Music

Concert Review: The Futureheads, June 10th, Mod Club

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Ricky in Concerts, Everything, Music | Leave a comment

Toronto – The Futureheads were in town on Thursday night to promote their new album the Chaos, and they put on an awesome live show. After the FM light hearted pop of Athlete, and the moody (but spectacular) sounds of The Antlers and The National, nothing was more refreshing then when The Futureheads, upon taking the stage shortly after 8:45, asked the crowd “Are you ready to rock?”

The crowd was indeed ready to rock. So the band complied. What happened over the next 80 minutes was a show that moved along at a blistering pace that featured songs from all the Futurehead albums. It was a great rock show and the Futureheads have one of the best on-stage presence I have seen. Instead of going through it chronologically, I’ll just recall moments in the show that I found to be entertaining.

beer

First of all, the Futureheads were drinking Steamwhistle. Barry Hyde, the lead singer, when looking at the beer, asked ‘This is a good Canadian beer, yah?” to which the crowd yelled an emphatic yes. He then proceeded to open the beer bottle WITH A WATER BOTTLE. I was like ‘wtf?’. That was impressive. Later on in the night, someone bought the band Molson beer, to which the band was like ‘Molson?’ with a tone of displeasure.

fans

It was pretty apparent that the band just likes to have fun with the crowd. It was also clear that if you were in the front, the band was going to have some fun with you. At one point, Ross (the bassist) pointed to someone in the crowd during a conversation and said something like “I’m sure this perpetual screamer over here would like it”. Haha. Shortly afterwards, they talked to another audience in the crowd and told him he “had the straightest spine known to man” and that he had “good rock posture”. These kind of jokes happened throughout the night, and I’m pretty sure most fans had a smile on their face.

rock. and. roll

The Futureheads love to rock and roll. Barry Hyde used the guitar to machine gun the crowd and their post-rock punk meets 60s harmony sound was enough to start a mini mosh pit. The band even got the crowd to do what they called the ‘bouncey bounce’ for the tune Skip to the End, which consists of the people just bouncing straight up and down, to which Ross pointed to the guy with the straight spine and insisted it wasn’t a problem for him. Other songs that rocked the show included Man Ray, Area, Decent Days and Nights and Beginning of a Twist. New songs like I can Do That, Jupiter and Heartbeat Song got good reactions as well, in particular the Heartbeat song, which was introduced as a ‘John Hughes song where you fell in love fiver minutes ago’.

Hounds of Love

As I had previously eluded to, The Hounds of Love was a great moment in Oh, and it proved itself to be true on Thursday night, as the band split the concert hall into two sides for dueling Ohs to begin the Kate Bush cover. When Ross’s side won, he was so ecstatic for the victory he talked trash to Jaff for two straight minutes. The song itself to be a nice sing-a-long and even after the show was over, Ross was still thanking his side for picking up the victory. That’s some genuine fun.

Appreciation

When the Futureheads came back for an encore, they basically said ‘Alright, this has been a great gig, so from now on, we’ll just play requests from now on’. They then proceeded to play three requests before ending the night. What a great way to end a show.

All in all, a wonderful show full of energetic upbeat music and a great time was had by all. We also discovered pints at the Mod Club was cheaper then bottles.

The Futureheads – Heartbeat Song by Fuzzy Stereo

Concert Review: Fyfe Dangerfield, May 23rd, El Mocambo

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Music | 1 Comment

Dear Toronto Concert-goers,

I’ve had it with you. What’s more, I don’t understand you. As a city of music appreciators where pretty much everything sells well, you would think bothering to show up would mean bothering to pay attention (or at the very least, pretending to). But Sunday night you proved to me that no matter how earnest a performer may be and no matter how many instruments he may juggle, it isn’t enough to compete with an audience who thinks that they’re on the set of a talk show.

Alright, to be fair, Sunday night was the series finale of LOST, a show I have never followed but have never heard more rabble from my peer group. Bearing this in mind, I wasn’t expecting the turnout that showed. Unfortunate name aside, Fyfe Dangerfield (better known as the former front man from the Guillemots) put on a very decent show and filled the room more than a lot of acts could’ve.

Couple of oddities about this show: it was partially seated – something I have never seen before at any General Admission show (random tables and chairs were littered around the general stage perimeter); it contained more photo taking than any other show I have been to (mostly by a group of women in front of me, who seemed to think Mr. Dangerfield was Robert Pattinson at a teenage fanfest). To be honest with you, I can understand the appeal. He’s got a bumbling sort of non-threatening charm that the young Hugh Grant had prior to soliciting prostitutes, and seems like the harmless sort of guy who would carry a pocket watch in his vest.

Fly Yellow Moon is Fyfe’s solo album, and a decent one at that. He wasn’t shy about playing the best known Guillemots songs (Trains to Brazil, Made Up Lovesong #43), he wasn’t shy about playing multiple covers, he wasn’t shy about talking to the audience, and he certainly wasn’ t shy about playing about a million instruments simultaneously. And herein lies my main complaint: while there is no question that Fyfe is a talented pianist, guitarist, bassist, percussionist, and certainly vocalist, it’s just better to have the back-up instead of (as our friend Danny Taylor of Zaza says) “dancing around like a clown onstage“. There were a couple of people on strings who joined him onstage a couple of songs in, and the drummer of the opening act ran in to help him out spontaneously a couple of times (which brought a much needed energy to the show). Watching him play a sample, record a sample, and layer it into a song in front of us was impressive, but when I go to a show I’m not really going to see a spectacle. I’m going to appreciate the music.

