Library Voices in Montreal OR Why Enthusiasm Matters

So my sister has been spending the past six months working on a devious plan to get me to like all of her favourite bands... I should say that this is a) not that devious (basically it consists of making me mixed cds for the car...) and b) not that difficult a task, since we pretty much like the same kind of music to begin with, just different individual bands. Nonetheless it has been a rather successful undertaking, reaching its zenith during the Library Voices show in Montreal this past Wednesday.

Library Voices are my sister's favourite band. Now I know that you think you know what I mean when I say "Favourite Band" but I am rather pretty friggin certain that you are underestimating that statement. Lets put it this way: during a hypothetical conversation about the implausible situation of waking up one day to find all of your musical tastes had been reversed, she suddenly became wide eyed and said (in a barely audible whisper) "But... but... not liking Library Voices would make my heart hurt...!" and then proceeded to tear up. Honest to god actual shiny eyes. Oh little sister, in all my years of encouraging your music love I have never been so proud... ;o)

At any rate, this was by far the band she was most excited for me to see live and most hoping I would enjoy. So we went. Its kind of a lot of pressure- Just before the first song my sister turned to me and says " I am SOOOO excited you're going to see them!!!" (Pressure?!? yes.) I have to say I like their cds a lot, but they aren't my absolute favourite, the venue was pretty small (all parties admitting it was because they never fill the bigger ones), and the opener was good but a little snippy. In other words it was an alright set up, but my expectations were on the low side.

They needn't have been.

Even if I was expecting Elvis or Springsteen, Foggerty or Freddy Mercury, I would not have been disappointed. By the second song I understood her trauma at the thought of not liking them. By the third song I was belting out the words to songs I didn't even know I knew. And by song four I was already sure this was making it into my all-time-top-five-concerts. No joke.

My requirements for concert awesomeness?
1) Enthusiasm (the band looks like they want to be there)? Check.
2) Good sound (loud but not so loud it makes your ears bleed, thumping but clean)? Check.
3) Dancing (cuz they/we can't help it)? Check.
4) Sweat (them, me, everyone... if we 'aint all sweatin they 'aint doin' something right)? Check.
and above all else
5) Joy (they are just having so much fun that you can't help but be filled with glee)? Check.

And they were there in spades. All of 'em. Each and every member of the band spent the entire show looking like it was the only place on earth they ever wanted to be (from stepping foot one on stage to coming back out at the end to assure a super fan that they didn't play her favourite song- not because they didn't want to- but because they didn't have the right instruments there and were crap at playing it live). They made each of us in the small but enthusiastic audience feel like we were in on some sort of inside joke, like we were an integral part of their joy, like we were all in the same boat, and that it was the best boat anyone could ever be in. They rocked. They sweated. They danced and jumped and smiled their faces off. They were funny, they were energetic. They were awesome in the original sense of the word.

Sometimes a band is good. Sometimes they're good live and not on cd, or good on cd and not live- sometimes that evens out and makes them just ok. But sometimes, sometimes a band is so good live that it makes listening to them on record amazing. Library Voices is one of those bands. If you ever get the chance to see them in concert, drop everything and do it. It may be in a small venue, there may only be twenty people there (how do more people not know about these guys!?!) but trust me, there is no way you will come away from it not having fallen in love.