Ted Leo's the man. Seeing Ted Leo and The Pharmacists for the second time in the last 3 months[the first time at the end of March 2004; same venue], I can say without any doubts, that he does not disappoint live. I missed the first act, The Waking Eyes, but arrived about 10-15 minutes before Ted Leo's set. So the evening was streamlined for me, firstly, not having to wait around too long for Ted's set to start, then, secondly, enjoying a good solid hour and a quarter or so of Ted Leo's great set. Getting a fairly central view of the stage up near the front, I really enjoyed their set, if not for the music but also for the great digital cam pics I got of Ted and the band. By the way, there was no keyboardist that night and I sorely missed the extra [female] presence on stage, but the music didn't suffer at all. They started off the set with the energetic "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?" and played several new songs throughout their set which were excellent. He also played favourites like the Joe Jackson-ish "The Crane Takes Flight", as well as "Under the Hedge" during the encore, before which he had prompted the audience for any requests, and me and several others in the audience started shouting "Under The Hedge"; there was also an individual who wanted Ted Leo to play Stiff Little Fingers' "Suspect Device" which Ted played at the last Toronto show, but sadly Ted didn't comply this time; I thought he looked a little annoyed that someone was requesting a cover; But I've been known to read people wrong so don't take my word on that. The only cover that Ted played was his blistering version of The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town". What's so refreshing about Ted Leo's music is how effortlessly he combines late 70's punk/early 80's alt/power pop influences into something that's accessible yet edgy. He was a little more talkative than I remember him last time, even 'snarky' as he put it himself. Of course he was only joking about being snarky, but he was maybe not too subtly hinting at times that he wouldn't have mind if people danced. Maybe the crowd was a little quiet at times. Or else we were shy. But all in all, I think Ted Leo felt the love.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
High Party
Ted Leo's the man. Seeing Ted Leo and The Pharmacists for the second time in the last 3 months[the first time at the end of March 2004; same venue], I can say without any doubts, that he does not disappoint live. I missed the first act, The Waking Eyes, but arrived about 10-15 minutes before Ted Leo's set. So the evening was streamlined for me, firstly, not having to wait around too long for Ted's set to start, then, secondly, enjoying a good solid hour and a quarter or so of Ted Leo's great set. Getting a fairly central view of the stage up near the front, I really enjoyed their set, if not for the music but also for the great digital cam pics I got of Ted and the band. By the way, there was no keyboardist that night and I sorely missed the extra [female] presence on stage, but the music didn't suffer at all. They started off the set with the energetic "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?" and played several new songs throughout their set which were excellent. He also played favourites like the Joe Jackson-ish "The Crane Takes Flight", as well as "Under the Hedge" during the encore, before which he had prompted the audience for any requests, and me and several others in the audience started shouting "Under The Hedge"; there was also an individual who wanted Ted Leo to play Stiff Little Fingers' "Suspect Device" which Ted played at the last Toronto show, but sadly Ted didn't comply this time; I thought he looked a little annoyed that someone was requesting a cover; But I've been known to read people wrong so don't take my word on that. The only cover that Ted played was his blistering version of The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town". What's so refreshing about Ted Leo's music is how effortlessly he combines late 70's punk/early 80's alt/power pop influences into something that's accessible yet edgy. He was a little more talkative than I remember him last time, even 'snarky' as he put it himself. Of course he was only joking about being snarky, but he was maybe not too subtly hinting at times that he wouldn't have mind if people danced. Maybe the crowd was a little quiet at times. Or else we were shy. But all in all, I think Ted Leo felt the love.
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