Concerts

Concert Review: The Rural Alberta Advantage, June 1, La Flèche d’Or

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Paul in Concerts, Everything | Leave a comment

Paris – Seeing a band from home (Toronto, that is) in another country is an interesting proposition.  You wonder what the crowd will be like and whether the reception will differ.  As it turns out, the crowd for a Rural Alberta Advatage show in France is pretty similar to one in Toronto, the main difference being you could still buy tickets at the door on the night of the Paris show. 

As it so happened, this was the final night of the RAA’s tour, and as they stated numerous times from the stage, they couldn’t think of a better place to end their tour.  I can see what they mean.  Despite the fact that they probably never expected to be playing Paris in the first place (let alone playing it multiple times), the venue itself was fairly impressive.  Nothing too fancy mind you, it was a regular club, but the staff there seems to put a lot of effort into making sure the show runs smoothly.  They have a pretty efficient stage crew to help the bands set up and tear down and I noticed a very precise schedule they had typed up and posted by the sound board outlining exactly when each band should arrive, do sound check, when they changeover between bands should be and so on.  I’m sure many venues do this, but it seemed especially noticeable here.

As one might expect, there were a few Canadians in the crowd and when singer Nils Edenloff  introduced one song by saying, “I was born in Alberta,” one audience member interrupted him.  “Where in Alberta?”  “I was born in Edmonton.”  The audience member pointed out that Edmonton is in fact not rural, to which multi-instrumentalist Amy Cole added, “Nils got called out!”

As usual for a RAA show, they played a thoroughly enjoyable, totally high energy set.  They may be classified as a “folk” band by some by virtue of the fact that Nils plays an acoustic guitar and that the band got it’s start playing open mic nights, but only occasionally does the RAA slip into music that is more restrained or subdued.  They generally go full throttle, ploughing through their songs with the energy of a band that just consumed a gallon of amphetamine-laced coffee and tonight was no exception, thanks in large part to the always impressive drumming of Paul Banwatt.  Aren’t bands supposed to be tired and less energetic after they’re been on the road for three months?  Apparently not the RAA.  The city of Paris and I are thankful for that.

The Rural Alberta Advantage-Stamp by Canadian Blast

Primavera Sound Review: Fleet Foxes, PJ Harvey

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Ricky in Primavera | 1 Comment

Barcelona – After all the shenanigans of the first two days of Primavera, day three was the designates come down day for me. A nice afternoon was spent on the beautiful Barcelona beach with beer in hand, followed by a leisurely paella by the sea dinner. Needless to say, the tone was set for a nice relaxing evening.

If you look up “nice and relaxing music” in the imaginary encyclopedia I’ve created for this post, you might see the band Fleet Foxes there. The Portland group have come of of hiding this year with their sophomore effort Helplessness Blues and are now riding the festival circuit to promote this record. Playing against the lovely Barcelona backdrop, the harmonious group gently welcomed the Primavera crowd into the night. Forgoing any sort of front man stage tactics the band seemed content sitting there and letting their musicianship shine through. While that in itself seemed rather grand, I couldn’t help but feel that the concert just felt like the album turned up really loud.

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues by subpop

The next two shows I saw included ambient rock band The Album Leaf and Philadelphia hard rocker Kurt Vile. I enjoyed the Album Leafs piano driven atmospheric rock although I was disappointed with their decision to forgo vocals for the time that I saw them, which meant the wouldn’t be performing Always For You, a track that I enjoyed. Kurt Vile brought his rock game to the Jagermeister/Vice stage. While I can appreciate his rock, it wasnt the right setting for me so I went to do what everyone else seemed to be doing, which was watch the Champions League game.

The Champions League final finished just in time for PJ Harvey. The last time I saw the English songstress, it was in 2004 and it was an early show and I had also the Libertines on my bill that night, so I don’t remember it well. By the time I found a spot, Pj Harvey was already in full swing. Dressed in a white dress with some head feathers, Polly Jean stood by her lonely self away from her band clutching an autoharp. The band itself were situated in a tight semi circle, which made for an interesting setup. Playing tracks new and old, you can say that the woman pleased all in the crowd. Her voice sounded as strong as effort and her dedication to not moving throughout the night make you focus solely on the tracks, which mUgur have been the goal of the night. The twenty song setlist ended with classic Meet Ze Monsta as did my time at Primavera. A classic way to end off a classic festival

PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder by VagrantRecords

Primavera Sound: Einsturzende Neubauten, Odd Future, May 28, Parc del Forum

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Paul in Primavera | Leave a comment

Barcelona – Einsturzende Neubauten.  For those of us who don’t speak German, it’s not a band name that rolls off the tongue easily.  Nor are they an easy band to listen to.  Pioneers in the genres of noise and industrial, I went into this show expecting something pretty extreme.  Actually, what I was expecting was some dour, overly serious Germans making a heck of a lot of noise.  What I got was noisy, yes, but also rather tuneful at times and not terribly serious at all.  Frontman Blixa Bargeld was actually quite hilarious, showing off his sense of humour right from the beginning by addressing the crowd with ,”Hello, non-soccer fans!” (The Champions League match was also going on that night)  I suppose when one plays music in a genre that is often classified as “noise,” one probably would have a well developed sense of the absurd.  He later made a point of bringing everyone’s attention to the fact that the photo pit was clearing out, semi-singing, “The photographers must leave now.  They always leave after the third song.  This is why you never see pictures from later in the set when we all get naked.” 

