horseshoe

Concert Review: Circle of Buzzards, Sentridoh, Sebadoh, August 21, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Allison in Concerts | 2 Comments

Sebadoh

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
– Oscar Wilde

If anyone subscribes to this mantra onstage, it’s Lou Barlow. Barlow, Jason Loewenstein, and drummer Russ Pollard Bob D’Amico (thanks to the commenter below) were back in Toronto for the second time in as many years. This time with a triple-loaded billing starting with Loewenstein’s Circle of Buzzards, followed by Barlow’s solo act (this time under Sentridoh), and finally Sebadoh.

Walking in towards the end of Circle of Buzzards’ scream-laden set, I was pleasantly surprised at how the show appeared to be running ahead of schedule. The Buzzards were slated for 9:00 and wrapped at 9:40; Barlow was scheduled for 10:00 and went on before then; the same goes for Sebadoh. No prolonged sound check, on the fly tuning–this is the way the veterans do it.

The Sentridoh segment was probably the most comfortable I’d seen Barlow. When I saw him in 2010 with the Missingmen, it took him quite a while to loosen the juices to get the storyflow going during his solo set. This time, he launched into it right away–how years of masturbation had not hurt him (as documented through songs like Pound My Skinny Head, which he said was the only one he refused to play), how weed inspired the best songwriting at 19 years old, how his first crush crushed his heart, how happy he was to be away from his wife and kids on tour. His best story was about inadequacies he felt about his career, accomplishments, and physique dropping off his daughter at their posh L.A. neighbourhood school, leading into the song “Calves of Champions” (penned for a comedian and fellow father at his daughter’s school that he was in awe of).

I think the reason Lou’s such a great storyteller is because he lays it all out there. The self-image issues, the inadequacies, the embarrassing teenage memories (one of the funniest stories of the night came in telling us about how he naively thought he would impress his first crush by showing up with contact lenses, which promptly fell out) are unedited. In an age where everyone is pretending to lead perfect, busy lives, this is refreshingly melancholy stuff to say the least.

Barlow plucked away at his ukulele (the instrument he used to write his first songs), which he joked “saved me $25 in baggage checking fees”. Everything of course led into a story, which led into a song–it was revealed that the original Dinosaur Jr. drummer “Murph” had sat and broke his ukulele–and it was only recently that he realized he’d forgiven him for it (revealed to him by the fact that Murph was living with his wife and kids while he was touring).

The ease with which the stories rattled out was alarming, and there was a nice ebb and flow between stories, audience laughter, and songs. Barlow should consider a storytelling tour with a bunch of other 90’s giants.

As for the Sebadoh set, I was happy to see the release of the first new material from their new Secret EP, being hocked on the band’s Bandcamp page, and physical copies being sold only on tour by the band themselves (no merchandising girl for these guys). I’ve said this a lot before and I’ll say it again–it can only be so stimulating for so long to play the same “classics” over and over and over again. After 20 years, I can see how the lustre could fade. The new songs sounded better to me–fresher and more energized. Barlow’s harmonization changed for these songs too, sounding more solid and on the nose than the changed up tune of the older catalogue.

In any case, there was plenty to keep everyone happy–Ocean, Vampire, Beauty of the Ride, they were all there.

Here’s the setlist from their Cambridge, which looks to be more or less what we got:

  1. Flame
  2. Skull
  3. Rebound
  4. Ocean
  5. Arbitrary High
  6. Magnet’s Coil
  7. The Freed Pig
  8. Got It
  9. Mind Reader
  10. S. Soup
  11. Drag Down
  12. Love to Fight
  13. Keep the Boy Alive
  14. Vampire
  15. Homemade
  16. Forced Love
  17. Beauty of the Ride
  18. Sixteen
  19. Drama Mine
  20. Careful
  21. Crystal Gypsy
  22. I Dont Mind
  23. My Drugs

Happily, there weren’t any encores. Not because we didn’t want any, but because we’re too old for them now.

Concert Review: Asobi Seksu, February 27, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Allison in Concerts | 1 Comment

I sometimes wonder what factors are involved when bands/promoters/whoever schedules a show. Seeing as yesterday was Oscar night and a Sunday, I suppose whoever is responsible for Brooklyn’s nu-gazers  Asobi Seksu these days figured they’d go for broke in Toronto.  The result? A fairly poorly attended set, which has its advantages for someone like me.

Advantage #1:

No crowds, cooler temperatures, and a good view of the stage from the Horseshoe’s back benches next to the sound guy. I didn’t have to get up once, nor did I want to.

Advantage #2:

Nu-gazers blitz through sets at a breakneck pace. Songs flow from each other without a break, and I suppose that’s part of the genre that makes for a more compacted live experience. That said, there is not what I would call extensive, soulful conversations between musician and attendee. Given the nature of the set, this is just fine by me.

