Top Five Performances of 2011 (#4)

4

Northcote - Gather No Dust - Raw Sugar Cafe, Ottawa ON, October 22, 2011

This one was a surprise for me- one of those times when you go to see a band and (not that they're not excellent) but the opener totally steals the show. This was Northcote opening for The Wooden Sky at Ottawa'a Raw Sugar Cafe.

This was the first time I had been to Raw Sugar as a concert venue and it was simply wonderful. I know that sounds Victorian-ish, but it really is the best way to describe it. A quirky yet homey indie cafe nestled just barely into Chinatown, you always feel comfortable when lounging on their couches or old kitchen tables. Normally the music is a little repetitive (how many times can you listen to Tom Waits? apparently many many many...) but that is of little concern during a concert...

So we sat on the floor. We were tired from standing in line, and it was cold outside, and frankly the floor was pretty damn comfortable... when singer Matt Goud took the stage (aka area of the floor covered in mics and cables) he laughed good naturedly at our choice of seats and kept the jovial attitude throughout the performance. An adorably bearded ginger, who is as friendly as he is talented, Matt Goud hails from originally from Regina and is currently trying out a solo project, accompanied by two friends on guitar and bass/melodica, both of whom are equally good-natured and good-skilled. They breezed through a too-short [only because it was awesome, I'm sure it was actually regular-lengthed] set and finished off with a few older songs (one of which I got to play the tambourine for ;o), punctuating the whole thing with cheerful banter, gigantic smiles, and genuine mirth. Their music was beautiful, they were wonderful, and it made the whole evening just vibrate with happiness.

We ended the night by buying all of his albums and having a nice chat about my excellent (ha) tambourine skills.  Fingers crossed he returns to Ontario soon as I would jump at the chance to see him play again. Seeing as he was this great when I'd never even heard of him, I am greatly looking forward to hearing the songs live after listening to them non-stop for about three months...!