Concerts

Concert Review: Beach House, March 30, Opera House

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Everything | 6 Comments


Ricky’s magic* iPhone photography ©2010

With an album like Teen Dream, it’s no surprise that 2010 has been Beach House‘s mass (I use this term loosely)-breakout year. Yeah yeah, I know Pitchfork loved them after their debut in 2006, but no one I know was really paying attention at that time. Flash forward four years to 2010 and they are playing to sold-out crowds all across major cities North of El Rio Grande.

It has been a bit of a slow burn for Baltimore duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, which in today’s fully internet-driven flash-in-the-pan indie world is I think, a good thing. They have attracted quite the following three albums in and, as is known to most Panic Manual-ers, have made me absolutely smitten.  Teen Dream is already my top pick for best of 2010 and while the year is still young I can guarantee you that they will not be dislodged from a top three placing. I often think of this album in majestic road trip terms and wide open spaces, empty highways and emotional freedom.

The show itself was a Teen Dream exhibition. The duo (and touring drummer whose name I couldn’t rustle up) hasn’t been in Toronto for two years, and only a small selection of Devotion songs were hand-picked. Fine by me. Hearing Teen Dream in its entirety was something I was hoping for but not fully expecting. They went on right as planned at 10:30 and barely paused to catch their breath for the next hour. Light attempts at chit-chat were made and other than a couple of awkward mumblings by Alex, Victoria handled most of it blurting out “We built this city on rock and roll…wait, why did I just say that? Sorry that was one of those dorky moments…”. She also won more hearts over by saying “Toronto is one of those cities that for one reason or another, is magical”.

Ricky has noted that their performance was kind of akin to listening to the album on an iPod in Shuffle mode with the volume turned up. I can’t really argue with that–their set was impeccable but lacked any serious variation from the studio recordings, which begs the question of “Should a band sound different live than they do on their album?” This is one that continuously comes up and my answer is always, if the band created an air of intimacy, I couldn’t care less if their show is a  note for note replica, because there are bound to be subtle differences either way. As always, I thought the percussion was a lot more prominent live than on the album. Other observations: that Alex’s guitar was just a bit too quiet, that Victoria sounds like a more soulful kick-ass 21-st century version of Kim Carnes (the one hit husky smoker voiced Bette Davis Eyes vocalist), and that Sub Pop really needs to give their more prominent up and coming bands more than $30 to spend at a party supply store.

So what the heck was up with those twirling Christmas-ornament things, anyway?

Furthermore, what was up with Alex Scally’s pr0n star moustache (for the love of God you’re a good looking guy–please shave it off!), Victoria Legrand’s shoulder-padded white three-quarter lengthed blazer, Dynasty gold jewelry, and cut off  arm warmers, and the lack of Apple Orchard throughout the set? The truth is, that at the end of the day none of this really matters. Beach House delivered a spine-tingly sonic yet mellowly acoustic show last night. Well worth every penny of the $14 I paid.

SET LIST: (thanks to teshsayspeace)

Walk in the Park
Lover of Mine
Gila
Better Times
Norway
Silver Soul
Master of None
Astronaut
Used to Be
Zebra
Heart of Chambers
Take Care

ENCORE:

Real Love
10 Mile Stereo

Best: Walk in the Park, Silver Soul, and I think everyone will agree 10 Mile Stereo all made our heads implode from eargasms.

Wouldn’t it be Nice if: Chamber organs were portable? I’d love to hear these guys in a church someday. The acoustics would be amazing.

*Legal notice: By magic I really mean, “awful”.

Concert Review: Nada Surf, March 29, Lee’s Palace

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Paul in Concerts | 2 Comments

A Monday night concert is sometimes a bit of a hard sell.  It was for this reason that I decided to miss the opening act and watch some Monday night TV instead before heading out to see Nada Surf.  So instead of catching Dawn Landes and the Hounds, I stayed home and watched Chuck.  In a sense, the TV show itself acted as a pretty good opener, since I sort of associate Nada Surf with Chuck creator Josh Schwartz anyways.

