Concerts

Concert Review: Gruff Rhys, This Is The Kit, October 17, Drake Underground

Posted on by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

20231017_200824

Towards the end of his set at the Drake Underground on Tuesday night, Gruff Rhys announced that he was about to go into “dangerous territory” by playing a request, more specifically a request he did not foresee.

Like most performers, Gruff Rhys has a setlist that he works from, and so deviating from that setlist could indeed be dangerous territory. But if he was in any way daunted by the addition of an extra song, Rhys certainly didn’t show it, other than him taking a brief minute to decide if he wanted to slip the song in before his planned set closer “Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru” or not. He opted to end things off with that request, “Colonise The Moon,” and the song made for a solid end to a set that also included such highlights as “Celestial Candyfloss,” “Iolo” and “Bad Friend.”

Following Rhys, This Is The Kit took to the stage. The English folk rock band, fronted by Kate Stables, put on a memorable show, with the bulk of the songs taken from their latest album, the Gruff Rhys-produced Careful of Your Keepers.

A few songs into their set, Stables announced midway through “Inside Outside” that it was a special show as it was bassist Rozi Plain’s birthday and followed that announcement by firing off a tiny confetti cannon onstage. It was a memorable moment, followed shortly thereafter by a quip from Stables as she took a moment to tune: “I used up all my smooth on the birthday announcement and now it’s just going to be 45 minutes of tuning.”

Another humourous moment came after the band played “Slider” and Stables pointed out that in Bristol, a children’s slide is referred to as a slider. This led to an audience member volunteering the information that a mini burger is also referred to as a slider, which in turn led to someone else adding that a kid on a slide could also reasonably be referred to as a slider.

I could have contributed further to this conversation, but decided not to mention anything about the old Jerry O’Connoll TV series Sliders as that would have been far too much of an ordeal to explain if she wasn’t familiar. Though that didn’t stop another concertgoer from bringing up an Evel Knievel documentary when Stables later mentioned that it was the legendary motorcycle daredevil’s birthday that day as well, so maybe I should have taken my chance to talk up the ’90s sci-fi series.

This Is The Kit continue on their North American tour into early November before heading back across the pond to play a series of shows across the UK and Ireland. Check them out if you get the chance.

Concert Review: The Chats, Cosmic Psychos, Schizophonics, October 14, Phoenix Concert Theatre

Posted on by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

Australian punks The Chats played The Phoenix Concert Theatre last night, just a few days shy of the one year anniversary of the first time they played that same venue, this time bringing San Diego garage rockers The Schizophonics and their countrymen Cosmic Psychos along for the ride.

Following an excellent opening set by The Schizophonics, Cosmic Psychos took to the stage and demonstrated that have quite a bit in common with The Chats. Not only are both bands Australian, but they also share a similar ethos with their hard-hitting live shows and big, dumb punk songs about drinking and going to the pub. The Psychos have been at it a lot longer though, getting their start way back in 1982 and putting out 11 albums over the years, with the most recent being 2021’s Mountain of Piss.

Up next were The Chats, who proved that not much has changed since they were last in town a year ago – singer/bassist Eamon Sandwith is still rockin’ the mullet, the venue was similarly packed, and the band ran through a similar set of short, fast, and fun punk rock tunes. And you know what? That’s fine – it’s not like I was expecting the band to have shifted into their Spinal Tap Jazz Odyssey phase. And really, nobody wants that from The Chats. No, you go to a Chats show to see them run through 25 high energy songs in just under an hour and the band did just that, much to the delight of the crowd, with songs such as “Struck By Lightning”, “Better Than You” and “Smoko” inspiring many a crowdsurfer.

Concert Review: Gaerea, October 4, Lee’s Palace

Posted on by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

20231004_194622

There’s an old clichéd saying about having to suffer for one’s art and while I don’t necessarily think that always needs to be the case, it is certainly one school of thought. And though this is pure conjecture on my part, it would seem to be a school of thought that Gaerea adheres to.

After all, the Portuguese five piece recently released a video wherein one of its members undergoes some sort of water torture which lasts for roughly eight minutes. This “torture video experiment” certainly seems to suggest that they’re willing to go as far as necessary for the sake of their art. If nothing else, it proves that these guys are pretty intense.

That intensity shone through loud and clear on Wednesday night as Gaerea put on a dramatic, theatrical performance as part of the Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge tour alongside Blackbraid, Hoaxed, and headliner Wolves In The Throne Room.

Billing themselves as cathartic black metal, Gaerea are all about setting a mood. Despite the fact that all five members cover their faces in black masks, there’s a good deal of emotion on display, both through their music and through their stage presence. A key part of that stage presence is their vocalist’s unique dance moves, which came across like a dark avant-garde dance piece mixed with the time on Sprockets when they dance.

All in all, the band put on a passionate, memorable and, yes, intense performance. Impressive stuff.

Concert Review: James McMurtry, September 22, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

20230922_230732

In the moments before Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry would take to the stage at The Horseshoe Tavern on Friday night, a fellow concertgoer struck up a conversation with me, commenting that he knew it was going to be a good show as most of the crowd were over the age of 60. I think I kind of get what he was going for, but then again, I’m also not quite sure that his logic fully works out as older folks are often also into a lot of dodgy stuff. After all, Eric Clapton still seems to have a relatively thriving career.

Still, there is something to be said for experience and over the course of his set, McMurtry definitely made the case for veteran performers who’ve perfected their craft and their ability to put on a great show. To borrow a line from McMurtry’s “Canola Fields,” the first track off of his latest album The Horses and the Hounds, “You can’t be young and do that.”

While we’re on the subject of being young, McMurtry did reminisce about his younger days, noting that he first played the Horseshoe back in 1992, on the night that the Blue Jays clinched the World Series. “I was here … me and about fifteen of y’all.” Luckily for him, 31 years later, and without the World Series as competition, his drawing power has grown considerably. And the fairly packed crowd at the Horseshoe demonstrated that McMurtry does have a pretty dedicated fanbase, with several shouting out song titles when they saw an opening. McMurtry was having none of that though.

“Some of you know what you wanna hear, none of you know what you’re gonna hear,” he said in reply to the shouted requests. “There’s an art and a science to planning a setlist and I’ve just about got it down.”

McMurtry did in fact put together a pretty solid setlist on this occasion, with tracks like “Copper Canteen”, “If It Don’t Bleed”, “Jackie” and “Chocktaw Bingo” standing out as just a few of the highlights. And while he may or may not have mastered the art of crafting a perfect setlist, as he ran through a set full of songs from throughout his career, McMurtry proved that he’s definitely got this whole songwriting thing figured out.