10.13-14.2010 Broken Social Scene / Sea and Cake

Opening for both shows were Chicago based Sea and Cake. This band is probably best known for having Tortoise member John McEntire drum for them. I've never been able to get into Tortoise aside from a few songs. I could actually imagine myself being quite bored if I ever had to seem them live, much like how I was during the majority of Sea and Cake's set. Really the only aspect of their show I found interesting was McEntire's drumming. He's pretty good. To be honest, aside from the times when various members of Broken Social Scene would sit in on certain songs, I had trouble telling one song from another.



Even though I know I'll never see Feist, Amy Milan or Emily Haines sing with BSS in Vancouver, I am comforted with the fact that most of the other core members who wrote the early BSS albums are still touring. I thought that the first show was pretty long as it clocked in at around 2h 15. The second show proved to be even longer, pushing it to 2h 30. The setlist was quite varied, with songs spanning their catalogue. Thankfully, the two shows were different enough to make it worth it; not that 2+ hours of music is ever not worth it.

Maybe it's because BSS now has a few songs where Whiteman is the lead singer (and guitarist), but Whiteman was more vocal than I've ever seen him. During the first show he actually had something to say between songs. The most substantial being his support for the sex-trade workers and getting prostitution legalized a la Amsterdam. What can I say? He's a forward thinking man.

Fire-eyed boy had a pretty cool saxophone solo/jam in the middle of it. Not sure if they did this in the past as well. Guilty cubicles was a welcome surprise in the first night. I'm not really a fan of anything off 'Feel Good Lost', but it's nice to hear something they don't normally play. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Brendan Canning looks odd without his beard.

"Almost Crimes" was somewhat of a surprise as I could never see the laid back Lobsinger sing on such an upbeat song (she did do backups). Lead vocals were provided by Andrew Whiteman's wife Ariel. She's probably the least gifted of the BSS singers I've seen, but she definitely has the swagger needed to pull off the aforementioned song.

The biggest WTF moment of the 2 night stand occurred during the 2nd night. They brought out Neil Osbourne of 54-40 fame (you know "Every time I look at you... I go blind.." ...actually if you weren't listening to Canadian radio in the 90's you probably wouldn't know...) . After introducing it as the song Kevin Drew first made out with, they somewhat surprisingly launched into 54-40's "One Gun". I'm unclear if this was done ironically or unironically.

After seeing these two shows, I sort of feel stupid for thinking this show would be any less of a show just because a couple of divas (not my words) didn't feel like committing to touring well after a band got big (I should note that James Shaw of Metric fame flew in for the show). The mix of old and new songs were well chosen and really the only song I wanted to hear that they didn't play was "Major Label Debut". You really can't complain about a band when they play 2+ hours and vary their setlists. Now if only Kevin Drew could be less Bono-y...

$45/$45

10.18.2009 Matisyahu / Dub Trio

Well, sold out Matisyahu gig in Vancouver. Who would have thought? Does Matisyahu even get airplay in Vancouver? Anyways, before the show, I was wondering who would be opening. To my surprise, it was Dub Trio. It turns out they're part of Matisyahu's backing band. Nice. Apparently people have heard of Dub Trio, or rather fans of Matisyahu have heard of Dub Trio. You'll have to forgive me I still can't believe their fanbases would overlap. Dub Trio's 45 min set was as expected, lots of time changes, spacey "dub" jams, and a whole lot of style changes. Crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Dub Trio's Set:


Now Matisyahu I'm familiar with mainly due to his song "King Without a Crown". When he played it, it sounded totally different. Let's call it the "Dub Trio" version. Highlight of the set was probably Matis doing a full 3-5 min of beat boxing. There were many moments in the set where Matis would just let the band jam out and he would stand by the side of the stage and take in the energy of the crowd and the music. He's probably one of their biggest fans. This was a pretty long show. It's been a while since I've seen a Commodore show go over 2 hours. Actually, if I had to mention anything negative, it would be just that. The show was almost exhausting. Almost every song approached the 10 minute mark and had a fairly loose jam integrated into it. That being said, the energy from the crowd and the strangely mesmerizing intensity coming from Matis made the show.

$15/$0

09.24.2009 The Gaslight Anthem / Murder By Death / The Loved Ones / Frank Turner

I think opener Frank Turner almost stole the show from well, everyone. He's a singer songwriter type from the UK playing just an electric guitar. He sings with a lot of passion and energy. At one point he asked for someone in the crowd to play harmonica. (I don't think he cleans it between shows) The volunteer was some scruffy looking guy with a hat and leather pants. That's right leather pants, and no he didn't have long hair, nor was he wearing a matching leather vest to go with it. Weird my calender says 2009 on it. His must say 1983. Fashion police aside, he was fairly decent on the harmonica, even had a pretty good solo when called upon. I'd love to see him play a small venue show.

The Loved Ones followed, with a set of pretty much Warped Tour friendly pop-punk songs. Wasn't really a fan of the music, but they did have a lot of energy despite being one guitarist short. During their set someone was texting (in the front row), which caught the attention of the lead singer who announced he would take the phone away if he caught her doing it again. He later recanted, stating she should do whatever she wants, it's her life. Awww.

Murder By Death was next, and were awesome as usual. They played a few songs each from their entire catalogue; Self described songs about "the apocalypse, whiskey, shitty people and the devi." I don't think there were any off of their first album though. Near the end of the set, Adam played "Bang, Bang" solo. That got most of the indifferent folks in the room interested. They ended their set 40 min set with 'Comin Home.'

