Breaking News - The Killers to Slay Toronto

Las Vegas rockers the Killers have announced a show in Toronto on September 22, sandwiched in between slices of a their tour dates in the US and Australia. Currently performing shows in venues across Europe, the guys will be back in North America for a quick stop in New York's Paradise Theatre and the newly added date at Toronto's Sound Academy, before heading back to Australia, where people seem to really love them. Pre-sale tix are on sale now for the Toronto show, and should go on sale to the general public soon.

As an aside, if you've never been to the Killers website, it's one of the coolest sites ive ever seen, so check it out.

Guest Review: MMJ is Wonderful in Toronto

It was finally here - my most anticipated concert of the summer. My favorite band making a pit-stop up north for one show, before finishing the rest of their tour in the US. My Morning Jacket showing us all how amazing and powerful and enjoyable live music can be. Expecting the Molson Amphitheater to be the venue, which has given me nothing but amazing concerts, my friends and I were met with a very pleasant surprise… the concert was on Echo Beach, right beside the Amphitheater. So far we have: favorite band, beautiful summer night and a concert on the beach. Recipe for a great time if you ask me! The vibe was just right.

The show itself was unreal. It began with a powerful and energetic "Outta My System" and continued into a great mixture of old classics and newer material. For the hardcore fans it was a pleasure to hear "O Is The One That Is Real," "Phone Went West" (best version I’ve ever heard) and "Master Plan"… amazing! For me, it was especially awesome when I heard "Wonderful" off the latest album, Circuital. I went to several shows last summer for the Circuital tour and "Wonderful" was the only song I had yet to see and hear live. Check. It did not disappoint, I was smiling ear to ear the whole time!

I have since done all in my power to find the bootleg because I want to re-live this show again and again…and again! If you have never seen MMJ live you really are missing out. One of the best hidden gems going - you wont have a bad experience unless you a) drink too much (always a possibility) b) don’t like live music c) are a total square d) all of the above. (Editor's Note: do total squares ever drink too much?) Aside from that, if you are a normal, functioning music fan who loves a good time and soul tingling jams, MMJ is definitely for you. Involve yourself with them immediately. 

by Matt Simonovich

Canadian Concert Round-Up

It's been a while so let's get back to everyone's favourite segment, the (sometimes) oft-bi-weekly Canadian Concert Round-Up. This one's a mixture of whats coming up soon and also a rundown of some exciting new tour dates north of the border announced for this fall by jam bands who dont make it up here very often, and a couple who do.

- The Barr Brothers, whose base of operations is in Montreal, have announced a series of shows in small-town Quebec venues, starting October 18 in Val-David. They will also hit such music meccas as Lotbiniere, Pont-Rouge, Saguenay, and Sorel-Tracy. Bet those small town shows will rock!

 - Howlin Rain has announced what will be, as far as i can tell, their first ever gig in Canada - on Sunday, October 21 in Vancouver's Rickshaw Theatre. This show is not yet posted on their website and details are sketchy at this point, however they are going to be on tour in the mid-west with Tea Leaf Green, so cross your fingers TLG will make the trip back up to BC to headline the show!

- Montreal jammers Plants and Animals has released dates for a fall/winter tour, starting with a Halloween night show (October 31 - duh) in Victoria, BC , and hitting Nelson, BC, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

If your really itching for some P&A - i know im looking for an excuse to see these guys again and catching them at Ottawa Bluesfest and Osheaga - the guys will be racking up some frequent flyer miles in Canada starting in a couple days. They play this Friday, August 24 at the Squamish Festival in BC, then fly almost as far across the country as you can, to L'Assomption, Quebec (where?) for August 28, then Rouyn-Noranda August 31. There's some good music this year in rural Quebec, no? Check out the guys' website for the rest of the tour dates, including St. Johns and Halifax dates. 

- great lineup for the aforementioned Live at Squamish 2012, beginning this Friday: The Sheepdogs, Plants and Animals, Tragically Hip, Wintersleep, the Pack A.D., Current Swell, Kathleen Edwards, Airborne Toxic Event, City and Colour, and more. How come i never heard of this fest before?

