Concert Review: Reptar, Rubblebuck, September 11, Lincoln Hall, Chicago

Posted on by Celeste in Concerts, Everything | Leave a comment

reptar

Reptaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar you know my soul. That’s the only response I have to the lyrics that were busted out by Reptar during their Tuesday night concert at Lincoln Hall:

“But if you see my running down the street/say I wanna be your friend/it’s a phrase I don’t say often enough/don’t want to scare or to offend.” Real talk real time, at least once a day I see someone strolling down the streets of Chicago who is super intriguing and who I just wanna run up to and say “be my friend.” I restrain myself though, because I’ve been told that there are “norms in society” and that this would be “breaking them.” Meh.

“You turn around and south becomes north.” In my mind this is a shout-out to the directionally challenged. What What!

“Circle ring ring triangle square.” I can’t even begin to explain why love this one – I just do.

To top off these fabulous lyrics, the five piece band out of Georgia was living it up onstage – rarely do I see men who wiggle more than I do at concerts, but these guys were putting me to shame. Shout out especially to the keyboardist and the guitarist, I thought they were going to sprain something.

Sebastian is one of my favorites from them – it takes a second for the beat to drop but it’s worth the wait:

I was ready to end the night there, but as the crew was setting up for the second band, Rubblebucket (editor’s note: maybe the worse band name I’ve ever seen), they brought out glowing ribbons, Christmas lights, strobe light necklaces and a black light, and I knew I had to at least stay for a taste, and the second they stepped out on stage I knew I had made the right decision. The band includes a trumpet, a saxophone, a trombone, drums, a bass, and a delightful female vocalist. Approved.

Rubblebucket had some catchy songs, but they shined most when they just jammed onstage together, no lyrics, with the lead vocalist out in the crowd smearing fans with war paint-lipstick. The trumpet and trombone were in perfect synch with each other in terms of dancing. Boys knew how to move. Even their hairstyles were complimentary. One had a shaved head with hair on top, and the other had a shaved head with a long ponytail flowing down the back.

Best part of the set was when the lead vocalist yelled out, “I think it’s time for the robots!” always an appropriate phrase, but often followed by disappointment. Not tonight: out came two shiny, 10 foot robots, who proceeded to bust out dance moves of their own and high five the crowd. When the night includes a Rugrats-inspired band name, a backdrop of SAT vocabulary words, a disco ball, brass band instruments and dancing robots you know you’re in for a good time.

My advice is get your tickets now. Reptar + Rubblebucket = fun, pure and simple.

Concert Review: Bloc Party, September 11, Danforth Music Hall

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

bloc party

There was a brief moment during the exceptional encore performance of the song This Modern Love where Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke looked up at the crowd and gave a most satisfactory of smiles. Maybe it was the unquestioned adoration of the packed crowd, maybe it was the cute girl who blew him a kiss as she crowd surfed to the front of the stage, or just maybe, in that fleeting moment, he thought to himself “yup, we still got it”

The road back to prominence wasn’t exactly a long one for the London group – they only broke up a few years ago. However, if you factor in the general indifference towards the group’s third album Intimacy as well as the overall disappointment of Kele’s solo record, you could make a case that the reformed Bloc Party had a lot to prove. What followed was a declaration that the group was going back to basics, essentially telling all the fans that they were going to follow the same formula that made Silent Alarm so brilliant and apply it to their new album, aptly titled Four. I’d like to point out that another band that had reformed, The Verve, named their comeback/forth album Forth. Why are reforming bands so lazy with their album titles? They really need to consult Fiona Apple or something.

The arrival of Four was met with some divisive opinions but judging by the excitable crowd on Tuesday, I would say it’s been met with some fanfare. Playing the second of two shows in Toronto, not even a drum malfunction could stop Bloc Party from conjuring up quite a dance party that featured multiple crowd surfers at the gorgeeeeeeeous Music Hall on Tuesday night. As I watched wave after wave of people crowd surfing, I kept on wondering – who are these people? It seems that the group has picked up a huge swath of bros since the last time I saw them at a small venue (Opera House, 2006), where there was definitely no crowd surfing. I guess it’s the Edge effect.

Led by the ever charming Kele (who seemed to enjoying screaming the words “TOOOOOROOOOONTOOOO”), Bloc Party played an excitable 80 minute show. While fans have yet to embrace all the tracks from the new album, the single Octopus had it’s fair share of fist pumping from the crowd. New material aside, the heart of the Bloc Party show still resides with the tracks off Silent Alarm as evident by the next level excitement of the crowd whenever the familiar notes of tracks from that record emerged. This Modern Love is just a fantastic song and combined with the set ending track Helicopter gave the London group an excellent 1-2 punch to add to the message they have been giving out.

A return to basics and a return to form, the Bloc Party is back.

Cover of they Day: Patrick Wolf – Born to Die (Lana Del Rey cover)

Posted on by Ricky in Covers, Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Remember Lana Del Rey?

While she might have left our collective mind over the course of the last nine months (mostly due to her tragic SNL performance), it’s hard to forget that period between October to December 2011, when the New Jersey youtube singer was the hottest ticket in town. Patrick Wolf sure didn’t, and as such, has released a cover of “Born to Die.” You might recall this song from the tigers that are in the music video.

Simplifying the original song, Patrick augments his vocals with a simple string section and this track sounds good. Check it out.

Patrick Wolf is touring North America next week, get your tickets.

9/18/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live
9/20/12 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub
9/21/12 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub
9/22/12 – Boston, MA @ Royale Nightclub
9/23/12 – Montreal, PQ @ L’Astral
9/25/12 – Toronto, ON @ The Music Gallery
9/28/12 – Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
9/29/12 – Vancouver, BC @ Rio Theatre
9/30/12 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
10/2/12 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

Concert Review: John K Samson, September 6th, Bathurst 918

Posted on by Brent in Concerts | Leave a comment

johnksamson

The John K Samson show took place at the former Toronto Buddhist Church, now known simply as 918 Bathurst, which is now a culture, arts, media, and education centre between Bloor and Dupont. The main room was perfect for a quiet intimate show with 90 percent of guests seated. The show was an all ages and also a dry show so it was minus the distraction of bottles and glasses clinking. On the way out the door I even saw some that chose to bring their young kids.

Michael Feuerstack, guitarist of Wooden Stars and more notably Snailhouse, opened the show with a solo set of well-crafted heartfelt songs telling the stories of a veteran Canadian singer/songwriter. As well, he stayed busy played electric guitar and lap-steel for most of John K’s set.

The set started with John K Samson playing most of his solo album “Provincial” which was released back in January. The second half finished with some Weakerthans songs that translated well in to solo acoustic tunes. Samson took requests for the encore and invited Feuerstack back on stage to finish up. Samson is one of the most underrated Canadian modern songwriters but when listening to him engage the crowd with the stories and meanings behind some of his songs, it made it all the more special to be there. He finished by standing and balancing himself on a tall stool while playing and singing “Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure”.

Beyond the show, I must point out that Samson has some really decent beard growth going on. You can catch the two of them who are finishing off a southern Ontario tour this week.

9/11/12 John K. Samson & Michael Feuerstack Hamilton, ON
9/12/12 John K. Samson & Michael Feuerstack Meaford, ON
9/13/12 John K. Samson & Michael Feuerstack London, ON
9/14/12 John K. Samson & Michael Feuerstack Peterborough, ON
9/15/12 John K. Samson Kitchener, ON