The Decemberists w/ Heartless Bastards @ Kool Haus

It's been noted that a professional journalist always refrains from gushing. His job is to present an accurate and unbiased opinion of an album or performance whilst exercising due caution to avoid presenting himself (or herself) as an uneducated fanboy (or fangirl) who merely sings the praises of a band without providing any real constructive criticism. However, as you all know, I ain't no professional journalist and I just went to see The Decemberists play the awesomest freakin' show I've seen in something like 15 years or something! So gushing? Yes, I will be gushing!

To begin with, it was one of those nights where pretty much everything seemed to be going my way. My favourite band (of the moment) was in town to play my favourite album (of the moment) in its entirety! My enthusiasm was certainly on a high that I haven't felt for quite some time, but this high was significantly tempered by the fact that they were playing the Kool Haus. We all know how I feel about the Kool Haus. Still, somehow I managed to get a spot right up front, center stage. This meant that my 5'9" stature, which is generally considered perfectly average in the real world, yet ridiculously tiny in the world of standing room concerts at crappy venues, was thankfully not an irritating issue this time around. Also not an issue was the crowd who were definitely of the 'all-ages' variety, but respectfully so. The teenage girls on the verge of syncope at the sight of Colin Meloy's cool muttonchops certainly made themselves known, but not in the usual way that makes me want to trip them. Also, the sound that had reached an all time level of unlistenable at The National show back in May was actually slightly on the positive side of tolerable, much to my surprise. This wasn't Massey Hall, but it wasn't ... erm ... Kool Haus either. I mean it was, but, you know...

The opening band was the Heartless Bastards from Ohio. Although they've received a fair measure of critical acclaim, I was mostly unfamiliar with them. Their name made me guess that they were either a punk band or a country band, and I'd have to say that they floated somewhere inbetween the two. Their sound is certainly bred from that bluesy garage tradition, but I really appreciated the way their songs would often shift seamlessly from gruff, dirty sounding bar numbers to fuller sounding rock triumphs, often during the course of a single song. Vocalist Erika Wennerstrom's Joplin-esque swirl is the ingredient that caused me to pay closer attention, as it presented the right balance of attitude and misery that I personally found captivating.

Photos: My pics of Heartless Bastards @ Kool Haus are on flickr.
Myspace: Heartless Bastards
Download: The Mountain mp3

As much as I've been enjoying The Decemberists's Hazards Of Love CD at home, I knew that this progessive song suite would absolutely kill on the live stage. Jenny Conlee was the first member to hit the stage, and after accepting a large bouquet of flowers from an audience member, she sat down at the keyboard to lunge into the supreme opus that was to enrapture this audience for the next hour or so. I had recently read somewhere that she's a huge Jethro Tull fan, so there's no doubt that Jenny was likely in all her glory during the course of this tour. Although this was not an acted stage play in the true sense of the term, Colin Meloy shifted between his dual role of William (the good guy) and The Rake (the bad guy) with charismatic ease. The man is usually no stranger to charming banter, but since the structure of this piece does not really allow for any "Hello Toronto!" moments, Meloy basically let his facial expressions do the talking. The best performances however were done by the guest female vocals of Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond.) Once again, they weren't acting per se, but they were certainly hamming it up on that stage by allowing themselves to be completely consumed in their roles of the pure white Margaret (Stark) and the vampy seductress The Queen (Worden). Although the whole piece was performed brilliantly throughout, it was hard to argue with the audience's enthusiasm during The Rake Song. I suppose it was a hint disconcerting to hear the crowd sing along to that song's morbid lyric with such inappropriate joyfulness, but it was bizarrely uplifting nonetheless.