As for The Gaslight Anthem, I kind of discovered this band pretty recently. Initially I wrote them off as more emo/pop/punk. Now I wouldn't go as far as calling their stuff any sort of ground breaking or even cutting edge, but I do find their newest album to be a very fun listen. And so is their live show. Their sound does have a throw back sound to it, almost a Springsteen-esque vibe, which would explain this video. Damn the boss is sooo intense. Anyways, lots of energy at this show. Quite a few crowd surfers too. There was no barricade at this show, which meant the roadies and techs spent a lot of the show trying to keep the crowd surfers away from the equipment. After coming back from the encore, lead singer went out of his way to show is appreciation for everyone coming to the show, mentioning that it was a whole lot better than his roofing job in New Jersey. The band played nearly every song off their latest album and a few tracks off their first. There were more than a couple of songs that had false endings. The band sounded great and I think everyone had a lot of fun, audience and band included. I know I did

$25/$34

09.17.2009 Sunny Day Real Estate / The Jealous Sound

photo credits: Tommy Au
more photos here

So sometime in 1999, I was in Sam the Record Man on Granville looking for CDs to buy, when I came across the section on the first floor with the heading "EMO". Perplexed, I asked the sales associate what it meant. She threw around the word 'emotional' but had trouble further explaining it beyond that. She then went on to name a few bands in the genre. The only 2 of the ones she listed that I was familiar with were Sunny Day Real Estate and Dashboard Confessional. I'd heard of DC, but never heard of SDRE. At the time I was pretty heavy into Nu-metal, and bands like DC was far from what I wanted to hear at the time, so SDRE would have to stay in the "haven't heard anything by them" band pile in my head. Many, many years later, I began to regret this decision, as they're band that I know I would have enjoyed at that time. Actually they sound almost like the nu-metal I was listening to at the time. The only difference is that their sound is unique enough that it's stood the test of time after all these years.



First up was the Jealous sound. I guess Jealous means emo, because they sound like a stereotypical emo band. So much so that it was almost ironic. They played a new song, if you're a fan of them I guess you'd want to know. The lead singer looked like a the villian from the 4 season (the awful one) of Heroes. This guy.

Although billed as their first show since breaking up or hiatus, in reality it's actually just their official first show. They actually played a secret show in Tacoma the night before. I kind of felt ripped off after hearing about it afterwards. They started their set with Friday, which got the crowd warmed up for their awesome hit "Seven" which they played next. The rest of the set was a mix of their earlier albums, and a new song. The new song they just called it "New Song" and was apparently a week old. It was an upbeat number with not as much distortion. More of a rocker I guess. The singer revealed a few songs in that he was suffering from a cold or something which affected his voice. He didn't sound 100% but managed to pull off a decent job all things considered. This however seemed to the reason for a shorter set compared to the night before. The band actually left the stage before the encore after about 50 min and came back for a 3 song encore. The first song after coming back was 'In Circles' which left me pretty content. Oh yeah you would think that this show being so close to their home state of WA would be pretty packed especially for their "Reunion" show. Nope, well undersold. In fact, they even closed off the balcony, which you don't see very often. They should have put it at Richards... oh whoops.

Setlist:

Friday
Seven
Red Elephant
Song About An Angel
Grendel
Shadows
Iscarabaid
"New Song"
J'Nuh
Sometimes
Encore:
In Circles
48
Spade And Parade

$25/$38

10.03.2008 Opeth / High on Fire

I was a little disappointed that Nachtmystium, who opens most of the dates on the first leg of Opeth's current tour was left off the Vancouver date, because they have former members of Black Dhalia Murder in it. Instead we seem to have gotten a longer set (60 min) from sole opener, High on Fire, which i guess is a good thing.

I've had the opportunity to see High on Fire at least a couple times over the last few years, (I even walked out of a HoF show, before they even got on stage once) but have never actually seen them play. My overall reaction was a bit mixed. I really had trouble getting in to them live. Aside from a few tracks, the more upbeat ones, (the ones that sort of reminded me of Motorhead) I was, pretty bored during their set. The serious metal fans in the crowd seemed to just eat it up though. As I said earlier, I was more impressed that we the fans were given a good bang for our buck with an hour long set.

I was having second thoughts about going to see the show a few days ago. This was mostly due to the fact, that I didn't really like Ghost Reveries, and wasn't really expecting that much from Watershed, the album they were touring in support of. I guess I figured they would play mainly new songs and wouldn't play enough old songs to make it worth my while. Never the less, I was convinced by a friend that, live, Opeth haven't changed. Between songs, Opeth's singer Mikael Akerfedt was his ever amusing self, referring to Fredrick, their new guitarist's old band (Arch Enemy) as a "cock rock" band while addressing their recent lineup changes, and making light of his time writing their early albums while still living at home. After the first older song of the night, "Serenity Painted Death", off "Still Life", Akerfeldt mentioned that they filmed a new video at the Vogue Theater the night before. They didn't really mention for which song it was for. Before playing the somber ballad, "Hope Leaves", from their non-death metal album Damnation, Akerfeldt tried to set the mood by asking everyone to raise the lighters. He even kept it authentic, discouraging the cellphone lights. In what seemed like a perfect Spinal Tap moment, the fire alarm went off as the song was ending. The alarm would go off and on a few times more, but the band still kept going, though rightfully a bit annoyed.