- Trampled by Turtles will race to Winnipeg for Thursday, August 30 for a sold out show at the West End Cultural Centre. Good on you, 'Peg. If you had your set on seeing TBT, they'll also be in Saskatoon August 31, Calgary September 1 and Whitefish, Montana just over the border September 2.

- Young the Giant is heading to Vancouver for a sold-out gig at the Commodore Ballroom on August 31. There are tix still available for their performances at Calgary's X-Fest on Sept 1 (headliners Incubus, Linkin Park, Silversun Pickups, fun., Pack A.D. and others) and September 2 at Edmonton's Sonic Boom Festival (same lineup, different name).

 

Echos of My Morning Jacket

MMJ played a show Wednesday night in Toronto that was, by all accounts, SICK. The universe decided to punish me for having such a good time at Osheaga by making the show on the same night as my newspaper's submission deadline, meaning there was no way in hell i was gonna be able to be there, but fortunately (tortuously!) a carload of my buddies were there...and im not bitter at all. The show, at Toronto's Echo Beach next door the Molson Amphitheater, featured a diverse set list of new tracks from Circuital, and all the way back to material from the early albums. Band of Horses opened and was apparently pretty groovin' as well. By the end of the weekend i should have a full concert review posted, with some photos and videos as well. Stay Tuned!

Osheaga Opinions - A Festival Review

Every music festival has a question. Sometimes, it’s an obvious one that develops a theme for the fest – “When will it stop raining,” “Who’s going to play the Superjam,” “What’s the deal with those mascots,” or “How many artists will get stopped at the border?” Other times, it’s a total mystery – as was the case this weekend (Aug. 3-5) at Montreal’s seventh annual Osheaga Music Festival, when people were walking around and wondering aloud, “What do you think that giant crane is for?”

For three days, a huge, industrial crane stood directly behind the main stage, like an unfinished London Olympic venue waiting for the finishing touch, until it became a part of the background scenery of Jean Drapeau Park.

Until, that is, the BlackKeys put that question to rest.

Closing the festival on Sunday night, August 5, the Keys once again proved they can throw as good a party as any band. During their third-last song, Everlasting Light (which always features a special effect), the slumbering crane awoke into action and swung a platform over the crowd, from which a rain of purple, blue and white sparks showered down. It was the defining moment of the festival and, of course, the raucous crowd went even more nuts.

It was a fitting end to the biggest and best Osheaga yet. In the shadow of the geodesic dome built for the 1967 World’s Fair, the event drew a sellout crowd of 120,000 people and – trust me – it was obvious there were A LOT of people there. 

The only place that wasnt packed...

The only hiccups to the fest were logistical, not musical – the layout featured a long, winding path that funneled tens of thousands of inebriated concert-goers up a narrow staircase and walkway constructed over a road that remained open during the event, causing major backlogs and making it very difficult to hop from stage to stage. You basically had to pick a side and commit to it for a whole show. There were also huge lineups for concession stands, water stations and bathrooms, and not nearly enough beer tents for all the people, but that is all part of the festival experience.  

In terms of the music, I was extremely impressed. There were very few disappointments and several bands with whom I was pleasantly surprised. Some of my lesser highlights included GaryClark Jr., who absolutely shredded his guitar Friday afternoon and showed that the future of blues rock is in good hands; British DJ SBTRKT, whose mixture of classical, rock and electronic sounds was refreshingly groovy compared to some of the other DJs on the electronic stage (and his delightfully British quips to the crowd were quite charming); the Black Angels, who I didn’t know anything about but are really an explosion of hard rock and up-tempo rhythm; and Little Dragon, a Swedish electronic group that was much more funky and rockin’ than their description as “electronic” led me to believe. Great visuals, too.

