An open letter to the guy trying to start a moshpit during Swervedriver’s set:
Look, I get it. You probably haven’t been to a show in awhile. Maybe you drove in from the ‘burbs and you and your bros are totally stoked for this show – you don’t get out to shows much anymore, but you still like to get drunk on the weekends and stuff and dude, it’s Swervedriver. I get it. But you’ve got to feel out the kind of crowd you’re in, because from where I stood, no one was having any of that, especially when your buddy tried to crowdsurf and failed. Take the hint.
Anyways, now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about the show. Starting things off was Saint John, NB based band Little You Little Me, who, while they may have stood out from the other bands on the bill by being a bit younger, definitely seemed to mesh in terms of sound, with a lot of ’90s influences being heard in their music. There was a strong East Coast ’90s influence to be heard, with hints of Eric’s Trip, Hardship Post and Thrush Hermit coming through.
Up next was SIANspheric. There was definitely a solid contingent of fans looking forward to seeing the Hamilton psych/shoegaze crew do their thing again and singer/guitarist Sean Ramsay seemed to take some comfort in this fact. After hearing a few “whoos,” he encouraged the crowd to continue, asking if he could get a few more “Give’rs.” It was an impressive set, full of lots of ambient passages and effects pedal-fueled sonics.
During their set, Ramsay gave a shout out to Little You Little Me as well as the headliners. “And you know who’s coming on next … those guys.” Those guys, of course, are Swervedriver. Though they reunited a few years back, they’ve only now gotten around to recording a new album and the songs from that album, I Wasn’t Born To Lose You, managed to fit in seamlessly with the older tracks to make for an ultimately satisfying show. The highlight for me was their performance of “Rave Down” and a lyric from that song could serve as a decent summation of the show: “Like the sharp hard hit of a car crash in a dream.”
Works for me.