The Sadies w/ Rick White and Andre Ethier @ The Horseshoe

I was sick and bed ridden all day and probably the dumbest thing I could do was go to another concert on Saturday night. But it was The Sadies. And this was the last of four shows they were doing in the city this weekend. It would be downright unnatural of me to not attend one of them. So I did, Saturday night at The Horseshoe, to be exact. This show in particular sealed the deal for me that The Sadies are arguably the best live act that the city of Toronto has to offer. (OK, maybe next to Broken Social Scene, but The Sadies have been around longer.) I had already reviewed them earlier this year as part of the NXNE festival, and there really isn't much that I could add that I haven't already mentioned there. It was an evening full of guest stars and family while the Good boys displayed their remarkable talent once again. It's been noticed by many that The Sadies have always been remarkably consistent at putting on a stellar live show. It's also been mentioned before that they have a particular fondness for The Horseshoe since it has been hosting their music for so long. So that being the case, they really made sure that they gave the fans their money's worth by playing for nearly two hours in length. They graciously took fan requests, and they politely thanked the audience after pretty much every song. For me the particular highlight of the evening was when they had opening act Rick White join them on stage for a couple of songs. They performed a cover of The MC5's "Looking At You", which may actually go down in my mind as the performance of the year! It was mind-blowing, to say the least. The Sadies are a band that every music lover owes to himself to go and see whenever he/she gets the chance.

Photos: The Sadies @ The Legendary Horseshoe on flickr.
Download: Anna Leigh mp3
Myspace: The Sadies
Video: Flash on youtube.

Sandwiched inbetween The Sadies and the opening act was Rick White (formerly of Eric's Trip.) He played a mellower acoustic set that actually wasn't really that mellow. I was pretty excited to see him as I consider him to be sort of a legend, yet I had never seen him live. The man is a magician on the guitar, and I feel sorry for all the people in attendance who were not standing within the first 3 or 4 rows. The reason for this is that he really does need to be seen to be believed. His fingers danced along the fretboards like a couple of ... um .... really impressive dancers. (The people in the first few rows know what I'm talking about.) To add to his immense guitar playing talent, his lyrics are really quite bizarre and interesting and I think it's time that I got better acquainted with his projects since Eric's Trip since I'm really quite unfamiliar with anything else he's done. Judging by what I witnessed last night, that's a real shame.

Photos: Rick White @ The Legendary Horseshoe on flickr.
Video: In-store performance at Soundscapes in Toronto on youtube.

The opening act was local folk rocker Andre Ethier who I am basically very unfamiliar with. I know that he was the lead singer of The Deadly Snakes, who are very good from what I know of them. But otherwise, that's about it. When I first walked in, just as his set was starting, I thought the music was slightly reminiscent of Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys." It definitely had a proggish feel to it. However, as the show went on I could see that Andre was more influenced by Bob Dylan and southern blues as opposed to anything by Yes. His band included a saxophonist / flautist that added another dimension to the band that prevents it from being referred to strictly as folk-rock. There was a sort of free form Velvet Underground vibe to it as well. Confused? Well, let the music speak for itself by going to his myspace. As for me, going to a concert when I'm sick has likely just made me more sick. Head cloudy. Vision blurry. Unable to write literate review. Going to bed now.

Photos: Andre Ethier @ The Legendary Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: Andre Ethier