During one of the between song breaks someone asked Akerfeldt what he thought of the new Metallica. He responded that he wasn't really a fan, especially when compared to their older stuff. He also noted that it was annoying when people compared Opeth's older material to their newer stuff. He then got Fredrick to play a few Metallica riffs: Master of Puppets, and Battery. Pretty cool. They ended their set main set with Demon of the Fall. For the encore, they came back with Drapery Falls to end a set that clocked in at just under 2 hrs.

$45/$45

09.15.2008 Bad Religion / The Bronx / The Rebel Spell

Say what you will about Bad Religion, but you can't really deny the fact that it is almost guaranteed they will put on an amazing show at small venue like the Commodore. Having sold out 2 nights in 2005, it was a wonder why only 1 show was set up this time around. The night started off with locals The Rebel Spell. Ok band. Sort of reminded me of Against Me!. At least, I think so; the vocals were a little low in the mix. After a short set change Los Angeles' the Bronx hit the stage immediately stirring up the crowd. Although much suited for even smaller DIY venues, the Bronx were a wealth of energy, especially frontman Matt Caughthran, who was more than eager to have the audience on the stage. Both openers played a standard 30 minute set.

At around 10:30, Bad Religion hit the stage with little fanfare or even intro music. Instead, they played straight into fan favourite "21st Century Digital Boy". The setlist was fairly balanced towards a couple of songs off of their latest release New Maps of Hell and the rest from their previous efforts. Notably absent were songs from How Could Hell..., however their golden era albums (Suffer, Against the Grain, No Control) were well represented. Almost all the fan-favourites were played and for the most part casual and long time fans were happy with the setlist. As usual, singer Greg Graffin and company treated the audience to their witty banter. Most amusing were quips toward Canadian/American politics. Perhaps deviating slightly from a regular Bad Religion show, the writing section of Bad Religion came out for an encore featuring couple of acoustic numbers. The song "Won't Somebody" was also played, for apparently the first time, and not on the setlist. Of note, there was this one lady (and I say this sarcastically), who decided she it would be enduring to accompany Graffin on one of the acoustic numbers. Not only was she completely tone-deaf, (and more than likely inebriated) but she also decided to do add some additional vocals (wailing like a dog would be more correct). Seriously, what is with Vancouver audiences and yapping over acoustic songs? It's probably the most self centered and inconsiderate thing you can do at a show. End rant. Overall the setlist was better than in 2005, just going to show some bands do get better with age.


21st Century Digital Boy
New Dark Ages
Suffer
I Want To Conquer the World
Let Them Eat War
No Control
Stranger Than Fiction
Anesthesia
Epiphany
Punk Rock Song
Come Join Us
God’s Love
News from The Front
Requiem for Dissent
Honest Goodbye
You
A Walk
Big Bang
Before You Die
Flat Earth Society
Recipe for Hate
American Jesus
--------------------
Won't Somebody
Dearly Beloved
Bored and Extremely Dangerous
--------------------
Generator
Infected
Sorrow

$50/$42

07.12.2008 Wolf Parade / Listening Party

I arrived a little late to make decision on whether or not I actually like Listening Party or not, but from what I saw, I think I liked... I think.. They're indie rock from Shawnigan Lake, in case you're wondering.

I guess it was fitting in some way or another that Wolf Parade walked onto the stage to the Arcade Fire playing on the PA. They were given a warm welcome by the sold out crowd as they launched into a familiar favourite, "You Are a Runner and I am My Father's Son" off their first album. Spencer dedicated that one to his father who was in attendance. It sort of threw me off that this particular song didn't lead into "Fancy Claps", which it has done every time I've seen them. Every song off the new album was played with "the hits" from the first album mixed in. The new songs sound better live than on album. I don't know how to explain it, but they seem to fill the aural spectrum better or something. Hadji their, "sound manipulator/keyboards" guy also impressed the hell out of me. I never really noticed until now how much he adds to their sound. They closed off their main set with "Kissing the Beehive", also the last song on their recent album. It was just as mind blowing live as I was the first time I heard it, which was also live. Dan spent some time borrowing Hadji's thermin during his guitar solo towards the end. A three song encore of older songs sent the crowd and this reviewer home happy as a Wolf Parade fan could be. I guess it was also fitting that they ended with Fancy Claps since they started with Father's Son. hmmm...

Setlist
You are a Runner and I am My Father's Son
Language City
Call It A Ritual
The Grey Estates
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
Soldier's Grin
Animal In Your Care
Fine Young Cannibals
Grounds For Divorce
Bang Your Drum
Shine A Light
California dreaming
This Heart's On Fire
Kissing the Beehive
===
It's A Curse
I'll Believe In Anything
Fancy Claps

$30/$30

05.23.2008 Ladytron/Datarock

Back when I was 19 or so, I worked at my University's bookstore filling out textbook orders. My supervisor had this cassette mixtape which played on a boombox to alleviate the boredom. The tape played on repeat for a good couple of weeks, permanently etching a few songs into my head. One of the songs on that mixtape was Ladytron's "Playgirl". And that's how a kid who, at the time, was pretty much only listening to metal and it's many variations at the time, discovered Ladytron.

