Chicago – What better way to spice up the middle of a blah week than skip your night class and go to a concert? Who needs education anyway right? Wednesday was the eve of my dear friend’s 30th birthday. She has this whole long list of things that she’s not allowed to do after she turns 30 (eat PB&J, play drinking games, take shots for her age, wear glitter makeup, pretty much everything that makes life worth living) so I bought her some Wonderbread, some Smuckers, and some Jif and brought her to the House of Blues for a night out with Jukebox the Ghost and Jack’s Mannequin.

We got to the venue about halfway through the opener, Jukebox the Ghost’s, set and the place was already packed. Before I get to the music though I have to give a shout out to the venue – this was my first time in a House of Blues – I’ve always looked down on it because it’s part of a chain. I figured it would be soul-sucking money maker with no character – not true at all! This place actually ranks as one of my favorite concert venues in Chicago now. Decorated with pop top art and weird statues and masks on the walls – I’m usually one to stake out a spot next to the stage and move neither for hell nor high water nor drunken moshers for the subsequent three hours, but I couldn’t help but roam the place during the breaks between sets. The two or three full bars scattered around didn’t hurt either.

My sister and I like to call Jukebox the hardest working hipsters on the circuit. These guys just tour relentlessly, and every time I go see them I’m waiting for one of them to just pass out mid-set – I always think I should pack a sandwich from them just in case. They made it through their set with energy to spare though – playing say when, schizophrenia and good day, along with a medley of cover songs.

There’s nothing to dislike about Jukebox’s music: it’s upbeat, it’s catchy, it’s imaginative, and everyone who I’ve forced to try it out (which is many) feels an instant connection to what the band’s trying to get across – take a listen, and I promise you won’t regret it.

The main act, Jack’s Mannequin, was the second pleasant surprise of the night. I’ve never really given much thought to Jack’s Mannequin – I knew their one song, Dark Blue, and wasn’t really blown away by it, but I was absolutely blown away by their performance. Let’s start with the set up for the stage – a disco ball, Ikea lamps and a baby grand piano. There are too many bands out there who use totally overstimulating and gratuitous props for their sets that just take away from their music, but this set up was perfect: baby grand – classy, Ikea lamps – intriguing, disco ball – fun. Yes, yes and yes. The lead singer of the band, Andrew McMahon, absolutely dominated the stage in his white suit and sweet facial hair (I kept on hearing Ke$ha in my head throughout the night “I like your beard”.) He’s an excellent vocalist and although he didn’t do a lot of dancing (my favorite part of concerts is watching the band rock out) his energy was infectious and he absolutely had the crowd going. While I’m not sure that I’ll be listening to Jack’s Mannequin’s albums nonstop now (I tried them when I got home and somehow they just didn’t quite translate as well as they did live) I certainly enjoyed them in person. Overall an excellent way to spend a Wednesday.

It’s often said that the perfect remedy for a brisk and dull Tuesday night is a dance party. Who often says this? I don’t know. People way cooler than I am. Last Tuesday was unbearably cold and considerably dull, so I decided to heed to the advice of the cool and attend a dance party. A four piece act who recently released their forth album Ventriloquizzing, Brighton band Fuijiya and Miyagi would be our sheppards for the evening.

Dirty bass lines pared with David Best’s breathy Robert Del Naja-ish voice are the driving forces behind Fujiya and Miyagi’s music and the band displayed them prominently in the opening half of the set, which featured a few of their hits Knickerbocker and Uh. It didn’t take long before the front of the stage was turned into a dance floor with eager young legs ready to get groove dance on to the increasingly energetic set. The band was content to let their music do the speaking, saying nary a word as they moved about the stage, which was adorned with a projector backdrop. The eighty minute set spanned the group’s discography and was basically one smooth groovy ride for the entire duration. There was beats, there was synth and then there was David Best’s voice, which I guess if he wasn’t in a band, he could probably have made a lot of money doing voice-overs or something. While you can accuse Fujiya and Miyagi of remaining in their comfort zone musically for much of their careers, the sweaty and enthusiastic crowd at the end of the show suggests you can’t argue with their results.