The first day of the festival got off to a bit of a slow start as 80,000 people tried to figure out where all the stages and beer tents were, so many fans missed the first few hours of shows by bands like fun., Hey Ocean!, Yukon Blonde, Freelance Whales and the Bombay Bicycle Club. Folk-rock band Of Monsters and Men really kicked off the fest with the first huge crowd, turning up their rock-factor to get people moving. Their decision not to close their set with Little Talks, their biggest song, I thought was unusual, but allowed people to leave early to catch Franz Ferdinand. I decided to skip those quintessential indie-rockers in favour of Austin, Texas’ Gary Clark Jr., and was not disappointed. 

Florence & the Machine was the biggest act of opening night, though curiously they did not get the headlining spot, which went to Justice, one of the most self-serving and overblown electronic performances I’ve ever seen. The DJ spent at least five minutes of his show walking out from behind his turntables and holding his hand up for applause, in front of a giant light-up cross. Talk about ego.

Florence, for her part, sounded great after recovering from her vocal chord injury of a few weeks ago and had some good banter for the massive crowd that formed to watch her, at one point proclaiming, “We need human sacrifices! I want to see as many people on shoulders as possible.”

Later that night, MGMT took the stage and promptly blew me away. Ive seen the New York duo several times at festivals over the years, and always felt they were a little too electronic-disco for my tastes. This, I have since come to understand, is why so many people like them. However, tonight, they played a much more psychedelic, meandering, jammy set that was reminiscent of Pink Floyd, especially in their lighting and artwork, which was like an hour-long trip to the cover of Floyd’s More album. Their version of the Rolling Stones’ Angie was also really well done and perfect for the vibe of their set. “They can’t say we never tried to cover that song,” teased co-frontman Andrew VanWyngarden after strumming the last chords.

They were easily one of the highlights of my festival, though many people I talked to were disappointed it wasn’t more of a dance party. I’d say, if MGMT used to be a rebellious, end-of-the-year high-school party, now they’ve become a third-year college frat party.  

Saturday’s 35-degree heat (that’s about 95 for you Americans) was no deterrent for the Osheagans, as Canadian trio Plants and Animals took their self-described “post-rock” sound to the next level, making lots of new fans with an extremely soulful and resonant, but up-tempo set. They have a very “quarter-life-crisis” vibe to them, with existential yet down-to-earth, contemporary lyrics that seemed to click with many in that age group. During the song Good Friend, with the lyrics, “It takes a good friend to say you’ve got your head up your ass,” people were looking around at each other, nodding their heads and going, “That’s true,” and “Ya, for sure!” It was a fun moment in which the band really seemed to connect.

The water canons also came out for the first time during this set, and that’s when people really started having fun at Osheaga. There’s something about a sea of mud at a music fest that really turns things up a notch, Woodstock-style.

Young the Giant kept the ball rolling after Plants and Animals on the adjacent stage (the two big stages were set up side-by-side and alternated bands all weekend, while the three smaller stages were on the other side of the park over the staircase). After a more melodic, trippy My Morning Jacket-esque evening set at Ottawa Bluesfest a few weeks ago, this one was all energy and rockin’ in the sunshine, allowing the guys in this California outfit to really showcase the Wilco-style simplicity and catchiness of their music and focus less on their visuals.

Canadian rockers the Arkells were one of the highlights of the festival, making a ton of new fans with their easy-to-love rock and roll. After seeing these guys several times over the past few years they are definitely on the list of bands I’ll always see live, along with fellow Canadian artists Wintersleep, who performed on Friday, and the Sheepdogs.

Hilarious high five for the Arkells!

While Snoop Dogg (or Lion, pardon me) closed out the main stage Saturday night, the Sheepdogs, from rural Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, opened many peoples’ eyes. They are a revelation. They’re easily the best jam band to come out of Canada since the Guess Who (if you can even put them in that category), and at times on Saturday it felt like I was listening to the Allman Brothers. In fact, wearing one of my Grateful Dead t-shirts, someone came up to me during the show and asked if the set was giving me my “Dead fix,” which it definitely was. It actually sounded like they were teasing Jessica several times throughout the set, though it may have just been a similar riff. Either way, remember the Sheepdogs, and see them now while they’re still playing small stages. I’m excited these guys are Canadian.

