Spirited away

Ah summer, the season of outdoor festivals, warm breezy nights, and sweaty pits. Mosh pits I mean (though to be fair I suppose there are many types of sweaty summer pits... but I digress). Summer festivals have a way of turning the most unlikely of band-audiences into sweaty jumping masses - sometimes with crowd surfing and skanking, sometimes with linked-arm-twirling, but always with ample singing and excess enthusiasm. Tonight's offering? Paper Lions and Spirit of the West at night one of Ottawa's Dragon Boat Festival.

I had the chance to see Paper Lions at hillside last summer as was really impressed with their energy on stage and (let's face it, my absolute band-love-weakness) their adorableness- but I only got to watch about five minutes of their set because I had to leave to go to a wedding. It was an awesome wedding, but I was still a little bit sad that I couldn't have finished the set then gone to the wedding... Tonight I finally got to see a full Paper Lions show and, especially taking into consideration that everyone (EVERYONE) puts on a better (read THEIR BEST EVER) performance at hillside, they held up really well! They were bursting with energy (why stand at a keyboard when you can run on the spot while playing?), full of man-love (apparently my quote of the night "two grown men singing into the same mic gets me every time..."), and clearly enjoying playing on such a beautiful day.

Photo credit: Ming Wu

Mixing up a few old favourites (Travlin' and Lost the War) with a bunch of stuff off of their new EP they kept a quick pace and sounded great (if a little loud- and I swear I'm not just saying that!!! Children were covering their ears. for serious). With a bit of coaxing they even got the mostly seated-and-drinking-beer audience to sing along with not one or two, but three separate songs. Pretty good for an early-evening opening act! It was especially great seeing them again since this time I was familiar with a bunch of the songs- and as we all know, singing along makes every show better

Which brings me to Spirit of the West

Maybe you have to be of a Certain Age (maybe not?) but it definitely seemed like all my age-contemporaries in the audience were repeatedly having the same "Wow, I know every one of these songs"  reaction as we were. Now I've listened to Spirit of the West for a long time. Actually over fifteen years (ok, so not that long, but considering they date back to a time before I really listened to music that wasn't my parents', its a pretty long time)... but I strangely didn't really realize how much of their music I knew- and how well i knew it! I think there were only two songs during the whole set that I didn't know all the words to- and most people in the audience were in the same boat.

From the opening The Joneses to Venice is Sinking, our cue to say 'chuck it' to the relaxing seats and head into the developing (and aforementioned) pit, John Mann and the rest of the crew gave an unerring and unceasingly energetic performance that saw everyone (ages three to seventy something) dancing their feet off for over an hour and a half. One of the fantastic things about outdoor festival shows is the breadth of people you get to see loving the same show. From the wee redheaded boy jumping in a circle, to the two we-look-like-we-listen-to-hip-hop-but-are-inexplicably-completely-in-love-with-spirit-of-the-west gentlemen front row centre there were representatives from every possible group, and each one was having just as much fun as the next.

Photo credit: Ming Wu

This whole all-ages thing was carried right up onto the stage as the three year old son of the sound tech snuck up to the drum kit and started playing along with the band. Instead of whisking him off, they made sure he wasn't gonna fall off the stool and let him play through the whole song. then gave him a drum solo. Well, it was more like a cymbal solo, but for a three year old he kinda rocked it (and of course who is immune to that insane level of adorableness? yes, clearly I am not, but everyone else loved it too, I swear!)

Of course they closed out their set with the always popular Home for a Rest, which resulted in some of the loudest singing along I have heard ever (EVER- like not just loud for the size of the crowd, loud for any size of crowd...) the guys on stage started laughing they were so startled by the volume. It was fan-freakin-tastic. And the enthusiasm didn't end there, the dancing and jumping about were insane, again with a full-out mix of teenagers, little kids, adults and seniors, each person haveing more fun than the next.

On CD (or "on ipod I guess I should say?) Spirit of the West have always sounded like they would be good live, but I gotta say they surpassed all of my expectations. Fantastic show, and a fantastic start to the summer festival season.

One day down, two more to go (whats a weekend without three days of concerts?!?)

On Being Un-Ironically Enthusiastic...

