Tuesday, April 19, 2005
oh yeah, I finished 0-for-9 in Roll Up The Rim To Win. Technically the contest isn't over but with the warmth experinced today, I don't see myself buying another coffee or hot chocolate while the contest is still running.
I'll take a diet shake to go
After not seeing any shows in a while, I managed to catch a couple on consecutive nights and I figured that I'd give you a brief synopsis of both night's activities.
First up is a concert that I've been looking forward to for a long time. Sunday night's trip down to the Kool Haus yielded a quality show of two up-and-coming bands, one definitely more well known than the other.
Quick name a band from New Zealand. I wouldn't be surprised if you came up empty and before Sunday night, I would've joined you. However, on Sunday night, I got to experience a Kiwi band that left a good impression on me. I missed the first two songs of this band because I was stuck at the merch booth picking up a T-shirt of the headliners but once I got back to the hall, I began to take in the quirkiness and beauty that is the music of The Brunettes. I had heard nothing of them going into the show and after hearing a clarinet dominate the sound of their first song from outside, I was a little skeptical but the simple, love filled lyrics and endless clapping won me over in the end. This the Partridge Family meets the B-52's or a sane, less twisted version of the Danielson Famile. Aside from the standard drums/bass/guitar/keys, The Brunettes have three other members dedicated to rotating through a plethora of instruments. I stopped keeping track after seeing the Alto & Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Cello, Banjo and Triangle. There were a couple other instruments used but at the point I didn't care. And since there were so many people up on stage, if one of their instruments didn't have a part in one piece of the song, they would clap or add some la-la-la's. The songs all had a light, poppy feel to them and it was refreshing to hear.
After they had left the stage, the headliners took the form of the latest Pacific Northwest to experience some success on the Sub Pop label. These guys were the reason that 1500+ people jammed into this club on the lakeshore of Toronto on a Sunday night. No doubt buoyed by the name dropping and revelation of their talent in the movie Garden State, The Shins were treated to a sold out venue that they didn't seem entirely comfortable with. The band was extremely tight and the vocals were the best that I've heard in a long time. I had two real complaints with the show. First of all, everything seemed to be note for note from the CD. Normally this isn't a problem but it would've been nice to hear a different intro here, a different solo there but I could've turned up my mp3 player and kept time with the band. The keyboard player had some funny inter-song banter and Chris Parnell-like antics but the lead singer seemed remote and wooden. A little more emotion or movement from him would've done a lot to loosen up the crowd. Which brings me to my second point, The Shins were on the stage for just over an hour. I know that they don't have a lot of material to draw from with only two full length discs to date and most songs clocking in around 3 minutes. They threw in a cover of a Magnetic Field's song and still ripped through most of their repitoire in 75 minutes. They would've been great if they were the opener but you expect a little more from the headliners. Again, these two points weren't meant to detract from the fact that I enjoyed the show immensely, it's just room for improvement. I really have to stop creating unfair expectations for a band just on the cusp of breaking through. It almost seemed like they hadn't quite made the successful transition from opening band/headliner at a small cafe to that of a decent sized club. I'm sure that after a year or two, they'll feel a lot more comfortable on stage and will be the top notch show that I expected on Sunday.
I was going to type this all last night but then last in the afternoon, I got word from JMeister that he had an extra ticket to a private show starring Canadian favourite, Barenaked Ladies. This event was part of Bell Canada's 125th Anniversary celebrations that had events in 6 cities across this great nation. After sitting through 90 minutes of company bonding time ("It's so great to work for Bell. They pay me so much money and the people are great"), I felt like Homer Simpson when the Movementarians convert him. All that it was missing was the low-protein gruel and group chanting. Actually, the chanting came later.
I love Bell. I will not cancel my land line and go elsewhere for Voice-Over IP. I love Bell
Anyways, after being inundated with Bell paraphernalia, The Barenaked Ladies hit the stage just after 9:00 pm. I'm not the biggest Barenaked Ladies fan but I'm a sucker for a good guitar driven pop song and I happen to think that Gordon is one of the greatest albums put out by a Canadian band. They kicked it off with a number of newer songs stopping only to admire themselves on the video scoreboard and ham it up as their known to do. As the show went on, they slowed moved their way back into their catalogue, ending with the trio of Old Apartment, If I Had A Million Dollars and Brian Wilson. They were tight, funny and entertaining as always and it was nice that they decided to play songs spanning their entire career. You can really see how they began to mature as song writers. Anyway, I experienced perhaps the nerdiest thing that I've seen at a concert. During a couple of the songs, a couple people took out their cell phones, turned them on and waved them like they were lighters. I'm not going to say anything more. The event reached a climax during If I Had A Million Dollars when they enticed the crowd to sing and appeared to be building towards the end. It's an odd experience to here 15,000+ people over the age of 25 singing along at a concert, I guess this is what it's like seeing Celine Dion, ABBA or The Rolling Stones. After a brief intermission while local C-list celebrities came out and cut a cake signifying the event, they ended the show with Brian Wilson. A great song and a great way to end it. I was a little disappointed that Be My Yoko Ono didn't make the set list but hearing a two hour set from a great live band for free is always a very good thing. Thanks to Bell for putting on this show and Joel for providing me with the ticket.