After performing the album in its entirety, the band gave us two shows, two shows for the price of one, as they returned to the stage after a 15 minute break with a full set of nine brilliant songs both old and new, prior to the encore. Meloy now had the opportunity to remind us how witty he actually is, as he kept his endearing audience banter going throughout the course of the show. Whether he was engaging the audience in a well prepared singalong during Billy Liar, going on about the worst song that he's ever written before playing Dracula's Daughter, or just simply messing up the lyrics to The Crane Wife 3 and then blaming it on his drummer who's "always messing up everything", Colin Meloy displayed a sense of humour that provided clarity as to why The Decemberists have been mentioned in the same breath as Stephen Colbert so often. The night provided so many great moments, but the definite culmination of all things wonderful came when Worden and Stark once again graced us with their presence in order to perform an incendiary version of Heart's Crazy On You; a performance that will likely be secured in my mind's concert highlight reel for years to come. For the encore, the band came back out to perform Eli The Barrow Boy, and Sons And Daughters; the latter of which enabled the audience to sing the coda in a way that literally gave me chills.

When I'm an old(er) man and reflecting back on all of my concert going experiences, I'm pretty positive that the Short Fazed Novel Tour of 2009 will be one of those shows that I'll be referring to often. A Decemberists show goes beyond simply being another concert; a Decemberists show is an event. It's likely that they got the epic 55 minute song desire out of their system with this tour, but there's no doubt that each tour will continue to be a memorable experience, which means that this is likely not the last time that you will see me gush unprofessionally about this band.

Reviews of this show are also on Chromewaves and Chart.

Photos: My pics of The Decemberists @ Kool Haus are on flickr.
Myspace: The Decemberists
Download: Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect mp3

The National @ Kool Haus

Although The National have been reportedly hard at work on their follow up to 2007's critically acclaimed Boxer, I suppose they felt that there was no harm in using their summer to ride the wave of success that this excellent album has provided for them. That tour kicked off on Thursday night, here in Toronto. Pretty much every time that they had come here in the past I have been unable to attend, which is unfortunate because each visit showcases them at a bigger venue than the one before. I did catch their opening set for R.E.M. at Molson Amphitheatre and I thought it was downright euphoric, to say the least. Needless to say, that show only made me swell with increased anticipation at the chance to see the band return to a more intimate venue the next time around. Unfortunately my eagerness was tempered significantly when I got the word that the show was going to be at the Kool Haus on a Thursday night. This meant that I was going to be late, and that the sound was going to be bad.

As predicted, the sound was bad. In fact, it was amongst the worst I've ever heard, but I'll tuck Mr. Negative away and try not to dwell on that too much. On the plus side, I still managed to arrive before they started (and from what I've heard, missing opener Colin Stetson was not a great loss) and I even managed to find a decent enough spot where I could see what was going on relatively clearly. Also, I could hear that the place was filled a large number of ignorant chatterboxes, but from where I was standing the crowd seemed to be rather attentive and appreciative. So that was cool. The performance of course, was exactly what I expected it to be, that is, out of control. In a good way.

They opened the evening with Start A War and there are very few things on this planet that balance the seeming contradiction of warm intimacy and epic anthemicism as the baritone vocals of Matt Berringer. For a band that hasn't played together for several months (with the exception of a charity show) his voice was there in all of its deep dark glory and the band themselves did not sound out of practice at all. While it's true that Matt dropped the mic a couple of times and even messed up a few of the opening lyrics to Fake Empire, I think that this had more to do with the liquid in his hand, as opposed to simply being away from the live stage. He even threw the mic stand into the crowd during a blistering performance of Mr. November, which was very rock 'n roll, as far as I'm concerned (although I am glad that I wasn't standing in the line of fire.) The set was mostly comprised of songs from Boxer and Alligator, with some of the highlights being a powerhouse performance of Squalor Victoria and a gruff rendition of Mistaken For Strangers, which had Berringer's voice growing increasingly more Joe Cocker-ish as the night went on. They did showcase a couple of new songs as well, including a noisily sprawling version of Vanderlylle Cry Baby that hinted at the fact that the band's next album is going to carry on in their essential epic, yet brooding Brooklyn style. The encore was equally triumphant, particularly during the one-two punch of the aforementioned Mr. November and About Today, both of which managed to ensure that the show ended on a rock 'n roll high.

Although the show was plagued with all of the usual annoyances that accompany shows at the simply awful Kool Haus, I would say that overall, people that truly appreciate The National (which I would guess would be about 85% of those in attendance) likely left the venue satisfied. The National are currently one of the best live bands on the planet, and this show left me in eager anticipation for the upcoming album, which is apparently due out later this year.