SO if you know me in Real Life, or have pretty much ever read this blog , you'll already know that when I love something, I LOVE it. My face becomes all smile, I start talking very quickly, I go over the moon, I almost hit bystanders with wooden spoons... ;o)  This happens with art, with music (particularly concerts... and bagpipes), with tv shows, with gardening, with bicycling... Some of my co-workers have even taken to texting me "BAGPIPES!!!" whenever they hear them somewhere- and even just that makes me incredibly happy (the idea that your enthusiasm has influenced someone even just enough for them to think of you when they hear an instrument they hate... its a pretty nice feeling)!

The odd side effect to all of this is that people often think I am a lot younger than I am- like somehow growing up means you are no longer supposed to find life entertaining (quick sidebar- a friend of mine recently remarked that from me 'entertaining' is the highest possible compliment. I'm not sure how I feel about the implications of that statement, but I cannot deny its accuracy). What rule is there that says that once you get to a certain age you shouldn't go on a midnight park-adventure? Or enjoy a concert? Or love riding your foot-brake bicycle? I refuse to admit that the un-enthusiastic people out there are unenthusiastic because they have nothing to be enthusiastic about. That would just be too sad. I prefer to think that they have things they love as much as I love bombing down the highway with Library Voices blaring (half in the back so I can turn it up louder), but that they are simply- for whatever reason- uncomfortable with other people knowing about it. Which I clearly do not understand.

But then I read this quote by Simon Pegg:

"Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. Being a geek is extremely liberating" 

And this one by John Green

"Nerds are allowed to be un-ironically enthusiastic about stuff... nerds are allowed to LOVE stuff, like jump up and down in the chair, can't control yourself, love it. When people call people nerds, mostly what they're saying is 'You like stuff' which is just not a good insult at all... like you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness..."

And it all started to make sense... I am just a huge dork. Which is totally fine with me.

So this is my advice for a happy life: don't 'grow up', just become comfortable with being a nerd, and everything else will sort itself out.

Cowboys and Wheelers

Moving to Ottawa seems to have had the pleasant side effect of making me like numerous Francophone bands... First Coeur de Pirate, then Karkwa and Marie Pierre Arthur, and now the newest addition to the list- Les Cowboys Fringantes, introduction courtesy of my friend Madelaine, and solidification of love via their Francofest performance this past Thursday.

I am a huge supporter of cultivating informed music exchanges- always an incredibly satisfying and effective experience, well worth the time and effort. By this I mean, of course, really paying attention to why your friends like the music they like, and being really specific about why you like the music you like, then making thoughtful recommendations to one another! Sounds pretty straight forward, but you would be surprised at how many people recommend music based on what they like, not what they think you'll like (regardless of the number of times you have had conversations about why you don't like INSERT BAND NAME HERE). If, however, you are lucky enough to have friends who actually remember past conversations, the exchange goes a little more like this:

Madelaine: "I think you'll like this band because they play lots of fun instruments, they have energetic music, they are really funny, and they're political in an anti-conservative kind of way... all things you enjoy!"
Me: "yes. that seems like a very accurate assesment Madelaine, I will certainly attend this spectacle avec toi!" (Alright, so I didn't sound quite so formal or quite so vaguely multi-lingual, but you get the idea.)

They do play lots of fun and random instruments (even melodica, my favourite!)
They are remarkable energetic- I almost had difficulty keeping up with them, and after an hour of psudo-french-folk-dancing/jumping up and down, it was all I could do to drag myself to McDs for an ice cream sundae...
They were really funny, and in that excellent goofy way which involves running around like overgrown children, playing jump rope with the mic cords and dancing like idiots...
And anti-conservative (specifically anti conservative-arts-cutback) they most certainly were. That was an interesting experience, surrounded by francophones, a stones throw away from parliament, yelling things at Stephen Harper... one of those moments you feel like you're slightly removed from whats going on around you, but easily get caught up in it anyways...

Anyways, long story short (yeah right, me? I'll try) I greatly enjoyed singing along to songs that felt familiar even though I'd never heard them, dancing my feet off for over an hour, and cheering in the midst of a sea of glowsticks and plastic beer cups. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pics of the show, but I thought I might still share a photo I took of the absolutely completely terrifying pre-show entertainment (if running away screaming is entertainment...)

