04.12.2007 Pride Tiger / Land of Talk - Arts County Fair

Arts County Fair, the University of British Columbia's annual music festival, is as much of an institution as it is an excuse of for students to get drunk. Thank being said, the music is usually pretty decent, with respect to the bands that they bring in and the price that you pay. In past years, they have brought such acts as: Tea Party, Metric, Stabilo, New Pornographers and Bare Naked Ladies. This year was sorta average compared to recent years, though not as bad as about 5 years ago. On the plus side, I didn't have to pay (and don't recall ever having to pay for various reasons over the years) and all I wanted to see were Pride Tiger and Land of Talk; so that made for a short day.





Vancouver's pride and joy (har har) Pride Tiger started the day first. At 2pm in the afternoon, only about 10-20 people were in attendance, which after talking to drummer Matt Wood, I found out was about double what they had during the back to school barbeque. Despite this, Pride Tiger rocked out like it was a packed Saturday night at the Cobalt. Playing a mix of new songs and old songs from their indie release, there were solos a plenty. Suprisingly they played for about 40 minutes.



After a quick stage change an a very overpriced pita (no free BBQ this year to my chagrin), Land of Talk playd. During their set, a smoke machine was used. That, in conjunction with the colourful stage lights, sort of made me feel i like was watching an 80's hair metal video. The last time I saw them, they were opening for Holy Fuck. I would like to say that they were playing for more people this time around, but once again it was pretty close. Regardless, the band seemed to be in good spirits and cracked a few jokes during their set. Most of the set consisted songs from the Applause, Cheer, Boo, Hiss. They did play a new song, whose name escapes me at the moment. After a short set 20-30 minutes I went backstage where I was disappointed again to find out there was no free food backstage.

$8/$0