I was going to check out openers Datarock, but complications in getting my ticket means another side story rather than another review:

Velocifero is currently one of my most listened to albums. I figure now is as good a time as any to see them live. So a few weeks before the show, I notice quite a few people on craigslist having problems unloading them. Being greedy, I decide to wait until the day before the show to buy a ticket for $10 below face. I would have picked it up that day, but I had another show to go to. I wasn't worried though, as the show wasn't sold out .... until I arrived at the venue. Suddenly market value for tickets isn't 'face - $10' anymore, it's now 'face + $15'. Being very stubborn, I decide, to wait until the midway through Datarock's set for the market value to go back down. It doesn't really (The scalpers apparently are stubborn as well as they don't normally lower their price until after the main act has started playing), but I did find someone who was willing to sell a ticket for yesterday's market value price. Score!!! (he would have gotten $10 from the scalpers, so Score!! for him as well)

Anyways I arrive while Datarock was finishing up their set. They seemed to be having fun on stage as was the crowd. other than that I couldn't really tell you much, aside from they all had red Datarock hoodies on.

Aside from the founding four members, Ladytron also had a touring drummer and bassist with them, which really added a punch to the sound. The first thing I noticed when Ladytron started playing was that it was loud, really bassy too. Perhaps the crowd was a little too excited to see them as a psuedo pit emerged a few minutes into their first song Black Car. After the song singer, Helen had to ask them to settle down, which they did, as the rest of the night was more dance party than mosh pit. They played mostly songs off Velocifero and maybe 1 or 2 songs off each previous album, mostly hits. I'm not really familiar the albums between Velocifero and 604, so I was pretty glad that they at least played a couple from Playgirl and Discotraxx off of 604. They played about 70 min encoring with 3 songs ending off with Destroy Everything You Know.

$37/$30

05.22.2008 Beirut/Laura Barrett

Laura Barrett, sounds and looks like that stereotypical mousy, art-school musician. She was accompanied by a guitarist for some of her songs. As for Laura, she plays the Kalimba. That's right the Kalimba. Ok I didn't know what it was either until I looked it up here. To say the Commodore, was a larger venue for her is an understatement. However, she played very well and seemed to be right at home playing for the 50 or so people who paid attention. I thought it was pretty cool. I imagine she probably plays for her friends in their living rooms during parties. They must be very lucky.

Zach was apparently pretty drunk drinking freely from a bottle of wine between songs. He mentioned having to buy a ukulele from nearby music store Tom Lee, as his last one was stolen from their previous show in New York. They stopped using the setlist towards the end of the first set. I was a little disappointed to see them leave the stage before the first encore, after less than an hour. My fears of a short show were eventually forgotten as Zach and his band came back multiple times for a total of 3 encores in their 70-80 min set. Thrown in with all the hits were a bunch of oddities and covers such as "Siki Siki Baba" (Kocani Orkestar), "O Leaozinho"(Caetano Veloso) and a few others. One of the band members claimed they were "pulling out all the stops" to make up for not including Vancouver on their previous tours. I don't know whether or not I believe him, but nevertheless, I left quite impressed.

$50/$35

04.17.2008 Metric / The Clips

The last time Metric played a headlining show in Vancouver was about 2 years ago. In that time lead singer Emily Haines put out a solo album and the band re-released their indie album. A live DVD effort was also put forth. This night however was billed as 'Road Testing New Songs' or something to that effect. The result was mixed.

One thing that looked different was the Commodore itself. Two large projector screens look to have been installed as well as an in-house video crew. The footage was mixed on the fly and put on the screens much like it would be in a larger stadium show. This seems over kill in a smaller venue like the Commodore, but I suppose the vantage point for some areas are poorer than others.

Local indie band the Clips opened the show. As an opening band they were not bad. Their drummer interestingly enough plays in profile on the right side of the stage. Musically, they were ok. I don't know why, but if anyone has heard the extended jam that Metric used to do at the end of 'Dead Disco' a couple of years ago; thats what it reminds me of. I think I'll have to see them again to form a better opinion. They did have a decent live show.

After about half an hour, Metric stormed the stage, immediately starting off with their Freddie Mercury inspired 'Freddie'. It was also the first of a couple new songs to be played. The night's setlist consisted of old and new songs, roughly 80 minutes total. Performance-wise, the band was in top form. It was fairly evident that the band was eager to play after some time in the studio. Emily Haines, in comparison to Metric's previous Vancouver shows, was particularly talkative. Tonight's show was refreshingly full of stage banter. The last 3 times I saw Metric, I think she had a total of a minute's worth of small talk for the crowd.

The biggest disappointment about the show was that for a show that was billed as playing new songs, they only played 4 of them. Which isn't all that special relatively. I've seen the Blood Brothers play practically their entire new album during one of their similarly named tours. I believe Wolf Parade played 5-7 new songs and they didn't even announce it. The new songs that they did play were on the whole pretty good. None strayed too far from the rock synth hook Metric formula, but all were solid numbers. If anything the new songs seem to lean more towards a mainstream line than past efforts. Other notables: 'Rock Me Now' was extended with a crowd participation section. 'Calculation Theme' was nice to hear, although I prefer it without the added drums parts. 'Live It Out' was done with just Emily and guitarist James Shaw. The result was ...interesting. The night ended with another new song, Stadium Love, which was a little to crossover radio for me. However that's in line with the direction that they seem to be heading - ie: maybe they want Feist dollars.

Freddie
Poster of a Girl
Dead Disco
Cupid and Psyche
Empty
Hustle Rose
Satellite Mind
Rock Me Now
Calculation Theme
Combat Baby
Live It Out (acoustic)
---------------
Monster Hospital
Stadium Love

$30/35 SOLD OUT

02.16.2007 Wintersleep / Ladyhawk

Yes I am still alive. After a slow month and a half, 2008 comes back with a killer show at the Commodore. East coast stalwarts, Wintersleep return to another sold out show (rather quickly I might add). Not surprisingly, ticketbrokers were in full effect with single tickets going for upwards to $100. Tonight's show was put together mainly to work around a couple of Japanese dates. Luckily some west coast dates were on the table.