I did manage to continue my ongoing dub-ducation at Osheaga, with SBTRKT, Little Dragon, Canadian duo Zeds Dead, Huoratron and the Zombie Disco Party. I’ve said it before and ill say it again: it’s not quite “music,” but there is something to dub-step I can get behind. It’s like a series of lights, sounds and noises that mimic the electrical impulses my brain sends to my muscles and forces them to juke and jive and dance and move in all directions. Just go with it.

See the Sheepdogs now, while they still cant afford a printer.

Which is exactly what most people did on Sunday, as the heat subsided and the skies opened up during the Shins fabulous afternoon set that had me thinking, “These guys sound like a young R.E.M. combined with that trippy, meandering Beatles-Revolver-era sound, like Tomorrow Never Knows.” Throw in a little Queen-style pop, to taste. I had a lot of fun watching the Shins, and was definitely glad I brought my poncho – “I’m almost as wet as you guys!” teased lead singer James Mercer. Note to the Osheaga organizers – you don’t need water canons after a torrential downpour. Just sayin’.

While City and Colour droned on and on, Bloc Party and the Black Angels brought the funk and the rock, respectively. Canadian favourite Metric, who were once based in Montreal and have a huge following there, continue to cement themselves as one of the most popular bands in the nation. They did a good job warming up the crowd for the Black Keys, who pulled out all the stops and left pretty much everyone hoarse and jello-legged from jumping up and down and belting out their highly sing-able tunes. They actually played 19 songs from their whole catalogue, old and new, and virtually everyone in the crowd heard the tune they wanted. 

I would be remiss if i did not mention the incredible showcase of Canadian talent displayed at Osheaga, and congratulate both the festival organizers for their faith in Can-con and the bands, for putting on such a great show. Metric, Feist (who put on a very bluesy and entertaining show, in which someone brought a palm tree that managed to crowd-surf all the way onto the stage beside her), City and Colour, The Weeknd, Plants and Animals, Zeds Dead, Radio Radio, the Sheepdogs, Classified, Down With Webster, the Arkells, Kathleen Edwards, Wintersleep, Yukon Blonde, Dan Mangan, Young Galaxy, and many more. The future of Canadian music is in good hands.   

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend of music and was extremely successful, to boot. There are a few things event organizers should take from this experience, and perhaps limit the tickets to 100,000 next year, while opening that road would do wonders. There could also be three or four times as many concession stands, beer tents and water stations. After all, you want all those out-of-towners to try poutine, right? But no cranes next year – give us a new question and keep the surprises coming.   

Overheard at Osheaga

 

It’s time for one of my favourite ongoing segments: things overheard at music festivals. Enjoy!

- “You’re washing your feet in that?”

- “Who do you have to bribe to get a street closed around here?”

- “You’re gonne be here for a long time – longer than City and Colour played for.”

- “It’s 2012! The Apocalypse is coming!”

- “We’ve been saying it’s 2012 since before it was 2012, and we’ll be saying it after.”

- “It’s Montreal, everywhere serves till 3 o’clock!”

- “Maybe I should get cash, I have like zero dollars…”

          - “I have at least twenty.”

- “Gilles Du-ceppe, charged me 10 dollars for a ci-ga-rette...” (drunken singing)

- “I didn’t go to Bluesfest this year, that was my identical twin sister.”

- “He’s doing the slow walk…”

          - “He knows the slow walk well…”

- “There are some people doing the robot near me.”

- “That shirt is really rad, man – I didn’t know the bears could board!”

- “You’re not going to Snoop Dogg?”

          - “Bah, no, and it’s Snoop LION now…”

          - “Snoop Lion…”

          - “Sheep Lion!”

- “They want to get rid of our health care!”

          - “We should all just fuckin’ use gold, anyway.”

Osheaga Update: That's A Wrap...

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, including a great music festival - and Montreal's Osheaga was surely that. It had its ups and downs, there are some things festival organizers will surely learn from, but those things were all logistical. I can honestly say there wasnt a single band during the course of the three days of the fest that disappointed me, and several i was pleasantly surprised by. Sure, it was extremely hot, incredibly crowded, there were not nearly enough beer tents and the layout was brutal, but the music was phenomenal. All the detriments were logistic, not music. So ill just have to go back next year when they've got it all sorted out.