Photos: The National @ Kool Haus on flickr
(I was too far away to get any really good shots , but you can see Chromewaves' pics here, For The Records' pics here, and ChartAttack's pics here.)
Myspace: The National

NXNE Extra Series: My Morning Jacket w/ The Besnard Lakes @ Kool Haus

When I first heard Evil Urges, my initial reaction was to wonder just exactly what particular evil it was that urged My Morning Jacket to record this album. I admire their desire to experiment with new ideas, but I also thought the switch from deep fried southern jam rock to funky experimental Prince-like falsetto was just a little bit too drastic for my tastes. Upon further listening, if I try real hard, I guess I can still hear the quality musicianship of these five boys from Kentucky, although I can't say that the album has really grown on me with time. However, since I listen to their earlier works with reasonable regularity these days, I figured it would still be awesome to catch their live show, since I've still never done it. That, and I knew there was a good chance of getting in to see them with my NXNE badge. I also figured that even if the new material doesn't translate too well to the live stage, I can always count on The Besnard Lakes, who were the openers of the evening.

I realize that it's not for everybody, but I think that a live performance by The Besnard Lakes is always a trip. Jace Lasek and his significant other Olga Goreas have a way of creating psychedelic sounds that seemingly have the ability to transcend space and time. If you wanna talk about a cool sounding falsetto, Jace has got it. It comes across to me as sounding as if Brian Wilson had chilled out in a sandbox full of helium as opposed to, um, sand. The vocals are a very unique contrast to the spacey sounds and haunting lyrics emanating from these Montreal mysterians. The set was rather short this time, only about six or seven songs, but as we all know, their songs are certainly anything but brief. From what I can remember, they mostly stuck with songs from Are The Dark Horse, their Polaris prize nominated sophomore. Devastation sounded incendiary and Disaster was also a highlight.

Photos: The Besnard Lakes @ Kool Haus on flickr
Myspace: The Besnard Lakes
Download: And You Lied To Me mp3


Thanks to my photographer friend Walid, who was standing right in the designated photo pass section, I was able to catch a sneak peak at the MMJ setlist beforehand, since he took a picture of it. The setlist gave me mixed feelings. On the one hand, it looked great because it featured a decent handful of songs from At Dawn and It Still Moves. The encore in particular looked killer. However there seemed to be way too many songs from Z, which was their last album and one that I also didn't like that much. The set list also just looked long. Period. That worried me since I had just come off quite the whirlwind of a rock 'n roll weekend and I didn't know if I had the stamina left for a two hour show. So that sounds like an awful lot of negativity going in, doesn't it? And what was the final verdict?

Well, basically there's a reason why My Morning Jacket is considered by many to be one of the best live acts out there these days. This show was one fantastically solid jam. The band was beyond tight, and you didn't have to be a musician yourself to figure out that these guys are masters at their craft. Jim James clearly loves what he's doing, and he certainly should be campaigning as a candidate for most dynamic performer. He's also got the chops to back up such claims. There were moments where he donned a cape, and there were also times when he slid across the floor in a rock star pose while singing his little heart out. All the band members are spectacular, but drummer Patrick Hallahan in particular is an animal (as can be seen in the photo I took above!) I thought the songs from Z sounded a little bit more fleshed out in a live setting, and I feel that the same is sort of true for some of the Evil Urges tunes, only less so. (I will add that there is simply no saving Highly Suspicious, a truly dreadful song as far as I'm concerned.)

As I anticipated, the encore was money, featuring Steam Engine, Run Thru and One Big Holiday. These songs are tailor made for the live stage, and the majestic sounds that these killer jams created busted through that Kool Haus stage with reckless abandon, leaving me intensely satisfied! That satisfaction was saturated in zealous fatigue, and my feet felt as if they has accidentally been charcoaled on a George Forman grill, but otherwise, I think the evening, as well as the rest of the NXNE festival was a rousing success.

