Concert Review: The Cure, May 26, GM Place

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Vik in Concerts, Everything | 4 Comments

the cure live in vancouver

Vancouver, A warm spring night, not ideal conditions for Goth’s children to creep out of the shadows in order to attend the return of The Cure after a 10 year, 7 month delay. This was my first time seeing The Cure and not being an uber fan I had mixed feelings as to how it would be. Based what what I read and was told, The Cure performs epic set in excess of 3 hours with multiple encores, but people I know who have seem them live would always say the show was ‘Amazing’. I pressed on though, The Cure is just one of those bands I had to see, more so because they’ve been such a huge influence on many of my favorite bands.

We arrived at GM place early to pick up my tickets at the will call window. Staying true to my lazy nature, I waited until the last minute to pick up the tickets even though I purchased them 1 year ago. We decided to skip the opening band 65 days of static as they seem a bit too industrial for our taste. Arrived back at GM place at 8:30 only having to wait 10 minutes for the lads to make their appearance – quite surprising seeing as I’m usually terrible predicting the start times of bands. After a rousing reception from the crowd as if they were collectively thinking ‘Took you long enough!’ personifying it in the form of applause. They kicked of the set with a 5 song intro with – Falling Down, Fascination Street, The Walk, Love Song, and Sleep When I’m Dead. They sounded good, but personally I felt the show kicked off as soon we heard the haunting thump and twinkle of “Picture of You”. This made more than half the crowd to jump to their feet, couple that with swaying and clapping, it made the atmosphere absolutely eclectic. The set continued on with a mix of some new tracks and a few old. I didn’t recognize most of them (but you might, here’s the setlist). I was just enjoying the great atmosphere and it seemed like Smith and Co. were as well:

Simon Gallop on bass keeled over this guitar in the classic shoegaze pose (my cohort Ryan mentioned he looked exactly like the bass player in Guitar Hero). Porl Thomson on lead guitar was dressed up in what looked like a vinyl jumpsuit with glittery red platform boots. Jason Cooper was pounding perfect beats that many in the crowd were air drumming along to. Robert sounded fantastic, seemingly enjoying himself by hopping, shimmying and swaying around the entire stage.

The set hit it’s climax three quarters of the way through when Smith and crew pulled out – Friday I’m In Love, Inbetween Days, and Just Like Heaven with no breaks in between, needless to say we ate it up, licked our lips and rubbed our tummies. They capped off their first set at around 10:30 after playing at least 20 songs. Staying true to form they came back on stage after very little coaxing from the crowd. I unfortunately only stayed for the first encore which included – Love Cats, Let’s Go To Bed and Close To Me. After a little research I found out the last 2 encores included – Boys Don’t Cry, Jumping Someone Else’s Train, 10:15 Saturday Night and Killing An Arab.

To sum the entire Cure experience, it only takes one word: ‘Amazing’.

5/5

Thanks John

 

Clip of ‘Pictures Of You” taken at the ACC in Toronto

Concert Review: British Sea Power, May 16, Lee’s Palace

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Ricky in Concerts, Everything | Leave a comment

Toronto – If you have read the Panic Manual at all in recent months, you will know that I am a massive fan of British Sea Power’s new album “Do You Like Rock Music?”. So it was no surprise that I was anxiously awaiting the band’s show at Lee’s Palace on Friday night. I had missed the bands prior outing here at the Berkeley Church as part of the Beautiful Noise tapings. Damn you Tokyo!

The show at Lee’s Palace was actually a double bill, with the Rosebuds opening for BSP. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to attend the Rosebud’s showing although a friend of mine said it was ‘good’. That is no surprise. I arrived just as they were finish setting up the stage – the typical BSP stage, that is – foliage and all. There was definitely more greenery here then last time. The show was sold out, which goes to show the enthusiasm of people towards the new album.

At around midnight, the chimes of “All in It” signaled the start of the show. Kay Von then came out and introduced the band. He did this last time too, I believe. I am actually not sure which came first, the intro or the song ‘all in it’. Alcohol – bad effects on memory at times. It doesn’t really matter since that tune was just a recording/intro song. Once the band took on stage, they started to rip into “Atom”, off their most recent album. The normal four piece band was also joined by a lady on the violin and did little talking through out the eighty minute set.

The set consisted of songs mainly from DYLRM and some songs from “The Decline of..” (“Carrion”,”Remember Me”,”Fear of Drowning”, “Blackout”). The sophomore album – “Open Season” got mostly ignored, except for “Oh Larsen B”. I believe. Having seen them tour for each of the three albums, I found that the band seemed extremely polished now. The sound was crisp, the vocals were clear and breathy and unlike the past two shows, there was little shenanigans this time around – maybe because Eamon left for Brakes, or maybe because the band has now matured to the point where they can rely on the strength of the music to carry the show and not having marching drummers run thru the crowd or nearly getting decapitated by a ceiling fan when hoisting the guitar player on your shoulders to play a solo. I am not sure.

Overall, I enjoyed the show quite a bit – DYLRM translates nicely in concert and the older material is still strong. I was kind of disappointed they didn’t play “Apologies to Insect Life” or “Please Stand Up”, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be there the next time they visit, so it is not a big deal.

4/5

Concert Review: Feist – May 13 – Hummingbird

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Mark in Concerts | 7 Comments

Feist rocks it

Toronto – So let me tell you about the Hummingbird Centre. It’s no longer called the Hummingbird Centre. It’s now called the “Sony Centre“. But I prefer calling it the Hummingbird; and it’s a great place to see a medium to large band while avoiding the uber-mega crowds of Ricoh and beyond. The best and worst part of seeing a rock show at the Hummingbird is the acoustics.