Opening up the night were local Vancouver indie princes Ladyhawk. Despite playing such a large venue for the first time, Ladyhawk felt right at home, literally. You've never seen me write about them because I've never really been motivated enough to get out and check out any of their countless local shows. That being said, I actually enjoyed most of their set. I'll have to give this band some more time to grow on me. Hopefully by the time I'm convinced to see them again they'll still be playing small venues.

This marked the 9th time I've seen Wintersleep. I've been lucky that I've been able to see a non local band this many times in the last 3 years. It was pretty weird seeing them play at the Commodore; the biggest venue I've ever seen them play at (well headlining anyways). I notice that they've got the barricade set up at the front, ends up it's not needed. People seemed content with just singing along and saving the metal theatrics for .. well a metal show. The setlist was pretty similar to the late 2007 shows. The minor differences did keep the show somewhat fresh. Most notably, they opened up with Yellow Bellied; while unlikely, worked out well. Sore was also nice to finally hear live. I've been told that Listen, Listen, Listen was reworked and totally unrehearsed, although I can't say how. Finally, Nerves Normal clocked in around 16 minutes and the jam during Danse Macabre was tightened up. Out of all the shows I've seen they seemed to have the most energy at this show. I think i'll stop writing about here. I've got about 9 Wintersleep fluff posts, I'm sure you get it. This blogger likes Wintersleep.

Setlist

Yellow Bellied
Archaeologists
Dead Letter
Caliber
Jaws of Life
Search Party
Weighty Ghost
Murderer
Orca
Sore
Astronaut
Oblivion
Laser Beams
Danse Macabre
==========
Listen, Listen, Listen
Migration
Nerves Normal, Breath Normal

$30/$0 SOLD OUT

11.17-18.2007 Stars / Miracle Fortress

Almost from their infancy, Stars has been a favourite among Canadian bands, especially within the indie community. Being associated with Broken Social Scene and the Arts & Crafts label certainly did not hurt matters either. Cut to present day and it is not surprising that they are playing 2 sold out shows at the fabulous Commodore Ballroom. One show would be an all ages affair and the evening show, 19+. In some ways this is even a homecoming show as it is their first show in Canada for quite some time and singer Torquil Campbell residing in Vancouver.

EARLY SHOW:

Miracle Fortress is a Montreal based indie rock band opened the show. Red hot from their recent 2007 Polaris Prize nomination, they played to a slightly more than half full crowd. I'll need to hear them again before I make a more sound decision on these guys and girls.

After a brief set change, Stars hit the stage to a giant applause. In comparing their previous appearences in Vancouver, this was definitely the better show. The band, and especially Torquil Campbell (he lives here), seemed to genuinely want to be there. Bouquets of flowers adorned the stage. Throughout the show flowers from said bouquet would be thrown out into the crowd. Songs were played from each of their albums and even some of their older EPs. Even the casual Stars' fan had their fill with songs such as "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", "Ageless Beauty" and "What I'm Trying to Say". Torquil even came out with a light bulb covered jacket for "The Ghost of Genova Heights". They turned out all the lights for that one. After a short break, they came out for a 4 song encore. They played around 90 min to a appreciative all agers crowd.



$20/$25

LATE:

Stars played pretty much the same setlist, and I'm running out of witty musings so I'll keep this portion short. I've decided that I only liked Miracle Fortress about half the time they were onstage.

The only thing I remember that set this show apart from the early one was that Amy crowd surfed during one of the songs. (no stage dive, at least not the hxc version)

After about a quarter of the crowd had left the building, Stars came out for a true encore. True, as in I don't think it was planned. They played their Smith's cover of "This Charming Man". I am pretty certain they did not do this for the afternoon show. In fact, I don't think they played "The Aspidistra Flies" (labeled as Umbrella) at the AA show either.



$23/$25

SECRET SHOW:

OH SHIT! I actually attended this. This was probably the worst kept secret show I've ever gotten wind of. Actually I've only heard of one other, that being a Wolf Parade one that supposedly happened at someone's house after their opening slot for the Arcade Fire in 2005. Anyways, the details were:

MySpace Secret Shows Canada Presents
STARS
Free / All Ages
Sign up to check your bulletins to find out WHERE!!!
How To Get In:
All shows are FREE. Entry is on a first-come, first-serve, so arrive early to get in line to ensure success! You don’t have to bring anything, just show up, and if we can fit you in, then you’re in! Tell Your Friends! doors 6:30

If you were like me, you'd be thinking, If I wanna see this I'll have to get there around 3 or so to guarantee entry with all the high schoolers who'll no doubt do the same thing. Well I've got better things to do, but still, this was intriguing. I was in downtown at the time anyways, so I detoured over to the Media Club around 4:30 to find a very sorry looking lineup with around 40 people (Media Club has a cap at 150). I stood in line for about a minute, when this guy comes around with wrist bands. At this point I ask him if I could leave and come back and he said sure. So I arrive at 6:30 to find that the lineup had gotten a lot longer. Long story short, when I got in, there were about 20-25 or so people who were left out in the cold without a wristband. Well not really, because I think most if not all of them were let in eventually. So I'd say that you could have gotten in even if you had arrived at doors.