I got to Lee’s Palace a few minutes before Nada Surf came on.  When they took the stage, they started off strong with “See These Bones” followed by “Whose Authority,” probably the two best songs on their album Lucky.  Lead singer Matthew Caws joked that if people were waiting to hear those songs, it might be an early night for them and made it clear that this was not a show in support of Lucky.

Instead, the band was touring in support of their new covers album, If I Had A Hi-Fi.  That said, they played plenty of their own songs too, the highlights for me being those first two songs as well as “Your Legs Grow.”   As far as covers go, my favourite of those was a version of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence,” not because it was the most recognizable of the tunes they played, but because they actually reinterpreted it slightly, changing the melody and tempo up a bit.  Definitely the best cover of that song I’ve ever heard and I’ve heard a few.

A few things I noticed during their set: Matthew Caws changes guitars a lot.  I noticed the guitar tech passing him a guitar for almost every second song.  I understand his reasons for doing so, but still, it seemed a bit distracting at times.  Also, bassist Daniel Lorca, with his head full of giant blonde dreads, looks more like he should be playing in Sepultura than Nada Surf, but that’s neither here nor there.

As i said, Mondays can be hard sometimes, but Lee’s was pretty packed tonight.  The crowd was definitely into it, and no one seemed to mind that the band neglected to play their most “popular” song … and I think the band is glad not to have to play that song anyways.  Still , I’ve got to admit, I wouldn’t have minded hearing it.

Here’s the setlist for the night:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nada-surf/2010/lees-palace-toronto-on-canada-53d49bd9.html

SXSW Final Recap

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Ricky in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

The Temper Trap

Austin – It’s been a week since we’ve all returned from our journey to Austin. With some time to reflect, here are our final thoughts.

Best Show

Gary – Fanfarlo at Galaxy Room, March 18; crowd response AND the general way it was carried were both an experience.

Derek – The Temper Trap

Allison – We Were Promised Jetpacks; basically the entire Showcasing Scotland show on Wednesday

Ricky – Marina and the Diamonds..great energy and good crowd response.

Best Show from a band you have never heard before:

Gary – Local Natives and Temper Trap; Temper Trap destroyed their filler expectation, and I’m an ignorant dumbass so I’ve never heard Local Native before this trip.

Derek – That would be most of the shows I saw. The Temper Trap, Local Natives and The Boxer Rebellion definitely stood out.

Allison – Unicorn Kid

Ricky – Definitely the Temper Trap. I guess they were popular already, the dude can sing.

Worse Show

Gary – Galaxy Room backyard, March 17 – the stage management was horrible – bands were playing 3-4 songs a piece and things were constantly delayed because their sound guy would go missing mid-play.

Derek – Steel Train, that and every metal band that was playing whenever I walked by the stage at 8th and Red River

Allison – Whoever that awful industrial band at the Hype Machine party was on Saturday. mosh pit? come on.

Ricky – Street Sweeper Social Club. Bringing back hard rock + rap combo is not a good idea.

Best SXSW Moment

Gary – When we weaseled our way into the Filter party at cedar street courtyard, skipping a 100 ppl line directly to the front of the house… power of the RICKY on full display.

Derek – Filter Party VIP lounge. Temper Trap blew me away and 8 Jack and cokes later I was good to go.

Allison – Seeing Boxer Rebellion despite being sick, or anytime I got free drinks without waiting in a line

Ricky – Climbing over the fence at the French Legation center to see the XX, and then finding out the place where I climbed over was right behind the main stage, allowing me to scoot myself nicely to the side of the stage.

Worse SXSW Moment

Gary – When Stubb’s AND Mohawk both ran out of wristband admission on the same night after 3 hrs of combined waiting and I walked around with a stranger to unheard-of bands but discovered only teensy pop… designs of the RICKY hidden from us.