They were like a combination of the Weeping Angels from Dr Who, and the Wheelers from Return to OZ, two of the most traumatically nightmarish fictional monsters of all time- and no, just because I am all growed up does not mean I am not still disproportionately terrified by simple-special-effects-monsters... or lemurs (though that's another story for another day...). And I wasn't the only one! So many screams of fright and running-away-incidents (from other grown adults, might I add) that they actually used different costumes the next day... Just glad I escaped their evil grasp...*shudder*

At any rate, the evening was a rousing success, thanks to the energetic entertainment and despite the nightmare monsters. I think I see more Francophone concerts in my future...!

To Enthuse or Not Enthuse...

... that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to only write posts on things I adore(d) or to make myself also write posts about musics that just didn't make that much of an impression on me...

You may or may not have noticed its been a while since I wrote anything- In reality my last post was about hillside excitement, but at some point it will likely appear that my last post was about the Joel Plaskett show... that would technically be untrue, but I have a bit of a habit of pre-dating posts to match when the concert actually happened.

I won't talk too much about the actual show here, not with specifics anyhow, but I did want to mention some... difficulties I had with it. Well, not with the show itself, but with my reaction to it- I enjoyed myself, sure, but just a regular amount. There were bits I liked and bits I wasn't so fond of. I didn't feel the need to rush out at intermission and buy the albums, but I didn't feel disappointed either. The show was good, it was fine. But how do you write about that?

With difficulty, thats how.

With weeks and weeks of putting it off, and putting it off again, then putting it off some more... I'll get to it (or may have gotten to it by the time you're reading this) but it was a bit of a slog. When there isn't an insane excitement or a major disapointment driving the writing, its sooo much more difficult to assemble your thoughts...

But who am I to complain? Summer is upon us and the warm weather concert season is swiftly approaching. The upcoming weeks will bring not only hillside, Wolfe Island, Bluesfest and Folkfest, but One-offs by Library Voices, Robots!Everywhere!, Said the Whale, and many many more...Who knows, I might even get to be a follow spot op for a show or two! So expect the next couple of months to be full or reviews (good, bad, and yes, even so so) rants, raves and ramblings.

Summer concert season, here I come!

Robots! at the Manx

Its nice having friends who like bands. Its nice going to shows with other people who know all the words and sing along at the top of their lungs (I'm lookin' at you Pruner). Its also nice having friends in bands. Its especially nice when you actually really like the band of friends, AND get to go see those bands with the aforementioned other enthusiastic friends! (did you follow all that? Cuz I'm not sure I did...)

Anyways...

Robots!EVERYWHERE!! at the Manx. Take deux.

This time around I rushed over after class, thinking I had missed Phil's set all together but was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was running late and I was just in time. Excellent. Got a pint, even more excellent. Sat down on the comfy Manx benches. Excellent again. Robots!EVERYWHERE!! ? Excellent, as always.

I'm getting to the point where I'm not even sure what to write about Phil's shows... He is so consistently entertaining that I feel I could almost copy-paste the first half of my review: "The songs are catchy and clever, the crowd heckles hilariously, Phil takes his shirt off, something wacky happens, the show was awesome, then we all went home. Oh Robots!EVERWHERE!! I enjoy you so" ... hmmmmm... lets give that a try this time. Except, of course, with an expansion on the "something wacky happens" part. Which was this:

Phil: "Alright so I want everyone to stand up. No seriously guys, stand up!" (everyone stands up) "Alright now you all need to get into pairs and come up front here. Guys, c'mon. seriously, It'll be good I promise! Get up here!" (starts calling out pairs of people) "Pruner! Erin! get up here! Ok, Ok now stand in your pairs. Now, we're all going to slow dance."

And then he starts playing Enrique Ilarius' Hero. It was epic. But wait, there's more.

Phil: "Ok, now guys, get down on one knee. Girls stick your hand out. Guys grab her hand. Ok now sing along with me!!!" which we all did.

Then more slow dancing again.

Seriously, how does he pull this shit off? With class, that's how. Class and a whole lot of sweatiness.

"The show was awesome, then we all went home. Oh Robots!EVERYWHERE!!, I enjoy you so"

I am so excited that its making my stomach hurt...

...and I still have 94 sleeps until Hillside!

Hillside Festival that is. I always feel like there shouldn't be a capital letter... so hillside. yep.

Though I attended once before, last summer was the first year I volunteered at Guelph's hillside festival and had the whole full-weekend/camping-in-volunteer-village/seeing-a-bajillion-shows/doin'-it-the-hillside-way experience. I loved it. Seriously super-loved it. It only took me about fifteen minutes before I declared "I am doing this again next year and every year forever!" or something to that effect...

