions shoegaze and psychedelia (they are currently touring behind their excellent new third album titled The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night), but if you listen to the wrong selection of songs first, it’s easy to get a false first impression and write these guys off as another moody, introspective, somnolent shoegaze band. Which is, unfortunately for me, exactly what I did for the better part of a year. Even though I possess a copy of 2007’s The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, I didn’t listen to it for months until my pal Brian insisted that I should give the band a second chance. That, ladies and gents, is what friends are for, and that is how I found myself breaking a long streak of staying in with one of the best shows I’ve seen so far this year. Live, the band’s wailing guitar solos and ’70s stoner rock harmonies overtook the quiet, introspective segments of the music. This is a band that uses dynamics to their best advantage. But I like rock and roll, so I like it best when things get loud, and these guys were. Forgive me, shoegazers. I’ll never call you boring again…unless you actually are. You may be wondering if it actually looked like this, but the fog machines were on full blast, the whole stage was green-lit and if it looks like the camera was on LSD, it’s because it looked like that to the people in the audience, too…some of whom were probably on LSD. It’s the only explanation I can come up with for the guy behind me who was chewing on his fingers. Yes, dude. I saw you. But it’s okay. I’ll keep your identity secret.