Couple of takeaways about this show: Having the experience of hearing live instruments played live in front of you is integral to the non-electronic music experience; I will never, ever understand why anyone who wants to talk loudly would stand anywhere near the stage.

Fyfe Dangerfield – She Needs Me by Royalty Central

Interview: Zaza, May 8 2010, European Tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Estragon, Bologna, Italy

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Everything, interviews, Music | 9 Comments

 

First of all, I apologize for taking so long to post this. Zaza, the three piece Brooklyn-based band (that we have referenced in our Best-of 2009 and end-of-year podcast, review of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart North American Tour) has been gracious enough to speak with our European friend, Davide prior to their sound check in Bologna before opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on May 8 at the Estragon.

It has been a very busy spring for Zaza. They have already completed their first European tour after opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and we can expect a full length LP from them in 2010, which was on my wishlist from 2009. So well done and godspeed!

Join us as Davide embarks on a world of conversation with Zaza, covering the live versus recorded debate, how they signed with Kanine, their history with the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the organic process that they have enjoyed since it all started.

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Review: Coachella 2010, Part 1: Mind Blowing Acts

Posted on April 29, 2010 by sarahw in Concerts, Everything, Music | 5 Comments

Palm Springs – 130 bands, 3 days, 30+ degree desert weather, an abundance of mind-altering substances, pairs of wayfarers in every colour you can imagine, interesting headdresses, more sweaty skin-to-skin contact than you’d like to admit and 80,000 of your closest hipster friends baking and dancing under the desert sun…this is Coachella.

Admittedly I only managed to see 20% of the 130, but this still entailed 24 hours of pure concert bliss. To list the performances I saw with separate reviews would be boring and exhaustive, for brevity’s sake I will lump the performances into 3 categories: Mind Blowing, Surprisingly Sub-Par and Honourable Mentions.

Mind Blowing

I’ll start out with the best of the fest because well, I left California with a great deal of respect for the following 3 acts: Whitest Boy Alive, Thom Yorke and Gorillaz.

One: Whitest Boy Alive

Whitest Boy Alive is the brainchild of Erlend Oye, best known for his work with Kings of Convenience, one of my favourite bands. I have been a fan of WBA for a few years now and am embarrassed to admit I only learned of Erlend’s association with them about a week before Coachella.

When I received the set list for Coachella I was disappointed to see that their set coincided with Jay-Z during the first night. I caught most of Jay-Z’s show which was awesome as expected and then made my way from the Coachella main stage to the GOBI tent to see WBA. The tent was surprisingly packed and WBA was still setting up their equipment. After a few minutes the band casually walked on and opened with Keep a Secret, one of my favourites and then continued to play song after amazing song from both of their albums.

They have a very unique electronic and somewhat funky sound that, combined with Erlend’s silky smooth Norwegian voice is hard not to bop your head to. As far as stage presence, when Erlend walked on the first thing I thought was that he looked like Bill Gates, but where he lacks in style he makes up in tight melody. This was WBA’s second time playing in North America (they made a stop in San Francisco to play at a small venue called Slim’s which I’ve heard was equally as amazing) and I certainly hope they plan a more extensive tour that includes Toronto because I would love to see these guys at a more intimate venue.

Two: Thom Yorke

On the Coachella set list he was billed as Thom Yorke????, which most people thought was a typo, but apparently when he assembled his super group (who play with him on tour) of Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco they never managed to name themselves so they stuck with the ever mysterious Thom Yorke????.

I’m big fan of Radiohead, but have never seen them live so could not understand the cult following they garnered and the immediacy at which their lives shows sold out. Boy do I realize why now! Thom Yorke has one of the strongest and most beautiful voices live, even heard from way at the back of an outdoor stage. He played his entire Eraser album, beginning with the slower songs and slowly building with the harder driving electro-heavy tunes.

Thom does it all, during the set he sang, played guitar, piano, keyboard and percussion. While his Eraser set was nothing short of jaw-dropping, I would say most people lingered around to catch some Radiohead tunes. Knowing this Thom closed with an acoustic version of Airbag (OK Computer) and a classic, Everything in its Right Place (Kid A, Radioheads closest album to The Eraser). I was blown away with Thom’s talent and cannot wait for what comes next, whether it be Radiohead or another solo album.

Three: Gorillaz

Gorillaz headlined the last day of Coachella and went on right after Thom Yorke at the main stage. Before the festival I hadn’t heard much of their new Plastic Beach album but I was a big fan of their debut Demon Days. Gorillaz is made up of Damon Albarn, formally of Blur and Jamie Hewlett, the mastermind behind the famous Gorillaz comic book cartoons. Now if you’ve ever listened to a Gorillaz album you’ll know that it’s heavy on collaborations and it crosses all musical genres so I was wondering how the hell they would pull off a live show.

They opened with a video of Snoop Dogg singing Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach, now we were pretty far back in the crowd so our surrounding concert goers thought Snoop was actually on stage which stirred some hype! Unfortunately Snoop was not actually there, but from where I was standing I could see that with Damon on the keyboard and vocals, they had back-up singers, a string quartet and various other members.

They played most of their classics; Kids With Guns, Clint Eastwood, Last Living Souls as well as most from their new album including my favourites Stylo (which featured Bobby Womack) and Melancholy Hill (they did not play DARE). Gorillaz closed their set and the entire festival with Feel Good Inc alongside De La Soul. Between the cartoons playing on the big screen, their backup ensemble and the truly original sound of Gorrillaz I was definitely impressed that they rocked a live show so well.

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