Concert Review: Klaxons, Commodore Ballroom, October 1st

Vancouver – This being my first foray into the Vancouver indie scene, I really didn’t know what to expect from this concert not only from a musical standpoint, but more so the experience. Attending 60+ shows while living in Toronto, the whole concert-going process had become second nature to me – hitting the bar early enough to get a couple of drinks in, timing it perfectly so I wouldn’t have to listen to a shit support band and only to wait another 30 minutes for the roadies to set up the headliner and of course, taking the piss out of Flyerman (man I wanted to punch that dude in the face after watching his movie, what a selfish fucker). Anyways, the experience itself ended up being status quo. The Commodore as a venue is probably one of the nicest I’ve been to, lots of room to dance, plenty of barspace, great sound and sightlines throughout the entire venue. The capacity of the venue is around 1000 and would say it was only 70% full, which is good because the last thing I want is a sweaty indie chick in a tight skirt rubbing against me…gross. Oh the only thing that drove me nuts about the venue, they kept turning the house lights on after every song, what’s up with that Commodore? It kinda took away from the experience.

My concert timing was rusty because when we thought we arrived at the time we expected the Klaxons to come on stage, we actually had 3 more songs of the Mystery Jets to watch. They’re a decent enough band but I’d just throw them in mix of ‘typical’ British indie bands like The Paddingtons, The Harrisons, The Mccabes, The Holloways etc…Lot’s of families are playing in bands together these days, good for them.

Klaxons get on stage around 9:40, at this point I’m expecting ‘quite a show’ as per Ricky’s review but after watching their set, I’d just like to add ‘fuckin’ after ‘a’ and before ‘show’. Those kids are amazing. Right off the bat they had people rush to the floor to hip-shake to the ear bleeder ‘Bouncer’ and kept the dancefloor masses consistently moving throughout the entire gig. In order to avoid writing a duplicate review I’ll just kindly ask you to refer to Ricky’s, which pretty much expresses my sentiments, although I felt the crowd slightly more subduded, maybe because it was sparse or the BC bud was more primo than usual.

4.5/5

Here is the setlist:

Bouncer
Atlantis to Interzone
Hall of Records
Totem
Golden Skans
As Above So Below
Two Recievers
Magick
Gravity’s Rainbow
It’s Not Over Yet w/Mystery Jets
Isle of Her
Four Horsemen

Next show: Shout Out Louds, October 12th

Posted on by Vik in Concerts, Everything

About Vik

Father and pop culture geek, Vik is Panic Manual's designer and contributor