The show itself was a pretty fun affair. The setlist was comprised of songs chosen at random from a brown paper bag with the words "Bag O Tunes" on it. They didn't play all the songs in the bag, just an hour's worth. Between every song, Evan Cranley and Pat Mcgee they would do a "Bag of Tunes" jam. There was a lounge version, reggae, punk, and a particularly funny mock-Emily-Haines-doing-Anthems-of-Seventeen-Year-Old-Girl version, if that makes sense. Really funny stuff. You could tell the band was having as much fun as the crowd was. At one point Torq noticed a girl shooting some video on a digi cam. He took the camera and then started to film the crowd and the band, making faces.

Setlist

Your Ex-Lover is Dead
My Favourite Book
The Aspidistra Flies
Bitches in Tokyo
Heart
Calendar Girl
Set Yourself on Fire
This Charming Man
Take Me to the Riot
Elevator Love Letter
One More Night

edit:
leftovers in the bag were:
-soft revolution.
-midnight coward.
-the ghost of genova heights
-tonight
-on peak hill

Not bad for a free show.

As I was leaving they gave out limited (to 350, which is more than capacity...twice as many... huh...) posters of the first picture. Go ebay. haha... hrmmm..

$20/$0

10.10.2007 Jimmy Eat World / Maritime

I wasn't planning on going to this show, but a phone call from a buddy with an extra ticket (thx T!) changed my mind.

Maritime I've been told is ex-Promise Ring. This means next to nothing to me, but apparently a lot to my buddy as he says he'd rather see Maritime than Jimmy Eat World. I don't think I'd pay to see them exclusively, but I wouldn't mind seeing them again as an opener. Their drummer kind of reminds me of Dino from dredg. They like to hit their drums really hard. The live show was also a lot better than the album I heard on the way over.

Admittedly, I didn't think I'd enjoy Jimmy Eat World's set as much as I did. After all these years, the band, who's no longer as commercially popular as they once were, seem just as tight live as they were in their heyday sometime around 2001. Also Jim Adkins still sweats on stage like someone just gave him a gatorade shower. Their set is basically half new songs and with old songs scattered throughout to keep guys like me interested every 10 min. It was pretty nostalgic to hear songs like A Praise Chorus and Sweetness after not hearing them for a good 5+ years. So yes thanks Jimmy, for playing the hits. I still think Jimmy Eat World would be a better band if they only made up-tempo rock songs and no slow numbers, because they can do a pretty good job at rockin out.

Intro
Big Casino
A Praise Chorus
Crush
Always Be
Like She'll Always Be
Blister
Lucky Denver Mint
For Me, This Is Heaven
Disintegration
Get It Faster
Fire Fight
23
Bleed American
Pain
===
Your House
Hear You Me
Polaris
The Middle

$20/$0

09.28.07 The New Pornographers/Lavender Diamond/Fancey

Fancey played to a pretty empty dance floor. Not really suprising because I didn't really find them to be all that entertaining. While wandering around the venue I found a couple pornographers out and about mingling with the crowd.

lavender diamond was fronted by this really enthusiastic girl who could really sing, in a classically trained sort of way. She sort of reminded me of the girl who sung the solo at your school play. She'd say really encouraging and positive things some of which borderedd on the side of naivity. I think I remember her saying something along the lines of "Let's hear it for the planet earth, the best planet int he world!" Anyways, they sort of have a 70's folk/psych sound to them, which was relatively entertaining when they were on, but were kind of boring when they started to do some really slow tedious jammy songs.

I didn't really like Challengers that much. Out of all the Canadian bands who've had albums released this year (Stars, Wintersleep, Tegan and Sara...), Challengers is probably the one I least listen to. In fact, if I didn't see the words "Neko Case and Dan Bejar" on the promoter's site, I don't think I would have endured a setlist heavy with songs off the new record (understandably). I'm not really a fan of Case in general as I find her solo work boring, but man is she awesome when she sings with TNP. Letter From an Occupant with Neko singing was definitely the highlight of my night. Kathryn Calder does a very good job filling in during the non-Neko shows, but there's no denying who's got the bigger vocal artillery. With Dan Bejar, I'm indifferent. He's an interesting character no doubt. I could do without him (and probably will since he only tours with them right after a new album drops), but having him sing his own songs live is also a rarity these days so I guess one has to appreciate it.

All The Things That Go To Make Heaven and Earth
Use It
Myriad Harbour
Electric Version
All the Old Showstoppers
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
Challengers
The Laws Have Changed
My Rights Verses Yours
The Spirit of Giving
Fail Safe
Mass Romantic
Mutiny, I Promise You
Adventures in Solitude
Twin Cinema
Go Places
Sing Me Spanish Techno
Bleeding Heart Show
===
These are the Fables
Testament To Youth in Verse
The Slow Descent into Alcoholism
===
Letter From an Occupant

$30/$30

[BT] Tegan and Sara 09.22.2007

Tegan and Sara
2007-09-22
Afternoon Show
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, BC, CA

The ZOMB Taping Project

titles in quotation marks are banter tracks, titled after my favourite line in the banter