After not seeing any shows in a while, I managed to catch a couple on consecutive nights and I figured that I'd give you a brief synopsis of both night's activities.
First up is a concert that I've been looking forward to for a long time. Sunday night's trip down to the Kool Haus yielded a quality show of two up-and-coming bands, one definitely more well known than the other.
Quick name a band from New Zealand. I wouldn't be surprised if you came up empty and before Sunday night, I would've joined you. However, on Sunday night, I got to experience a Kiwi band that left a good impression on me. I missed the first two songs of this band because I was stuck at the merch booth picking up a T-shirt of the headliners but once I got back to the hall, I began to take in the quirkiness and beauty that is the music of The Brunettes. I had heard nothing of them going into the show and after hearing a clarinet dominate the sound of their first song from outside, I was a little skeptical but the simple, love filled lyrics and endless clapping won me over in the end. This the Partridge Family meets the B-52's or a sane, less twisted version of the Danielson Famile. Aside from the standard drums/bass/guitar/keys, The Brunettes have three other members dedicated to rotating through a plethora of instruments. I stopped keeping track after seeing the Alto & Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Cello, Banjo and Triangle. There were a couple other instruments used but at the point I didn't care. And since there were so many people up on stage, if one of their instruments didn't have a part in one piece of the song, they would clap or add some la-la-la's. The songs all had a light, poppy feel to them and it was refreshing to hear.
After they had left the stage, the headliners took the form of the latest Pacific Northwest to experience some success on the Sub Pop label. These guys were the reason that 1500+ people jammed into this club on the lakeshore of Toronto on a Sunday night. No doubt buoyed by the name dropping and revelation of their talent in the movie Garden State, The Shins were treated to a sold out venue that they didn't seem entirely comfortable with. The band was extremely tight and the vocals were the best that I've heard in a long time. I had two real complaints with the show. First of all, everything seemed to be note for note from the CD. Normally this isn't a problem but it would've been nice to hear a different intro here, a different solo there but I could've turned up my mp3 player and kept time with the band. The keyboard player had some funny inter-song banter and Chris Parnell-like antics but the lead singer seemed remote and wooden. A little more emotion or movement from him would've done a lot to loosen up the crowd. Which brings me to my second point, The Shins were on the stage for just over an hour. I know that they don't have a lot of material to draw from with only two full length discs to date and most songs clocking in around 3 minutes. They threw in a cover of a Magnetic Field's song and still ripped through most of their repitoire in 75 minutes. They would've been great if they were the opener but you expect a little more from the headliners. Again, these two points weren't meant to detract from the fact that I enjoyed the show immensely, it's just room for improvement. I really have to stop creating unfair expectations for a band just on the cusp of breaking through. It almost seemed like they hadn't quite made the successful transition from opening band/headliner at a small cafe to that of a decent sized club. I'm sure that after a year or two, they'll feel a lot more comfortable on stage and will be the top notch show that I expected on Sunday.
I was going to type this all last night but then last in the afternoon, I got word from JMeister that he had an extra ticket to a private show starring Canadian favourite, Barenaked Ladies. This event was part of Bell Canada's 125th Anniversary celebrations that had events in 6 cities across this great nation. After sitting through 90 minutes of company bonding time ("It's so great to work for Bell. They pay me so much money and the people are great"), I felt like Homer Simpson when the Movementarians convert him. All that it was missing was the low-protein gruel and group chanting. Actually, the chanting came later.
I love Bell. I will not cancel my land line and go elsewhere for Voice-Over IP. I love Bell
Anyways, after being inundated with Bell paraphernalia, The Barenaked Ladies hit the stage just after 9:00 pm. I'm not the biggest Barenaked Ladies fan but I'm a sucker for a good guitar driven pop song and I happen to think that Gordon is one of the greatest albums put out by a Canadian band. They kicked it off with a number of newer songs stopping only to admire themselves on the video scoreboard and ham it up as their known to do. As the show went on, they slowed moved their way back into their catalogue, ending with the trio of Old Apartment, If I Had A Million Dollars and Brian Wilson. They were tight, funny and entertaining as always and it was nice that they decided to play songs spanning their entire career. You can really see how they began to mature as song writers. Anyway, I experienced perhaps the nerdiest thing that I've seen at a concert. During a couple of the songs, a couple people took out their cell phones, turned them on and waved them like they were lighters. I'm not going to say anything more. The event reached a climax during If I Had A Million Dollars when they enticed the crowd to sing and appeared to be building towards the end. It's an odd experience to here 15,000+ people over the age of 25 singing along at a concert, I guess this is what it's like seeing Celine Dion, ABBA or The Rolling Stones. After a brief intermission while local C-list celebrities came out and cut a cake signifying the event, they ended the show with Brian Wilson. A great song and a great way to end it. I was a little disappointed that Be My Yoko Ono didn't make the set list but hearing a two hour set from a great live band for free is always a very good thing. Thanks to Bell for putting on this show and Joel for providing me with the ticket.
