Toronto – I was feeling pretty tired this night, so it was perhaps appropriate that Girl In A Coma was playing since I felt semi-comatose. Based on their name and the video that Ricky previously posted, I was expecting something laid back and acoustic based. I was definitely wrong. They had more of a punkish sound that at times had a bit of a 90s vibe. Even their footwear was a bit 90s. I noticed Doc Martins and canvas sneakers on stage. Why was I looking at their feet? I’m not sure …
Instrumentally, they were pretty tight. Then singer Nina Diaz started singing. “Well, that’s a bit different,” I thought. She has a powerful wailing dramatic kind of voice that reminded me of … someone, not sure who. Maybe Joan Jett or even a little bit of PJ Harvey. The Joan Jett comparison is probably pretty valid since they are actually signed to Joan Jett’s record label. Each line she sang was punctuated by her overemotive facial expressions, which actually worked quite well. They had a lot of stage presence and were very talented musicians, although the most memorable song they played was a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale,” which I suppose bodes well for their new covers album, Adventures In Coverland.
I will admit that before this show, all I knew about The Wedding Present was that they were a British band who had been around for awhile and were highly regarded by some. The band took to the stage to a rapturous response from a crowd of diehard fans. “You’re a noisy lot, aren’t you? Blimey!” said frontman David Gedge. Yes, he actually said “blimey.” More than once. This proves that he is indeed a Very British Man. The band was pretty intense and totally impressed me (as I said, I really didn’t know much about them before this). Starting off with a few new songs (which Gedge prefaced by saying “you’ll probably love them in 3 years”), they then launched into a song by song recreation of their 1989 album, Bizarro. As I said, the crowd absolutely loved it. Speaking of the crowd, I believe this show had the highest concentration of madly dancing, old-ish bald dudes I have ever seen in one place as well as some guy who chose to remove his shirt and wave it around. I think shirtless guy may have been affiliated with the guys who brought a blow up doll with them for whatever reason. Said doll was later tossed into the crowd like a beach ball or something. I’m guessing these guys don’t go out to that many shows anymore and wanted to make this one a really special one or something. Regardless of that, it was a pretty good show.