Photos: My Morning Jacket @ Kool Haus on flickr
Myspace: My Morning Jacket
Download: Evil Urges mp3


And so ends my coverage of this year's festival. I had a lot of fun being introduced to new bands at the same time as checking out some of my old local reliables. I hope that next year the festival doesn't coincide as much with so many personal non-festival related activities, but I think that this is probably wishful thinking since June is always a busy time of year for me. I am sorry that I missed out on the Six Shooter Records sponsored free backyard bbq event, and I would've liked to catch some of the in-store performances, but this is the busy life that I lead. I still think that 18 bands in 4 days is making pretty good use of my badge, and by far the majority of them were gooder than good, so yay me! Here's to doing it all again next year!

The Hives, The Donnas and The Carps @ Kool Haus

Remember a few years ago when bands like The Hives, The Vines and The Strokes were all set to save rock 'n roll from the ever dwindling trite pop music scene? Well, mission accomplished. However, that was a few years ago now, and the continued relevancy of the various "The" bands of the time is debatable. Except, perhaps, to the thousand or so in attendance at Kool Haus last night.

Have I mentioned how much I hate Kool Haus? We arrived early so as to be one of the first in line so that I would be able to see something. Because I never see anything when I'm at Kool Haus. Because it's a horrible venue. Of course, the ever proficient staff was not informed of the "limited CMW wristband arrangement" for this show, making our hour long wait in the drizzle all for naught. After the security guard finished explaining to me all sorts of facts about this show and Canadian Music Week that I already knew, he finally arranged for us and the few other shafted ones to get in. For this, we are eternally grateful, but our chances for claiming a good spot was just not going to happen. Oh we were about four rows from the front, but you see, that does not mean that one gets to actually see what's going on in that spot. Because Kool Haus is a horrible venue. Thus concludes my rant on why I hate Kool Haus. Oh, how was the show?

Well, like I said, for me, The Hives were sooooo four years ago, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't expecting a good, solid, rock 'n roll show. And thankfully, in that area, they delivered. Strutting around the stage like a Swedish Jagger and screaming at the crowd like a totally white James Brown, Pelle Almqvist proved that his band is totally worthy of the honor of introducing true authentic sounding garage rock to a new generation of youths. The stage setup was really cool, from the flashing logo to the smoke machine. This was an example of pure rock 'n roll swagger and showmanship. In living up to the title of my blog and the words of Sloan however, it's not the band I hate, it's their fans. I had lost something while out on the floor and it was just too dark to look for it. What was it again? Oh yes, it was my patience. So although it was a great show, I was Out-E before the encore. I don't mean to sound like your father, but you kids have got to calm down. Just kidding. It was likely the energetic vibe of the crowd that enabled the band to put on such high energy show. So have fun kids!

Photos: The Hives @ Kool Haus on flickr
Myspace: The Hives
Video: Tick Tick Boom on youtube

Opening for The Hives, were The Donnas. Again, a few years ago I had a real weakness for female rock bands, and The Donnas were certainly one of my favorites. However, as time passed I have to admit that these girls would fall more under a sort of guilty pleasure category for me. The lyrics are just so juvenile and dumb, and their musicianship is nothing to brag about. But they are fun, and their show was fun also. Donna A. (aka Brett Anderson) has had a few years to hone her skills at showmanship and she really knows how to command a crowd and show them a good time. The whole band played well together, and their brand of high energy rawk never let up for a minute.

Photos: The Donnas @ Kool Haus on flickr
Myspace: The Donnas
Video: Skintight on youtube

Opening the night was actually the act that impressed me most, Toronto's own The Carps. Taking a cue from fellow Torontonians Mstrkrft, these guys combined the forces of electronica and high in testosterone heavy rock to create a sound that is driving and infectious. The band consists of Jamal Tonge on lead vocals and drums and Neil A. White on guitar and laptop, electronic type sounds. (Or something like that. Can you tell that I don't listen to a lot of electronica?) Jamal's pitch perfect voice gives the band a very slight R & B feel, which adds to their original sound. Apparently The Carps are another band that has seemed to catch on overseas prior to being known in their hometown. Their performance last night however is sure to gain them a bigger local fanbase and rightly so.

Photos: The Carps @ Kool Haus on flickr
Myspace: The Carps
Video: Compton To Scarboro on youtube