Everything

Concert Review: Bon Iver, July 22nd, Lees Palace

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Wade in Concerts, Everything | 6 Comments

Concert attended and reviewed by Panic Manual correspondent Karen Parker

(Toronto) I discovered Bon Ivers’ (Justin Vernon) album For Emma: Forever Ago after hearing one of his songs featured on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy……don’t’ judge me. I instantly loved the “sound of a man left alone with his guitar and his memories” (Pitchfork). And when I discovered that he had isolated himself in the woods for four months to write it….I lost my mind. It was like all my fantasies had been rolled into one big one and served in woolly touque. Thoughts of a beefy bearded man in a wool coat ala Gerard Butler, capably chopping wood and foraging for his food by day while nursing a broken heart and healing through the creation of haunting music in front of a roaring fire in the woods by night was almost too much to bear….almost.

At the show my friend Ashley was heard to say:

Mmmm I’ll be your skinny love…..I’ll lose like 25 lbs for you if you let me sit on your face.

He was supposed to go on at 10:15 and as everyone knows bands never go on at their scheduled time. It’s 10:30 and I’m racing from work thinking….I’m gonna make it with time to spare and sure enough…..he went on at 10:13!!!! C’mon Bon! Rock stars make you wait! By the time I got there, got past security and made it inside I had missed most of the show….including Skinny Love! Who plays their best song early in the set anyway? I caught two songs and then two in the encore.

What I did hear was fantastic. The place was packed and more humid than a Brazilian rain forest and speaking of brazilians, clearly I wasn’t the only woman there hoping to witness her fantasy on the stage. He could have done with a bigger venue but I think even he was overwhelmed and surprised by the turnout. And while attractive in his own way, sadly, up close, he doesn’t look like Gerard Butler in a plaid shirt…..but this.

I think I can see his balls.

bon iver
(Pitchfork photo credit)

Concert Review: Run With The Kittens, July 18th, Steam Whistle Unsigned

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Wade in Concerts, Everything | 2 Comments

(Toronto) When I go to a show and see four healthy guys, under 30 with normal hair and no beards take the stage, I get nervous. Call me old fashioned, but I want musicians to look like musicians. Hung-over, starving, smelly, emancipated, musicians with blood shot eyes. When Run With The Kittens took the stage at the Roundhouse, they looked like they just came from a spaghetti dinner at their parents place. Yes, a spaghetti dinner where their parents forced them to dress up like Gold Dust and groom each other.

From what I witnessed on Friday night, I would summarize Run With The Kittens as Los Straitjackets meets High School Musical, meets Wolf Parade meets Ice Capades. There is no doubt that they played hard and that they know how to rock out. After the Kittens rocked out for a while, they slowed it down, made funny faces at the camera men, then they yelled and rocked out some more.

I left the show feeling somewhat confused, kind of like the first time I saw Cirque Du Soleil. What did I just witness? I didn’t feel the urge to run to the back to buy one of their CD’s, but on the other hand, I now feel compelled to check out their weekly Tuesday night show at the Cameron House.

I’d see them again. I think?

?/5

Concert Review – Brooke Gallupe (Immaculate Machine), The Phonemes and Great Aunt Ida: Cameron House, July 10th, 2008

Posted on July 11, 2008 by Wade in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

(Toronto) This was a very sexy show by three very sexy Canadian musicians in a sexy venue. I love the Cameron House. Great little venu with good table service. In a town like Toronto where you constantly get shitty table service, you can spot good service a mile away. Just keep me drinking, is it really that hard?

First up were The Phonemes, or one, or sometimes two of them. Magali Meagher played a quiet set. A quiet sexy set that is. Her awkward, soft banter and stories about personal ailments totally got my sympathy vote. I was really anticipating hearing Easter Suit, which she didn’t play, and Pain Perdu, which she saved until the end of the show when all three artists took the stage to help perform each others songs. Head on over HERE and listen to Pain Perdu. It’s good.

I was pretty excited to catch Great Aunt Ida too. Sexy. Normally a larger outfit, Ida Nilsen showed up and played a plethora of depressing songs about love and loss. She looks nothing like your great aunt.

I have never made it out to an Immaculate Machine show, so when the opportunity to see one third of them play, I thought I should take it in. Brooke Gallupe played some new solo tunes and also threw in some Immaculate Machine tracks such as Nothing Ever Happens, Jarhand and C’mon Sea Legs. Brooks’ stripped down, intimate version of these songs surprised me with the amount of energy he threw into each track. Dressed in his best whites, his shaking and strumming definitely had some ‘umph’ behind it. Although I must admit, during Jarhand, I kept wanting to hear Kathryn Calder chime in. And yes, Brooke was also very sexy, thanks mostly to his moustache. It’s a good one. Maybe three weeks of growth? Keep the dream alive Brooke.

Here is an awesome Phonemes video:

NXNE Friday, June 13th: Rich Aucoin

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Wade in Concerts, Everything, North By Northeast | Leave a comment

A girl eating blackberries out of an Amsterdam glass with chopsticks, a tambourine player reading the lyrics off a piece of paper and throwing sparkles on audience members, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Superman being projected on stage and finally, a trumpet and kick ass drums that you can clap along to. To say that Rich Aucoins’ music gives me goose bumps is an understatement. For the thin crowd at Clintons for the evenings opening 9:00 slot, Rich definitely pleased those of us who came out.

Rich is a multi-instrumentalist pop artist from Halifax. Last summer he biked across Canada, playing shows along the way. On his current tour, he is running half marathons in each city to raise money for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. For those who don’t know, a half marathon is 22km.

Me: Hey Rich, use Panic Manual in a sentence.
Rich: Ummm…When things get tough, consult your panic manual?

Yah, I know. It was a stupid question. I’m no rock journalist.

He is currently making his way out west. You can catch Rich in Vancouver at the Railway Club on June 19th and at the Peanut Gallery on June 20th. Ohhhh…and at the Marquee in Halifax with DEERHOOF, July 19th. Nice.

I stuck around for some of The Superfantastic set. The two of them rushed in 10 minutes before their set and got right down to business. Their set wasn’t nearly as cute and personal as their set at CMW, but they kicked out Tonight Tonight which made me smile.

4.5/5

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