I adored every minute of the weekend despite only having pre-hillside heard of about six of the bands (and missing two of them cuz we had to leave to go to a wedding!). We discovered countless new bands to swoon over (including the incredible Graveyard Train) and spent hours sitting on the lawn, tent-hopping, swimming and wandering the food and merch tents... it was fab.

So this year, when the hillside lineup for 2012 got announced and three separate people sent me "Holy crap have you seen the hillside line-up!?!" messages I was understandably anxious to check out the list of performers.

Holy Crap is right.

ALX, Arkells, Rich Aucoin, BADBADNOTGOOD, Bahamas, The Be Good Tanyas, Belle Starr, Geoff Berner, Birds of Chicago, Bidiniband, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Bright Light Social Hour, Bry Webb And The Providers, Chic Gamine, Adam Cohen, Cold Specks, The Crooked Brothers, Current Swell, The Deep Dark Woods, Doldrums, Dirty Mags, The Durants, Kathleen Edwards, Elephant Revival, Elliott BROOD, Esther Grey, Christine Fellows, Great Lake Swimmers, Alanna Gurr, Imaginary Cities, The Jezabels, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Keys N Krates, The Magnificent 7s, Maylee Todd, Memoryhouse, Mickey Hart Band, Minor Empire, New Country Rehab, Ohbijou, Open Hearts Society, Sandro Perri, (POP Montreal Presents: Canailles, Jennifer Castle, Mike O'Brien + Michelle Tompkins), Joe Pug, Rival Boys, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Selina Martin Triplets, Sagapool, The Slackadeliqs, StereoKid, The Strumbellas, Tālavya, Sidi Touré, Chad VanGaalen, Valdy, Walk Off The Earth, The Wooden Sky, Young Empires, Zeus.

yeah... Excited.

I am excited about Zeus (first time I will have seen them not as an opening band) 
I am excited about Ohbijou (so beautiful!)
I am excited about The Wooden Sky (perfect hillside fare!)
I am excited about Great Lake Swimmers and Current Swell and the Arkells


But more than all that put together I am excited about Elliott BROOD. 


Since moving back to Ontario a little over a year ago, I've seen them four times (more than in the previous four years all put together!) and its done nothing but make my love of them even more acute. Seriously, if I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life, I would be sad, but I would at least be mostly okay with it as long as that band were Elliot Brood. And EB live? even better.


Obviously I am excited to see them perform. And I am particularly excited to see them perform at hillside (because hillside performances are always magically even better than the best non-hillside performances). But more than that I am super excited to possibly see them two or three times in as many days (workshops! tents! mainstage!). That last realisation just hit me today, telling my roomate about it while doing dishes. And I had a weird experience, a tv/book/imaginary-world type experience: I suddenly got so excited that I felt momentarily nauseous. Seriously. It was weird. but also awesome. 


I realize I have just irrevocably confirmed my status as an absolutely huge live-music dork, but honestly, if you haven't figured that out by now.... just wait until my hillside posts start rolling in...!


Only 94 sleeps until hillside!

Dear Library Voices... OR An Excersise in Sweatiness, Part Deux

I'll just start by saying this:

I have only seen Library Voices perform twice. The first time made it into not only my top five concerts of the year, but my top five of all time. The second time (this time)... well, let's just say the title of this post doesn't even mention the headlining band...

 

Its happened to me a few times before, but when the headliners are the ever-impeccable Yukon Blonde, its really saying something to be more excited about the openers... but what can I say? LV are just that good!

 

The show kicked off with Great Bloomers. Hailing from Toronto, Great Bloomers are a straight up rock act who really seem to have their shit together despite looking so young. Their sound was solid, their performance energetic and infectious. They had Stage Presence, that's for sure. From the mop-top lead singer, to the dashing guitarist and keyboard player, Mr Luxurious Hair (I promised my friend Heather I would call him that), not to mention the impeccable bassist and drummer, these gents know how to put on a show. On some songs they reminded me of Harlan Pepper- young looking but old-sounding in the best possible way, on others they were reminiscent of early Rolling Stones...

Great Bloomers

I was especially impressed by their performance as a complete picture- their songs were catchy and appropriately rock-oriented, their enthusiasm and dedication to the performance was clearly evident, and they sounded great. Plus they were entertaining. Perhaps most impressively in my books they managed to distract me from my looking-forward-to-LV-ness on several occasions! A great opening act I look forward to seeing again in the future.