You see, under the right conditions, you can practically hear a pin drop. The effect can be positively spine-tingly when the crowd is silent and the performer is in control of the room. Unfortunately, the acoustics are so good that I find myself hyper-aware of the crowd around me. I saw Radiohead at the Hummingbird a few years ago when this douchebag on the other side of the floor said something during quiet time and managed to ruin the moment. Anyway, the point here is when you’re at the Hummingbird, everyone can hear you.

Now, then. My friend rightfully points out that these concert halls are designed with acoustics in mind, and behave in this fashion. This is a valid point. I suppose when I go to see the symphony at Roy Thompson, the crowd just doesn’t yell “I LOVE YOU!” and “yyyeaaAAAHHHH! WhooOOooo!” to Peter Oudjoudjou. This probably has to do with the fact that the Classical-listening audience tends to be older, less drunk, and less stoned then the hip urbanistas that patrol Feist and Radiohead concerts.

Anyway, instead of ranting about the douchebags that like to ruin shows, I want to help solve the problem. As such, I’ve prepared this handy-dandy flowchart that all of you space cadets can print out, laminate, and whip out when you’re wondering when it’s an appropriate time to clap, and when it’s an appropriate time to shut the fuck up. I love playing around with flowcharts like this at work because it totally makes me look like I’m working hard. I highly recommend learning how to vent via the magical power of flowcharts.

How to Not be a Concert Douchebag

Figure 1 – How Not to be a Concert Douchebag

Now, on to the show. The opening band was Great Lake Swimmers. This band is not just chill, they’re super-duper chill. Their self-titled debut album is interesting because there are crickets in the background throughout. This adds a homey consistency to their particular brand of indie campfire folk. The one downside about this show was technical in that they seemed to be running into some feedback issues occasionally, which took away from their super crisp sound. I would like to listen to this band unplugged next to a real great lake that I just swam around in, while also listening to real crickets and warming up next to a cheery fire and making smores while surrounding by my friends both old and new.

Anyway. Next up was Feist. Leslie Feist. Feist is her real name by the way. What can I say about Feist? What a voice. She owns her voice in a way that few singers own their voice. Feist just absolutely rocks, both literally, with songs like Sea Lion Woman, and figuratively, with her exuberant prancing and mischievously funny stage banter. The show was coupled with some extremely tasteful and creative effects. These visual artists used all sorts of sweet, low and high-tech techniques to artfully lend to the atmosphere of Feist’s music. They used disco balls, fake snowflakes, and a projector with home-made arts-and-crafts to make their own moving pictures that blended perfectly with the music.

The quiet moments, for their part, sounded really fantastic. It was too bad that Feist’s request for the crowd to not yell during these quiet moments fell on deaf ears. See figure 1. Some of you might remember her song “1, 2, 3, 4” from Apple commercial fame. Personally, I’m partial to I Feel It All, which was the signature song at this year’s film fest. I’ve been conditioned to watch a movie after hearing that song, and was a little disappointed when there was no movie. Fortunately Feist followed it up with another one of those Feist songs.


Great Lake Swimmers: 3.7 out of 5 Great Lakes
Feist: 4.5 out of 5 Snowflakes (which Feist continually tossed at the crowd)

Concert Review: Black Kids, May 9th, Phoenix

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Wade in Concerts, Everything | 4 Comments

(Toronto) Really, this show was a maybe for me, but when Rickys’ friend had an extra ticket, it became a must see.

We got there in time to hear the opener, The Mobius Band. I felt bad when they took the stage and started playing because they essentially played in the dark. The low mood that was used to illuminate the slew of instruments on stage as people entered the Phoenix, also served as performance lights for the Mobius Band. Needless to say, seeing them live didn’t want me open up iTunes to listen to them again. Bring on the Black Kids.

Since they formed in Jacksonville, Florida two years ago, Black Kids have:

-Got press in NME after performing at the Athens Popfest
-Released an EP for free download
-Got a ‘Best New Music commendation and an 8.4 from Pitchfork
-Signed with Quest Management (who manages Bjork and Arcade Fire)
-Named one of the best new bands of 2008 from Rolling Stone
-Recorded their first full length, Partie Traumatic with Bernard Butler form Suede
–I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You debuted at #11 in the UK.

So yah, they are riding some momentum into this year for sure. I guess the most obvious thing that I was interested in seeing was if they were actually Black or not. Upon them taking the stage I found out that the Black Kids are two-fifths black. The five-member ensemble took the stage in the usual American Apparel hoodies and T’s and reminded me, visually at least, of The Go Team! As for their sound, they have some catchy, dance tunes that I am sure will be re-mixed and released in the coming months.

Their stand out single “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” was the highlight of the show for sure. If you are a band and you are selling a t-shirt with the title of one of your songs on it, it had better be a good tune. Songs that I hadn’t heard, such as I Wanna Be Your Limousine and Look At Me When I Rock Wichoo (it is really spelled that way too) were pleasant surprises that were not included on there downloadable EP earlier this year.

Apparently at their live show, their front man, Reggie Youngblood, starts every song with “Hey Toronto…” I’m not too sure how they are going to feel about this in Boston on May 12th. Maybe he thought we in attendance couldn’t remember where we were? I hate that shout out shit that bands do.

Ricky made a good comparison on the way home that they seem to be on the same track as Vampire Weekend. The lead singer has a unique sound, they are fun, and they are getting lots of press. They’ll be back in the coming months for a headlining show, guarantee.

Overall, a good show. When they come back, I want them to be louder with more energy.

After Black Kids, Cold Cut went on. If you saw them and want to leave a note about their contribution to the evening, please do.

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