Indie Kid vs Dance Kid also went to the show. He also decided he liked to eat oysters.

Toronto – Honestly, this was a bit of a crazy night.  I started off the evening at the Monster Jam monster truck show, followed that with Anamanaguchi‘s set at Wrongbar, and then capped off the night with a trip to the Bovine.  That’s at least one too many things for one evening, yet i did it anyways.  Consider it conditioning for all the club hopping I’ll be doing in a couple months’ time for SXSW and CMW.  Except without the monster trucks.  Really, SXSW should have monster trucks though.  I mean, it is in Texas after all.  Everything’s better with monster trucks, right?

I’ve got to say, Monster Jam is a bit of a weird scene.  It’s mostly made up of just watching these crazy machines race each other around a track in order to ”qualify.”  What exactly are they qualifying for?  I don’t quite know.  Finally, after a bunch of these races and a couple digressions into ATVs and Motocross bikes, the audience finally gets what it came for - trucks smashing shit.  So I guess that was satisfying.  Yeah!   

After getting all amped up from that whole scene, I was ready for Anamanaguchi’s set of energetic chiptune rock.  In a weird way, they weren’t all that far removed from the world of monster trucking.  I mean, videogames and trucks smashing stuff are both things that might appeal to one’s inner teenage boy … or outer teenage boy if one still happens to be a teenager. 

For the uninitiated, Anamanaguchi make use of a hacked NES to create much of their music.  Live, they play in a traditional rock setup playing along with all the Nintendo-ish sounds.  As I said, it’s fun and energetic and since they’re an instrumental act, they rely on a few gimmicks to make the show a bit more interesting.  The band handed out glowsticks to the crowd as we were entertained by weird and wacky series of images projected onto a screen behind them.  Images like furbies and kittens and weirdly pixelated oddities combined with ’80s level AV tricks that sort of reminded me of the Gerry Todd Sketches from SCTV.  It was somewhat psychedelic in it’s own way.  Oh, and the band worked in a Britney Spears cover early in their set.  See?  Fun.

Toronto – Before I begin with the review proper, allow me to digress right away and launch into a story about the last time I saw Herman Dune.  It was in Paris, so of course the band was speaking French (because, you know, they are French) and it was a good show, of course, but the reason I’m telling this story right now is to let you all know that playing the role of confused foreigner can work wonders for you sometimes.  Having shown up at the show late, I approached the ticket vendor guy and, in my best French, asked to buy a ticket.  He told me the show was almost over, and looking confused (I had checked when doors opened and estimated set times based on the number of bands playing), I motioned to the door and said, “Est-ce que Je …” and dude just waved me in.  Little did he know the band had just started and I saved myself a whole pile of euros that night. What does this have to do with the band’s set this past Thursday at The Horseshoe?  Well, nothing of course.  But for all of you looking to see a show in a foreign country I suppose it’s worth a shot to try this.  So in a way, it’s a public service I’m providing.  Still not as cool as Ricky’s story about crashing a high school dance in Istanbul though, but whatever. 

What’s that you say?  Oh right, the show at The Horseshoe. The band’s somewhat classicist take on folk rock always goes down well.  Frontman David-Ivar Herman Dune is not only a great songwriter (highlights included “In The Long Long Run” and “I Hear Strange Moosic”) but seems like a nice guy as well.  “I’m liking this place, it’s pretty nice,” he said in response to the enthusiastic crowd.  Also enthusiastic was Julie Doiron, who joined the band onstage for a couple of songs, including a cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away.”  Julie was so into it that she seemingly made a request onstage just so she could sing along with it.  Of course they obliged.  It’s always nice to see performers truly enjoying themselves onstage.  It shows that they’re not just going through the motions.

And so, while I have no story as thrilling (well, thrilling to me, at least) as bluffing my way in to go along with this show, it was still a solid performance from a band at the top of their game.  Plus, any band who can change a string onstage and not have it stop the show dead in it’s tracks deserves some recognition.  So bravo, Herman Dune.  You guys are alright.