Some highlights of day 3:

- The Shins - great show, i was very impressed. They remind me of a young REM, mixed with some Revolver-era Beatles (that trippy, melodic guitar sound like Tomorrow Never Knows) with some of the up-tempo beats reminiscent of Queen.
- all the metal heads gathered for some head banging at the Black Angels, who put on a great show with lots of diversity and musical tangents away from their cacophonous metal sound, which i enjoyed
- did you know Bloc Party is British? I didnt. This band needs a more ambitious sound if they want to really break through, they sound too much like everyone else who's popular right now. I could say the same thing for Of Mice and Men, even the Shins.
- Metric put on almost exactly the same show as they did three weeks ago at Ottawa Bluesfest, which i really enjoyed, with a slightly different set list and less banter to the crowd, which was much bigger due to their Montreal roots.
- Black Keys = Awesome. Fantastic. Amazing. Second-best Keys show ive ever seen, after my first one. Those guys just know how to party.

Stay tuned for a full festival review and, of course, my favourite segment that focuses on crazy, hilarious drunk/stoned people at festivals, "Overheard at the Festival."


Overheard at Osheaga:

- “You’re washing your feet in that?”

- “You’re gonne be here for a long time – longer than City and Colour played for.”
- "Who do you have to bribe to get a street closed around here?"

- “It’s 2012! The Apocalypse is coming!”

          - “We’ve been saying it’s 2012 since before it was 2012, and we’ll be saying it after.”

- “Everywhere serves till 3 oclock!”

- “Maybe I should get cash, I have like zero dollars."

          - “I have at least twenty…”

- (sung at the top of her lungs) “Gilles Du-ceppe, charged me 10 dollars for a ci-ga-rette...”

- “I didn’t go to Bluesfest this year, that was my identical twin sister.”

- “He’s doing the slow walk…”

          - “He knows the slow walk well…”

Osheaga Update: Enter, Day 3

Osheaga Fest - Day 3: Here's whats on tap: Passion Pit, Santigold, Woodkid, the Shins, Bloc Party, Metric, the Black Keys, M83, and more. Plus a 40% chance of thunderstorms, so interesting day ahead. Stay tuned!

Osheaga Update: Day 2's End

Osheaga festival is two thirds over, and already im wishing it was gonna last longer than it is. Never thought id say it, but im a little nostalgic for a two week-long Bluesfest experience, know what i mean?

Here, now, thoughts and observations from Day 2.

- great tatoo on the underside of a guy's arm: "Build a better ____"
- Great set by Plants & Animals, i was very impressed - great version of Good Friend that had the crowd going nuts and with the lyrics, "it takes a good friend to say you've got your head up your ass," you could hear people in the crowd going, "ya, thats true!"
- it was so hot they broke out the water canons, but they werent strong enough to reach the majority of the crowd so the front, right corner of the crowd was getting drenched! it was refreshing at first, but then it was getting repeatedly soaked over and over again. Moral of the story: variable-jet water canons.
- P&A seems like a great quarter-life crisis band with their contemporary style and existencial yet down-to-earth lyrics
- They remind me of Wilco, if i had to compare
- Young the Giant had a better, though less psychedelic set than the one i saw three weeks ago in Ottawa - it was a smokin hot afternoon under the sun so they couldnt be as lightshow focused, and they rocked a bit more. One song reminded me of Pearl Jam's Given to Fly, but i maintain my My Morning Jacket comparison.
- YtG also has a sort of Spoon-style simplicity combined with the soaring, ethereal arcs Coldplay style oooh-oooooh-ooooooh reverb
- overheard during the fest - "They want to get rid of our health care!"
                                              - "We should all just fuckin' use gold anyway, man."
- Rockin set by the Arkells, who continue to win converts with every show. Nice tease of the Black Keys "Lonely Boy" - "We've had this weekend circled on our calendar for a long time," said lead singer  Max Kerman.
- shout out to 2005-Bonnaroo-tshirt-wearing Will, Colin and their group from Fredericton on their festival tour, who got to see Iron Maiden for the first time last week and were Arkells virgins
- British DJ duo SUBTRKT was really good, mixing elements of classical and dubstep, and as a charming twist they were so typically British
- when he said, very understatedly to the crowd between "scenes," "it's hot up here, (sigh)" it was so typically british i cant even describe why it made me laugh so much
- sorta like, "this is gonna be our last scene of the night, i fink"
- Feist was great, very bluesy and much harder than expecting, but with some very uplifting, operatic sections to it with a female-power liberation Dixie Chicks feel at times. Interesting set. - Someone brought a palm tree and passed it through the crowd up to the stage.
- "it does kinda feel like Coachella out here today," she said in the heat
- "Thanks you doe bringing a palm tree, which i only ever dreamt would happen."
- overheard at the Sheepdogs: "Not going to Snoop Dogg?"
                                                  - "Bah no, and it's Snoop Lion now..."
                                                  - "Snoop Lion!"
                                                  - "Sheep Lion!"
- Sheepdogs were absolutely awesome, they are the best jam band to come out of Canada in a long time. they honestly sounded like the Allman Brothers, and were teasing Jessica throughout the whole show
- "That shirt is really rad man, i didnt know the bears could board!"
- spontaneous applause in the metro station on the way home for Canada when the medal count was flashed on the screens in the tunnel. Gotta love it.  