1. Intro
2. Call It Off
3. Dark Come Soon
4. "Hire a different Tegan and Sara"
5. Like O, Like h
6. "Like you love me"
7. Floorplan
8. Nineteen
9. "This has nothing to do with this song"
10. Burn Your Life Down
11. Speak Slow (false start) "You're fired to teach Sara a lesson"
12. Speak Slow
13. Walking With A Ghost
14. "Lots of uses for cell phones"
15. So Jealous
16. Monday, Monday, Monday (slow)
17. "This is the part of the show we screw up"
18. Divided
19. When I Get Up
20. Where Does the Good Go
21. "Sorry, I only played that song 3000 times"
22. Hop A Plane*
23. Back In Your Head (beginning cut 10 seconds to bad MD change)
24. Are you Ten Years Ago
25. The Con
26. Relief Next To Me
27. "I was married story"
28. I Was Married
29. "Prom dress"
30. I Know I Know I Know

encore break (cut)

31. You Wouldn't Like Me
32. Umbrella [Rhianna]
33. "We really appreciate it"
34. Living Room

*two skips due to being bumped

I taped both shows this date, this is probably the better recording of the two, much less crowd noise (screaming between songs present in both though)

Sharp MD-MT15 > MM-CBM-Mini > Ecm 719 (in hat)

Taped, transferred, tracked, tagged and seeded by: smashing0
Originally seeded to the-zomb.com on 2007-09-23

.flac torrent
mp3s



Tegan and Sara
09.22.2007 (Late Show)
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, BC

source: DPA 4061>DIYBB>IHP-H140
transfer: WAV-M>FLAC
editing: lowered right channel 10%, slight bass cut, normalize, fade in/out

01) Intro
02) Call it Off
03) Dark Come Soon
04) Like O, Like H
05) Floorplan
06) Nineteen
07) Burn Your Life Down
08) Speak Slow
09) Walking With a Ghost
10) [banter]
11) So Jealous
12) Monday, Monday, Monday
13) [T+S talking about early days of band]
14) Divided
15) I've Got You
16) Where Does the Good Go
17) Hop a Plane
18) Back in Your Head
19) Are You Ten Years Old
20) [T talking about living in strathcona]
21) The Con
22) [S making fun of T]
23) Relief Next to Me
24) [S talking about being "married"]
25) I Was Married
26) [band introductions]
27) Take Me Anywhere
28) [T talking about the opener Northern State]
29) I Know, I Know, I Know
===
30) You Wouldn't Like Me
31) Umbrella [Rhianna Cover]
32) Living Room

.flac torrent
mp3s

i nicked the mp3 links from the saraandtegan forums

09.22.2007 Tegan and Sara/Northern State

As expected the girl to guy ratio was somewhere around 4:1. Suprisingly though, I saw a large concentration of dudes in the front row. Vancouver's alternative lifestyle population was also well represented at this show. And since it was the Commodore, the amount of chatterboxes in the crowd was ..well not suprising.

Imagine if one of the Beastie Boys had a sister, and she formed a 'crew' of like minded 'sistas'. There, I just described what the openers, Northern State sound like. They didn't exactly blow my mind. But it did blow my mind later when I read they've had production support from ?uestlove, one of the beastie boys, Muggs from Cypress Hill and others who take them more seriously than I do. I couldn't tell if people were entertained because they genuinely enjoyed them or the irony.

I've known of T+S since about 2003 when I heard "Living Room" off a live recording that was floating around. I even considered seeing their "birthday bash" show at the Mesa Luna, a while ago, but could never really justify it because I didn't think their albums at the time were really that strong overall. 4-5 years later, T+S are putting out better (IMO) albums and with that playing larger venues. I figure I might as well see them now rather than gamble with the seated venues.

T+S played about 1h45 of pretty much all the songs off 'The Con' with older songs/favourites like Speak Slow, Walking with a Ghost, Monday x3, Take me Anywhere, and Living Room mixed in. And when they weren't doing that, they were telling stories of their life in general, which was quite funny and endearing. One such story recalled a period in their life after high school where T+S had decided to play music for a living and then shortly afterwards Sara decided to she wanted time away from T+S. After having seen them live, I realized how much I found Tegan to be a way better songwriter than her sister. I could actually do without a lot of Sara's songs, but I guess that's personal preference. 'Back in your Head' is an awesome song though. There was one song that they played near the end which I didn't recognize and at first wrote it off as an older song that I didn't care for. But then they kept repeating the word "umbrella". It took a little while before I figured out it was Rhianna's Umbrella song. It was alright I guess. As expected T+S encored with Living Room leaving many in the crowd satiated.

$32/$35

07.11.2007 Deftones / First to Last / Die Mannequin

photo: quaelin

so night 2 of a 3 night stand in vancouver. same openers as last night.

die mannequin: i'm starting to dig this band. there are still some songs which I'm not sold on, but the solos and overall showmanship are starting to win me over. I dunno if this was true because i couldn't make a visual confirmation (and i did try) but the bassist mentioned that Tegan and Sara were in the front row. I managed to check out some of their studio stuff. like a lot of bands, they're better live. the deftones' touring videographer (i want his job) came up on stage for some reason during DM's set, but didn't really do anything. Care Failure's solo at the end of the night was actually one of the highlights of my night.

first to last: alexisonfire seemed to be off their game today oh wait.. these guys again. man this was a rough 40min for me to watch. in vancouver we have to put up with nickelback clones. in toronto, they get the alexisonfire-wannabes. just painful...and i have to put up with this again tomorrow.

deftones: pretty good setlist on an average deftones night. nothing special or rare or covers. highlights included engine and headup. i'm pretty sure i saw either drive or change before passenger on the setlist, but i guess they're being lazy or something. the PA actually cut out earlier on in the show, but the sound guys were able to fix it pretty quickly. Deftones, you guys have more 1 night to go to do something special.

