For some reason I expected this to be upstairs in the big room at the Institute, perhaps because it had sold out so far in advance. That said, I prefer a smaller gig most times so was excited to see them in this intimate setting, having only caught them from the other main stage at Riot Fest, Toronto a few years back, that I can recall. Expecting the room to go nuts on Emily's appearance it was a polite, if subdued reaction. Speaking of her appearance, she had a blonde bob and a semi-revealing belly top on which comes into play later. Even after a few tracks the audience didn't seem to be giving them much to work off, although the setlist of primarily new stuff off the top could be at least partially to blame. Em even called it out herself in asking if we were with her and saying we were kind of just staring at them expectantly (besides this one tall dude who kept taking his ball cap off and repeatedly doffing it at her, even after she acknowledged it, to the point of her saying "yes, I see you.") Early in the set was Youth Without Youth which was alright and new tunes like Risk and Love You Back. I quite like the new album so I wasn't complaining, especially with personal highlight Dressed to Suppress. Thankfully they forgot about the bomb that was Pagans in Vegas and nearly skipped it completely (though I wouldn't have minded The Shade.) Jimmy was in fine form, taking a few solos but nothing outlandish. After Now or Never Now there was time for a little monologue from the leading lady. Things were said about being a professional, at which point she turned around, pointed at her bare lower back and joked about getting "Professionalism" tattooed across it. However, that wasn't the weirdest bit as she just kinda kept going and rambling about how when she wrote Gimme Sympathy she was about the same as now "but probably tripping and a little meaner" or something to that effect. Then she began espousing about how a concert is meant to be an escape from the real world but broke that whole vibe by complaining about the real world politics.. "and I can't even imagine what you guys must be feeling, with the future of your country and all" she rambled, at this point to audible grumbling and groans from the crowd. She took the point and got on with the song finally. Whether that diatribe woke us up or the likeability of the songs in the latter half perked up that much I can't be certain, but things definitely flowed much better. Hell, after Sick Muse not too long later, I thought they could easily walk out on a high, albeit early. However they stayed and I was glad they did with Monster Hospital and then Em grabbing a guitar for Gold, Guns, Girls though Jimmy stole the show with his work on that particular one. Coming fast and furious for the encore they did the obligatory Dark Saturday on an actual Saturday night, followed by Combat Baby that was probably the precipice for me but still jammed Dead Disco too. As a finale, with the crowd properly fired up and shouting for more, she introduced Help, I'm Alive and they tore it down to close out. Coming at this show as a cherry picking casual fan who really liked the most recent release I could have been happy by dropping all but the new tunes from the early part of the set but down the stretch and the encore they showed the power of what has gotten them to where they are, and some staying power to boot.
The opener from Vienna, whose name escape me, had some earnest singer songwriter tunes though his personality was better than his music overall. He personally handed out free download links to some B sides but I can't say I'm going to load them.
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