OK GO is a band from Chicago and they just released their third full length this year. They are best known for their catchy, almost anthem-esk pop songs, and for embracing all things viral. Their videos have seen huge success on the Internet which, in return, has launched them into ‘we can fill the Mod Club’ superstardum. I had never seen them before, but they have had some pretty awesome tunes in heavy rotation on my iPod over the past few years. Here is a brief time line of the band leading up to their show at the Mod Club last Friday.
October 12, 2008 – OK Go announced that they had finished writing new songs for their third album. Album to be produced with Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT).
May 7, 2009 – a song from the album, titled Skyscrapers, was released for streaming online.
November 10, 2009 – the first single WTF? was released.
January 8, 2010 – OK Go appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and performed a song from the album, This Too Shall Pass.
January 12, 2010 – the album Of The Blue Colour of the Sky is released on EMI.
March, 2010 – OK Go cuts ties with EMI and Capitol. It is speculated that the split came as a result of the lable trying to block viral distribution of the bands music.
April 1st, 2010 – Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky is re-released on OK Go’s own label, Paracadute Recordings.
April 23rd, 2010 – OK Go shows up at the Mod Club and attempts to drown the audience in confetti.
Here is some more point form points from the show.
*If Franz Ferdinand and the Flaming Lips had a love child and made that love child tour across North America, it would be named OK Go
*Guitars with lasers mounted on the end…cool
*A four-piece handbell rendition of “What To Do”? I was not expecting nor have I ever seen anything quite as impressive.
*Confetti
*Video cameras on the end of microphones…always cool
*More confetti
*Jackets with l.e.d. messages on the back…yeah, cool.
*More, more confetti
*From our vantage point in the balcony you could see everybody at the front of the stage singing along with all the songs.
*It seems that the OK Go live performance is a pretty direct extension of what you can see them doing on-line in their music videos. With some of their stage antics I almost felt like they were making fun of the whole ‘live music’ genre, but it worked. Give the crowd what they want I guess, and OK Go definitely knew what we wanted on Friday.
*The Brass Tapps at College and Dovercourt is the loudest bar in Toronto to wach a hockey game in.
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.