Derek – Waiting in line in cold for stupid Perez Hilton party

Allison – The ridiculous cold Saturday

Ricky -Stupid lineup at Perez Hilton Party.

There you have it. SXSW, we love ya and we’ll see you next year!

Concert Review: Thrush Hermit, March 26 & 27, Lee’s Palace

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Paul in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

Toronto – We here at The Panic Manual have made no secret of the fact that we like Joel Plaskett.  The dude has been writing good tunes and playing great shows for awhile now.  But as I’m sure many of you are aware, before he went solo, he was a part of the great East Coast band Thrush Hermit.  I probably remember seeing Thrush Hermit first on the old MuchMusic program Much East. (creative name, that)  Their videos from back in the day were a little bit odd and definitely pretty awesome.  I also remember getting their album Sweet Homewrecker through the old Columbia House music club thing.  Ah nostalgia …

And I suppose in a way nostalgia is what brought me to this show.  I liked this band a lot back in the day and still do, but I never got to see them.  So I was really looking forward to these shows, so much so that I got tickets for both nights (but passed on the Sunday afternoon show … that would be too much Hermit even for me.  If anyone saw it though, let me know how it was)  And Thrush Hermit did not disappoint.  Taking to the stage to the strains of the intro to “Skip The Life” playing on a loop (which gave it a weird Twin Peaks-ish quality) and lit by the warm neon glow of their “Rock & Roll” sign, they immediately kicked into a night of their greatest hits.  They played pretty much every song I would’ve wanted them to, except “I’m Sorry If Your Heart Has No More Room.”  I would have shouted out a request for it, but that would have taken too long and been a bit awkward to shout out, so alas, I didn’t hear it. 

 I also didn’t hear the opening acts on either night, which bummed me out a bit afterwards as I heard that Attack In Black played on Saturday.  Oh well, such is life.  What I did see, however, was some weird jazz band playing at The Tranzac on Friday night before heading to Lee’s.  Their guitar player looked like Matt Groening and had lots of effect pedals.  And on Saturday, I saw Mayor Miller drinking alone at a neighbourhood bar.  You’d think the Mayor would be able to rustle up a few drinking buddies, but whatever. 

Thrush Hermit put on a great show, rocking out like almost no time had passed.  In fact, time seemed to be a theme for the night, as right before the band came on, Colin James’ “I Just Came Back To Say Goodbye” was piped in over the speakers and after the band left the stage, we were treated to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” to tell us it was time to go.  Also, Rob Benvie and Joel Plaskett got into a brief discussion on time vortexes and such.  And I’m always up for some good time vortex banter, so that was good. 

There wasn’t too much variation between the sets on each night.  In fact, speaking of lack of variation, I suspect that Ian McGettigan has been wearing the same shirt for every show of the tour.  If so, I applaud his decision.  As I said, the hits were pretty much covered.  Highlights included “On The Sneak,” “The Day We Hit The Coast,” “Oh My Soul!”, “Heart Wrenching Man,” ” Hated It,” “French Inhale,” “North Dakota,” Joel Plaskett flashing a light on the crowd during “From The Back Of The Film”  and the highlight of the set on both nights, “Violent Dreams.”  On Friday, they also played a song I totally didn’t recognize, “Take Another Drag.”  Even Benvie seemed a bit surprised as he looked down at the setlist: “That’s one for the diehards.”  Saturday was notable for the appearance onstage on Sloan’s Chris Murphy, who introduced the band for their second encore and joined them onstage for a duet with Benvie on “25 All Right.”  

Oh, and Saturday night was also notable for being loud.  Very loud.  I’m sure it was also loud on Friday night, but on Saturday I was up front and to the right of the stage.  I think I could actually feel my skull shake.  I happened to be passing by Lee’s Palace on Sunday afternoon too, and could hear the bass from outside the venue.  So yeah, loud.  But loud is good.

« Previous   1 2 ... 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 ... 508 509   Next »