Mr Luxurious Hair himself

Then.
Library Voices.

I'm not sure I can properly express my super excitedness as they set up their gear (gotta love when bands don't have roadies) though I'll make an attempt. Like when you're at the top of a roller coaster, about to go over the first crest. You're looking forward to it, but you're also strangely nervous, like maybe it won't be as fun as you remember or maybe something will go wrong and everyone will die... except more like maybe a crappy sound mix or something will make it suck. Either way, a mix of excitement and nervousness that was shortly rewarded with yet another excellent performance.

They opened up with two numbers off of their latest album (Summer of Lust) and plowed through four or five numbers without saying so much as a word beyond "We're Library Voices!" --The lack of early-set banter was strangely a bit of a relief, as I was hoping they would cram in as many songs as possible into their non-headlining set. And cram 'em in they did. From Generation Hand Clap to Kundera on the Dance Floor, they played virtually non-stop for forty-five too-short minutes.

One of the (many) things I love about Library Voices is the enthusiasm they bring to the stage. Forget that they're fitting seven people into the same space most bands stuff only three or four, they would easily fill a concert-hall with their unerring energy. Their lyrics (though more impressively riddled with literary references, metaphor, and beauty than most novels) don't always paint the most cheerful of pictures, but you would never guess it from the looks of sheer joy on their faces as they perform. And that's not all. When lyricist Mike steps to the front of the stage to tell us about being embarrassed by his first Billy Joel album and how Kundera on the Dance Floor is their peanut butter sandwich, you can hear his love for the songs in every breath, every syllable. Each performance is like one long love-letter to music. And its infectious.

So. Into. It.

Watching a mic-less drummer or a bassist sing along at the top of their lungs never fails to make me smile. And dancing around until their shirts are soaked through? Come on! I realize I may be in the minority here, but I think sweatiness is a vital part of any successful live performance, and no one can sweat it up like Carl from Library Voices (well, no one but my friend Josh, but that's a whole 'nother story...).

Sweatiness is a measure of how into it they are, how invested, how much they are way more interested in having fun and making amazing music than playing it cool (all the things that make a great band a great LIVE band).  (I feel a 'sweatiness' post coming on... so I guess you can look forward to that...!) But regardless of whether you think its hot or gross, Carl's sweatiness is an outward expression of the extent of his energetic and enthusiastic singing. Which is a lot. A lot of enthusiasm, and a lot of sweat.

This is how/why is gets so sweaty...  The price of Awesome

There are a few bands (three to be precise) who I would gladly see live every single night of my life and Library Voices are one of them. Once might have been a fluke- twice is all the proof I need. I could go on and on about every one of my favourite moments, but instead I'll just leave you with the photographic evidence of two of them, and move on from there:

The part when Carl stood on the front bit & danced like a school boy

and

The obligatory jump-on-kick-drum finale

So after Library Voices we decided to move back a bit... y'know to not necessarily be two feet from the stage, and it was clearly evident that we were not alone. Like at the summer festivals of my youth, you could literally watch the change-over from LV to YB fans, with a steady stream of t-shirts moving back, and a steady stream of plaid moving forward. Its always struck me as odd when two bands touring together have such distinct fan bases, despite not actually belonging to different genres. Sure Library Voices is indie and Yukon Blonde is seventies rock, but I enjoy both bands as do many of my friends... the thing is, though, that everyone there, while clearly enjoying both bands, also clearly enjoyed one much more than the other.

Though it sounds disparaging, I would argue that it isn't--> I would also focus on the first part of that statement- "Everyone there clearly enjoyed both bands' (though I should really say all three bands, as Great Bloomers, in addition to being fantastic, also got a rousing round of applause at the close of their set...) Yukon Blonde is an incredibly solid live band. They capture the crowd. They inspire excessive amounts of man-love. They rock hard, and they sound clean (even at Mavericks, notorious for bad mixes).

They. Are. Smooth.

Its actually quite difficult to give a more accurate review than that! Seriously I just re wrote that paragraph like seven times and nothing suited as well as the above. So, strangely, I think I'll leave it there: Smooth, Rockin', Solid. Also Man-love. Good.

So great Bloomers were a great new discovery, Yukon Blonde put on a great show as always and, Library Voices has officially made it into my top three of Bands I Love Seeing Live... all in all quite a satisfactory evening!