Making noise of a decidely different variety was heavily buzzed LA hip hop collective Odd Future.  I had heard a lot of the hype about this group and was determined to check them out to see if they lived up to it at all.  And to see if they said anything horribly stupid and offensive.  Arriving early for their set at the Pitchfork Stage (otherwise known as the sticky floor and pools of urine stage), I caught the last bit of another well-hyped performer, James Blake, who was performing a DJ set.  Blake’s down tempo material seemed like an odd appetizer for Odd Future as it’s not exactly the kind of thing to get the crowd pumped up.  Also, I found it strange when he slipped his own material into the set.  Of course he’s entitled to and probably expected to, but when he’s standing right there and I’m hearing him play a recorded version of his own voice, it is a little bit weird.  After Blake finished up, I heard some more incongruous music played over the PA, like Elliott Smith.

While I do think that Sara Quin has a point about them, I had heard good things about the energy Odd Future put into their show, so I figured since I’m here anyways, I might as well see  for myself.  And they did display a lot of energy, jumping and running around the stage and encoraging their fans to shout out their various slogans (not that they needed much encouragement).  They didn’t quite live up to all the hype, but then again, it would be hard for anyone to really live up to that kind of hype.  That said, they did put on an enjoyable, high energy show.   Sure, there’s a lot of (valid) criticism of these guys, but at the end of the day, they probably don’t care, as evidenced by the fact that they dissed Pitchfork, the very outlet whose stage they were playing on.  Odd Future basically come across as what they are: a bunch of young guys having fun on stage, regardless of who they may piss off in the process.

Primavera Sound Review: The National, Belle & Sebastian

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Ricky in Primavera | 1 Comment

Barcelona – Day two of Primavera Sound was obviously dedicated to Pulp but it also featured a host of other amazing bands on the bill including perennial festival headliners The National and another personal favorite in Belle and Sebastian.

Arriving shortly after 8:30 pm, I was able to make it to the Pitchfork stage in time to hear current sensation James Blake get drowned out in noise by M Ward, of all people. I wasn’t sure how his quiet as heck electronic soul music would work in an outdoor atmosphere and just as I suspected, it did not fare well. Those outside the fifty foot range of the completely packed stage got to hear both M ward and James Blake at once, much to the chagrin of most JB fans, I’m sure. Quickly realizing this mashup was going to be a disturbance, I left to join the mass migration of music fans to go see the National.

Walking towards the Llevant stage, it became apparent that almost everyone at the festival was going to see the Cincinnati, Ohio band. By the time the band took the stage shortly after nine, the field was at near capacity. Noting how pretty setting was, the group played 90 minutes of solid National music. While the tracks sounded amazing, it was tough to get into The National’s brooding brand of personal rock. We’re in Spain! At a festival! By the sea! Against a sunset! Why so serious? But despite my personal feelings, the band played a solid set of tracks new and old, highlighted by an appearance by the one and only Sufjan Stevens for the songs Afraid of Everyone and Terrible Love. “He walks among mortals” exclaims Matt as Sufjan walked off stage. I left the National before the last track to beat the crowd and grab a spot for the next act – Belle and Sebastian

It was shortly after 10:30 when Belle and Sebastian took the San Miguel stage. Starting off softly with the track I Didn’t See it Coming it took awhile for the band to find it’s groove with the crowd. As Frank noted, the band might of had some sound issues that made them seem quieter than they really were. However once the band started incorporating old time classics like Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie, the crowd started dancing and the show went uphill from there. Having seen them about five times now, I’m noticing that Belle and Sebastian, like many others veteran bands, now have a few tricks up their sleeves including having a girl applying makeup to Stuart Murdoch during the track Lord Anthony and inviting dancers on stage for what is arguably their most popular song, The Boy With The Arab Strap. Its amazing to see how far Belle and Sebastian have come as a live band, originally adversed to touring, the band now has become a polished machine capable of playing large festival crowds armed only with twee-ish tracks. Stuart Murdoch has become an accomplished and confident front man who knows exactly when he has the crowd. Highlights for me included Judy and The Dream of Horses , The Stars of Track and Field and Legal Man. The band also did their part hyping up the next band as Steve broke out the chorus of Common People during —–. The set closed with Sleep The Clock Around as expected and seeing how it is my favorite Belle and Sebastian song, it felt quite appropriate.

Pulp was up next, read the review here. Battles was pretty good from what I remembered. Day 2 at Primavera Sound had an amazing set of bands and resulted in the most amazing concert nights of my life.

« Previous   1 2 ... 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 ... 508 509   Next »