Advantage #3:

The band might be more likely to fly by the seat of their playlist pants. Though I doubt this was the case on Sunday night, I might venture to say that there was more off Fluorescence and less off Citrus (still my favorite album of theirs), but that’s neither here nor there.

If it feels like I’m running out of things to say here, it’s because I don’t see too much in the way of growth since the last time I saw Yuki Chikudate and company breeze through town. That in itself isn’t too bad – it’s just stagnant, kinda hanging in the air there. Given what little I’ve heard and read about Fluorescence, everyone has come to know what to expect from these guys.

It was a pleasant enough hour-long set that saved me from having to see Kirk Douglas’s potential collapse and revival through defibrillation paddles onstage, and Anne “horse head” Hathaway’s student council leader take on the Oscars (James Franco was so dull he warrants no mention). Though sadly, I did have to abandon a bag of cheesy poofs at the Oscar Party.

Me & Mary by Polyvinyl Records

Concert Review: the Antlers, Horseshoe Tavern, Sept 24

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Allison in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

Don’t believe the hype. But in this case, do.

The Antlers came through Toronto last night for the second time in less than two months. When they came back in July, opening for Frightened Rabbit, puzzled concert-goers had their index fingers shoved up their ears (me and my bleeding eardrums were intrigued). When they came back to the Horseshoe last night, this time as the headliner, it was clear they had established a legitimately strong fan base already. Throughout Holly Miranda’s set I heard multiple people buzzing about the Hospice release. They weren’t buzzing about how fuckable the lead singer was and they weren’t buzzing about an overplayed single. In otherwords, this was not what I would deem “scene buzz” akin to what I have seen at shows like Camera Obscura or Passion Pit. Audience members were actually talking about Hospice as an album and I doubt many of them were there because of Pitchfork approval despite the Horseshoe’s “BROOKLYN Pitchfork Approved Indie Hipster Rock” tagline (Pitchfork has officially become the equivalent of Roger Ebert’s “thumbs up” in the non-mainstream music world).

Couldn’t find any photos from the Horseshoe so here’s a still from chromewaves at Criminal Minds

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Concert Review: St. Vincent, The Horseshoe, Aug 8

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Mark in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

st-vincent

Toronto – St. Vincent played the Horseshoe last Saturday night. It’s been a few years since their last visit, and having been to their last Toronto show (also at the ‘Shoe), it was interesting to see what has changed and what hasn’t. Still present is lead-singer/guitarist Annie Clark ‘s unpretentious and cute stage banter, but now she has a larger following. Not only was the band bigger, but so was the audience. This time around she played to a sold out crowd after the recent release of her 2nd album, Actor.

If you recognize this song, maybe you could yell the name of it, or clap. Nevermind, do whatever you want, I don’t want to micro-manage you.   – Annie Clark

Seeing St. Vincent in 2007 at the Horseshoe just after the release of Marry Me, her debut album, was one of the standout rock shows of the year for me. I was very much looking forward to her playing songs from her new album along with a healthy dose of songs from the first. Although they did play a smattering of songs from the debut, I would have loved to hear a few more; and the crowd was not far behind me. They did start the set with the title track from the Marry Me album, but I could tell almost immediately that a lot of the energy that I remembered from their last show was curiously absent. The first song trundled from start to finish and seemed set the pace for the rest of the show.

One of the things I remember most vividly about her last Toronto appearance was how this unassuming diminuitive young lady could shred guitar like nobody’s business. She rocked out on an extended, inspired, and gritty solo providing a definite wow factor that had the crowd thinking, “How can a girl that tiny rock a guitar like that?”. I was a little disappointed that Annie’s rock guitar skills weren’t as prominent as they were the last time. Despite the sold out crowd at the beginning, it felt like the ‘Shoe thinned out by the end of the set.

Annie did still have her distinctive two-mic setup: one mic for innocent girl voice, one mic for bad girl voice (distorted). It makes for a fun time watching her switch between the two mic’s. In addition to the standard rythm section, she had a violin player and a woodwinds player (sax, flute, and other instruments). Under normal circumstances I think the additions to the band add a pleasing padding to Annie’s haunting lyrics and soulful songwriting. This time around I felt we were only getting a fraction of what this band is capable of on a good night.

It’s the nature of live music that sometimes you’re “on” and sometimes you’re not. Maybe the band can’t find their groove, or they can’t strike a connection with the crowd. This can lead to a lacklustre performance. Despite a lot of success in the interim, St. Vincent just wasn’t able to bring the same kind of raw energy that was on display during their last visit. Here’s hoping we’ll catch them on a better night next time. I’ll see you there.

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