02.24.2010 Wintersleep

I never thought I'd get to see another small venue (under 200 cap) Wintersleep show in Canada again, but thanks to the Olympics, Wintersleep was booked to play at the Backstage Lounge as part of a series of concerts put on by the Atlantic Canada House. To avoid another BSS situation, or worse, I figured I'd arrive at the venue at 3 pm to watch the Canada vs Russia Men's Hockey game at 4:30. Mind you, the concert portion of the night had doors scheduled for 10:30 and Wintersleep going on at midnight. On first thought, maybe I went overboard on the getting there early part, but as it turns out, it wasn't such a bad idea. When I got in line there was about 30 people in front of me. At that point they were already at capacity (around 150 cap). When the game started at 4:30, I was about 15th in line. When the game ended, I was able to get in. I think a lot of people who actually watched the game inside also stayed to see the show. I didn't go back outside, but I know for fact they left a lot of people standing outside.

Before the opening act, Shaun Majumder came out and did a rehashing of his Crosby numerology bit.

First act up was Chris Kirby. He reminded me of younger version of Wide Mouth Mason, if they had a piano and not a guitar. He played a loooooong set. I thought he was pretty good. He definitely knew his way around the ivories. My interest in him quickly started to wane after an hour into his 90 min set. The crowd seemed to love him though.

If you read this blog regularly, you'll know that I've seen Wintersleep more times than I really need to. So I'll just mention things that were different. There was a change in the bridge before end of Miasmal. I think John Samuel seems to added some different vocal harmonies to some songs. They played a new song, which people have been calling "Black Camera", the setlist calls it "New Inheritors". "Black Camera" is still sung in the chorus though. Loel added a sampler to his kit. So the stomping/clap intro to "Weighty Ghost" sounds more like the album now. Mike's playing a black Rickenbacker 400x now. Their set was over after 70 min, no encore. I talked to the band afterwards and they mentioned they'll likely be touring Europe and then the U.S before coming back to Canada.


$30/0

10.28.2007 Fake Shark Real Zombie / Ready.Set.Die / Junior Major

The first thing I notice when I get to the Backstage Lounge is that, the venue itself is a nice place ... and that FSRZ are gonna fuck it up. Cover charge was $12. That's a little pricey for a ~25min set.

Junior Major was iirc, a drummer and a female bassist and guitarist/singer. They were also not really my thing. I can't even remember what (if anything) happend during their set or what I was doing at the time.

Ready.Set.Die was also fronted by a female guitarist. They sound like Tegan and Sara's more straight ahead rock songs.

Since it was supposed to be a halloween show, everyone from FSRZ dressed up. Malcom was Dame Edna, Kevin was a pregnant women with "Kick Me" written in the belly area of his shirt, Louis was Roger Rabbit? and Parker was Thriller era Michael Jackson?



I've come to realize that musically, FSRZ are probably better on album than live. Live, they're really a stripped down version of what they do in studio. Meaning a lot of the samples and even some of the singing parts go out the door. However, realistically, their strength lies in their live show and antics. Which really is a sight to see.



There was a pumpkin that was left near the stage as a prop. Suffice to say, not the greatest idea. It wasn't long before it was destroyed. There was spitting and water thrown, as expected.. Monitors were knocked over, and at the end of the set, one of the audience members got a little excited and kicked over one of the monitors enraging the stage tech/Ready.Set.Die's bassist. Think I heard Parker trying to mollify the situation by saying "It's okay Joey(?) I'll cum in his mouth."





All this and there was another band that went on after FSRZ... but I left after FSRZ. Sorry Stinkmitt..

$10/$12