Toronto – My review for this show was written three weeks ago when I bought my ticket. Anybody who read my review of MOS latest CD, Re-Arrange Us will know that I am a big fan (not as big as THIS person, but still big). I was pumped to see Kori and Jason and wouldn’t have missed the show for anything. They would really have to fuck things up to disappoint me. They didn’t. They played a solid mix of old and new songs. The highlight was the unexpected strings and trombone accompaniment provided by opening act Judgment Day. As a two piece, MOS know how to crank it, but with the additional help, the show was cranked up to 11. Here is the set list.

Fraud In The 80’s
Now
Like U Crazy
Get Better
Think Long
You Are Free
Jigsaw
Goods (All In Your Head)
Beautiful Dreamer
These Days (Simon and Garfunkle cover)
Blue And Gold Paint
Ha Ha
My Only Offer
Re-Arranger
Proofs
So Many Ways

I hung around after the show and got Kori and Jason to sign my copy of their 2000 release My Solo Project. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hey guys, great show. Can I get you to sign my CD?
Jason: Thanks, no problem. Wow, this CD has our old address on it.
Kori: This is when we had a PO Box
Jason: This is one of the Omnibus releases!
Me: Does this give me MOS cred?
Jason: Yah man, you have cred. Hang on to this.
Me: Awesome. Will you two adopt me and raise me as your own?

Here is Proofs from My Solo Project that they played. A much different sounding MOS from Re-Arrange Us.

 

 Mates Of State - Proofs (My Solo Project): Play Now

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.

(Pitchfork photo credit)

 

 Bon Iver - Skinny Love: Play Now