National, City and Colour - Riot Fest Sunday (Sept 7/14)

City and Colour

Dallas spoke about how he nearly turned down this 'punk festival' but then thought better of it 'punk is doing what you wanna do' and so here he was shutting the whole thing down Sunday night. As per usual as soon as he strolled out to a great R&B Soul II Soul song with his four-piece backing band, including key/pedal steel player, all that could be seen from the crowd were thousands of tiny glowing screens. Unfortunately he didn't rip into people which is usually the most fun of his show. In fact there wasn't too much banter as the set started quite lighter - especially after that intro song only for them to launch into a super slow opening track. The start of the set was more C&C of yesteryear than the rock-leaning version that has been seen of late. One of the first half highlights was the Grand Optimist as in the darkness the smoke show really worked in the spotlights. He also took Coming Home down in tempo, not that it bothered the drunk girl trying to sing and wave along at album speed. That song, as with many others, proved some great electric guitar work especially from his band members. The Girl bordered on country before they began bringing the rock back around in the latter half. A cover of Thrush Hermit's The Day We Hit the Coast, voluntarily assisted by "the hippie from Moneen," stuck with that trend as Green declared it one of his favourite Canadian songs by one of his favourite Canadian bands. Their final song was a long, meandering tune that didn't exactly elicit encore enthusiasm but it was a foregone conclusion with 15 minutes remaining. The disappointment in the encore wasn't simply that it did not contain a lightly speculated but highly unlikely Alexisonfire reunion (Jordan Hastings, drummer, at least, was on hand with Say Yes) but also that it consisted of only one song. Not only that but Dallas admitted it was probably not the popular choice, instead that it was his favourite and played Two Coins. Is that punk rock or poor showmanship?

The National
Warning, what you're about to read can't be unread.

Recently I heard Matt Berninger describe his lyric writing style as sitting down with music provided by his band and just working words to it until he came up with a song. I think this has ruined The National for me. Yes they make some epic indie tunes but just knowing the lyrics are the actual nonsense that they seem irks me now - I was much happier thinking there was some deeper obscure meaning. Sorry if this has the same effect on you.

That being said I went to check their set as day turned to night which was beneficial for their large projection screen not unlike the Flaming Lips from the night before. This displayed distorted live feeds from cameras set in all sorts of places around the stage showing the seven-piece, including a two-piece brass section. The setlist was a decent selection, drawing early on a lot of Trouble Will Find Me material which is well received like opener Don't Swallow the Cap, as well as I Should Live in Salt, Sea of Love (with harmonica), and I Need My Girl. For the last in that list the guitarist, while wearing a guitar around his shoulders held another by the butt end and tapped the end against the stage to make that reverberating sound. Matt seemed to lose it for a minute as he closed out Graceless and was knocking the microphone heartily off of his own head. They did touch on some older material including Ada, Bloodbuzz, plus the brash brass on Fake Empire, along with double raised guitars at its end. Speaking of ending, Mr.November is a gimme in the set and saw Matt enter the crowd and seemingly lose mic connection as the latter half of the song was taken over by his backing band and the crowd crooning along. After that, the final song, was Terrible Love which had him really stretching the cord as he came deep into the crowd - right up to me and I hadn't really pushed in, crowd surfing for a bit of it too. Oh Matt, up to your old shenanigans again.

Shad + Special Guest (Juno Block Party, March 24)

Shad was echoing up King Street as I emerged from the path. He continued to bang em out as I rocked up to the opening set of the Juno Block Party beside Roy Thompson Hall. There was a sizable crowd amassed, especially considering the early time and swooping temperatures for late March. They wouldn't be disappointed as Shad, flanked by DJ T-Lo and Adam on bass, would put on a strong set as per usual. My vote for "favorite Canadian hip hop artist" (is that what he's nominated for?) played as he knows how - slick, smooth, smart flow, with a smile and a swagger of a confident yet humble MC. Having seen him three times since TSOL dropped is a testament to his show and hence I'm not complaining when I say that I've seen this set before. However I'll focus on the new - such as the brand new verse tossed into Rock To It, as well as the set closer.


It was a foregone conclusion that we'd hear Live Forever upon seeing the line-up, what with this City & Shad collab recently dropping. I was pleased that it turned out as a Dallas Green cameo in Shad's set. (After all that is essentially what the song is, despite the equal billing.) Dallas emerged on stage and the girls swooned as he crooned the chorus, while also singing along off mic as Shad slayed it. That final verse is something! and Mr. Green appreciated it by throwing a bear hug on the MC from behind while he closed it out.


Check out the C&C review from later in the party.
Hannah Georgas too!

City & Colour (Juno Block Party, March 24)

Admittedly I'm not a huge City & Colour fan, give me Alexisonfire any day, but he's a respectable songwriter and an entertainer. Realizing the acoustic was put away and staying away due to the cold weather wreaking havoc on the tuning was especially disappointing as that aspect of his repertoire is particularly engaging. Dallas, both solo and with three backing mates was fine but nothing to write home about. He hardly even had any zingers for the inevitable "I Love You Dallas'" pouring from the crowd - half the reason why I attend!

And no, I was not the guy who started the fight... at a C&C show...

See Shad who opened the party
And Hannah Georgas who... also played