Setlist

Korea
Elite
Digital Bath
Beware
Rats! Rats! Rats!
One Weak
Root
Nosebleed
Bored
My Own Summer (Shove it)
Lhabia
Minerva
Bloody Cape
Hole In the Earth
Kimdracula
Around the Fur
Headup
============
Passenger
Engine no. 9

$40/$50

07.10.2007 Deftones / First to Last / Die Mannequin

photo: quaelin

Last time the Deftones were in town, they played both Around the Fur and Adrenaline in their entirety and in order. The Commodore was sold out and ticket brokers were getting $150 a ticket. Today was much different. Being the first of three shows, and sparsely sold, tickets were being bought for as low as $25 dollars.

Die Mannequin started off the evening. The power trio, lead by a female singer/guitarist, were pretty decent on the whole. Their music, while nothing to write home about, was heightened somewhat by the jammy/extended parts that they would add. Coupled by singer's Care Failure willingness to engage the crowd by playing a portion of a song in the crowd, I was relatively entertained for their half hour set. I should note that Care Failure was also in The Big Dirty Band.

First to Last followed to a decent crowd response. They were much more polished, but much more derivative. Their music was not unlike the thousands of other bands that are in the genre. Even their stage movements seemed to be taken off some other band. Not to be callous, but the only memorable thing that I remember is that one of the guitarists was leaning over the stage lip and somehow managed to fall off. About the only interesting thing that happened during the set.

After a brief stage change, the Deftones hit the stage to a frenzied crowd. The stage set up was actually kind of impressive. With bright giant pot lights on each side of the stage and back-dropped by a massive LCD like screen, there was definitely a light show. In fact production-wise it was about as good as an arena show. The setlist was fairly diverse with each of the albums represented. In fact, the only songs that weren't really played were the covers and rare songs (which I suppose will be in the coming days). Chino's voice which has been criticized over the years as being anywhere from "spot on" to a "complete mess", was just okay tonight. Most of the singing parts were on key, but some were not. Songs from Around the Fur and Adrenaline were well received as expected. Crowd banter was minimal as usual, revolving around weed. Show was almost exhausting clocking in at 1 hour and 45 minutes. Bring on Night 2.

Setlist

My Own Summer
Lhabia
Root
Nosebleed
Beware
Korea
Knife Party
Digital Bath
When Girls Telephone Boys
Birthmark
Hole in the Earth
Cherry Waves
Rats Rats Rats
Around the Fur
Rickets
Passenger
________
Be Quiet and Drive
Change
7 Words

$40/$50

Why some people shouldn't be allowed to vote.

A couple of days ago, I read that the Deftones are going to do a choose your own setlist for one of the Deftones Commodore shows (from their myspace). Usually this results in one of two things happening. 1) People are smart and choose some rare songs to play - also known as the right thing to do. 2) People aren't very smart and choose their favorite songs. The problem with the latter is that it defeats the purpose of doing a choose your own setlist. I mean, why make a special thing out of it when all people are going to do is pick a setlist that is similiar to every other date that they play on the tour.

As I write, the first twenty picks are setlist staples (My Own Summer. BQAD, Engine no.9, Head Up, etc). Whereas songs that have never been played live, or rarely played live are near the bottom (like Linus, fist, nightboat, acoustic songs). This is an opportunity to hear some rare material - some that may not be played again. So, why aren't people taking advantage of it?

I guess I'm not really suprised. In 2001, Megadeth did a similar sort of deal where you could pick your setlist. As I recall, Vancouver was one of the only cities that were suckered into picking the radio rockers Breadline and Crush 'em, over more credible songs. Democracy, I suppose, is a double edge sword.

/rant

05.04.2007 Arctic Monkeys/Be Your Own Pet

Back in 2005-ish, i dismissed the Arctic Monkeys as the latest over-rated flash in the pan a la The Vines, Jet, Audioslave, etc... FastForward to 2007 and they're still around, and still have as much hype to them, albeit more mainstream hype than indie hype now. I guess i was wrong, or was I? I wasn't going to go to this show because there was no way I was going to pay a scalper $80, cuz i can't afford it. Fortunately, I was able to find one at face a the week of (thanks quinn!)

Be Your Own Pet sort of reminded me of Juliette and the Licks. Indie rock dance punk-ish instrumentals with a female ball of energy of a lead singer. They had trouble early on with a non-working bass, which resulted in the drummer and guitarist doing a half ass jam. A song later and everything was sorted out and going smoothly until someone told the the singer (apparently only 19 as she was praising our legal age) to "blow me." She spazzed and went on a tirade against the men of Vancouver, ending with "eat my cunt." I seriously thought she was going to end the set there, but i give her credit for pushing the band on to finish up their set with going-through-the-motions-version of 'Bicycle Bicycle You Are My Bicycle.' Hey it's the Commodore crowd, I can't say this doesn't surprise me.

After hearing the Arctic Monkeys play for 70 or so min, i still think they're overrated. They didn't really seem to have a lot of energy, staying fairly stationary while playing and for the most part letting their music move the crowd. Their good songs came out really well live, while their not so good songs kinda bored me. I guess that's what happens when you really not a big fan. You'd be surprised to see how many girls made their way to the dance floor as soon as the band started playing 'I think You'd Look Good on the Dance Floor' late into their set. I hope you ladies didn't buy a ticket just for that.