NXNE 2007: Day 2

Day 2 of the NXNE festival was the day of legends for me. I saw several of my all time favorites that night. I started early by heading on over to The Phoenix during that wicked rainstorm to make sure that I get in to see Dinosaur Jr. No problem. The opening acts for that show were both fantastic.Awesome Color is a semi-psychedelic garage band from Michigan. They warmed up the crowd admirably with their Stooges-style rock. Upon looking into them some more, what's most impressive is that their album was partly produced by none other than Thurston Moore. His influence is definitely there, although the band seems to draw more influences from the early Detroit rock scene.

Download: Free Man mp3 / Visit the band on myspace. / My Awesome Color pics on flickr.

Up next was Toronto's own Uncut. They also rocked pretty heavily with a real onslaught of loud guitars and insanely thrashing cymbals! All of the members (except the drummer) took a turn at lead vocals and I thought that they had a bit of a shoegazy vibe to their sound, albeit a heavy one. Besides Dinosaur Jr, they've also had the privilege of opening for the likes of Bob Mould himself.

Download: Breaking Glass mp3 / Visit the band on myspace / My Uncut pics on flickr.

The original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. was of course, very very loud. They cranked out all of the hits as well as several songs from their excellent new release "Beyond." The chemistry was still there in full force and the guys even seemed to be surprisingly enjoying themselves. For the encore, local stage hog Kevin Drew stepped up to the mike to perform "The Wagon" which succeeded in bringing the already hyperactive crowd to a rambunctious (but interestingly controlled) frenzy. It was fun. They were loud. I was deaf.

Download: Almost Ready mp3 / Visit the band on myspace / My Dinosaur Jr pics on flickr.

Although deaf, I picked up my wife and we headed on down to Lee's Palace to see yet another legend, John Doe. Upon looking at the schedule I was a little confused because some references said that John Doe was on first, and others said that The Sadies were first. Upon arriving I realized that the two of them had joined forces to put on an awesome performance that surprisingly even outshone the Dinosaur Jr show that I just attended. John Doe is the founder of the seminal punk rock band X, but he's been releasing his unique style of country-folk-punk rock music over the last few decades. He opened the night with a 45 minute set that was just him on the guitar cranking out the tunes. He sounded great. After that The Sadies hit the stage, and one of my closest friends had told me about how great they were in concert but I had yet to see them. Yep they're great. Their set was chock full of whiskey stained swagger and punk rock 'tude, and I expecially enjoyed their forays into surf guitar instrumentation. After about half an hour they called John Doe back to the stage and they played a few more alt-country tunes with special appearances from Kathleen Edwards and Dallas and Travis' papa Bruce Good of the legendary Good Brothers. I was completely exhausted at the end of the night, but boy, did I ever feel like I got my money's worth.

Downloads:
John Doe - The Golden State mp3 (fixed link)
The Sadies - Loved On Look mp3

Visit John Doe on myspace.
Visit The Sadies on myspace.

Unlike my pictures from the rest of the night, the pics for this show actually turned out really good. See them on flickr.