Osheaga Update: Enter, Day 2

Im about to head out for Osheaga, day two, and my day should look something like this: Plants & Animals, Young the Giant, the Arkells, maybe some dubstep in between or possibly some Garbage or Feist, then the Sheepdogs to close it out. Gonna be a solid day of music with some good can-con. Excelsior!

Osheaga update: End, Day 1

Day 1 is in the books and, before i start preparations for the hot, sweaty metro trip back to parc jean drapeau for Day 2, here are some thoughts and observations from Day 1. ill turn this insto something coherent once i have the whole narrative from the three days of the festival.

- dont want to start off on a negative note but a really poor layout to the festival made me miss several good bands in the opening hours of the fest - managed to catch the last couple songs Of Mice & Men did and they were actually not bad, much more rockin than their radio folkiness
- tough choice between Franz Ferdinand and Gary Clark Jr - i had a feeling the melancholy indie rockers would fail to hold my interest so i decided to groove to the young blues guitarists awesome southern twang. Good choice.
- somwhere between 60-80 thousandss people trying to watch florence & the machine in a space designed for half that. by the time i was packed in like a sardine in a crushed tin box, i still couldnt see anything, not even the big screens
- florence telling the crowd "we need human sacrifices! i want to see as many people on shoulders as possible."
- in the ongoing effort to further my dub-ducation, i went to check out some Zeds Dead and was pleasantly surprised by the high degree of dance-ability
- MGMT was the highlight of the night - they've come a long way since i first saw them years ago at Bonnaroo - much more low key (for them) set, with a more pink-floyd-ey, jamming psychedelic vibe, espcially in the artwork - than their old electro dance party sound. id say, whereas MGMT used to be a rebellious end of the year high school house party, they've graduated to something like a 3rd year college house party.
- MGMT's cover of the Stones' Angie was excellent - a good choice for then and well executed
- my (highly illegible) notes say: MGMT = radiohead + vampire weekend + pink floyd artwork (it was the album More im thinking of, very Andy Warhol-esque).
- people screaming for Kids, which they did not play
- That guy Justice is one of the most self-congratulating djs ive ever seen. I mean, who puts a giant light up cross onstage behind them? he spent half his show in front of his soundboard, in silence, with his arm gathering applause. come on.
- saying, "there are some people doing the robot around me" is not a good way to give directions during a DJ show
 

Happy Birthday Jerry

You would have been 70 today, and I just want you to know how much you mean to me. I even named my cat after you. your music changed my life and so many others'. Keep on truckin, my friend.

Once in a while you get shown the light
in the strangest of places, if you look at it right.

On behalf of the entire jam band community, happy birthday Jerry!