I underestimated the under-19 years-of-age Rilo Kiley fandom that invaded The Opera House yesterday. Damn, are they that popular with the kids these days? I made it to The Opera House after 9pm as The Brunettes(playing as a 5 piece) were performing their set closer and the venue was already filling up quickly. The Brunettes donned the Olsen Twins masks as I assume they usually do for their set closer and they seemed to go over quite well with the crowd. Sorry I missed them this time, but at least I still have my fond memories of them when they opened for The Shins last month.From the where-are-they-now files, Nada Surf were on next. After their 90-'s MTV alternative hit "Popular" brought them quick mainstream attention, they'd pretty much been pegged one-hit-wonders. That probably isn't a fair tag since I'd read that the band continued along the indie route. The band set up their own gear, unbeknownst to me at the time that that was actually the band. The trio launched into their set of power-pop tunes that saw things go from sort of mediocre to quite enjoyable pop music. The last 3/4's of the set was increasingly tuneful and I really enjoyed the lead vocalist's vocals which reminded me a bit of Ben Gibbard(maybe not surprising since the band did release their last CD "Let Go" on Barsuk Records, which I purchased at the show). Their music sounded like the perfect bridge between the power pop of the 90's(Weezer) and the emo-pop of current(Death Cab For Cutie). The live set wasn't really a visual feast but the songs more than made up for that. Someone give 'em back their major label contract.
After a pretty lengthy intermission, the members of Rilo Kiley sauntered out onto the stage to an enthusiastic reception. I missed them when they had visited Toronto last year and played the much smaller Horseshoe Tavern. The blog-gerati said it was plagued with sound problems and the band seemed less enthusiastic anyway. This night's performance was a total 180 degree turnaround, I guess. Maybe the major label support behind their current album "More Adventurous" has made them happier people. Whatever the reason, the band was really in top form. Vocalist Jenny Lewis' delicate voice was goosebump-inducing over the melodic swing of "It's A Hit", the first song of the set. Nice start to the evening. Over the course of an hour or so, they played cuts from "More Adventurous" and apparently from "The Execution of Things"(which I bought at the merch table). I was surprised that they pulled out their current single "Portions For Foxes" early in the set, but even then, there was so much good tunes to follow. The 60's doo-wop of "I Never" was beautiful. The countryish ballad "More Adventurous" was spine-tingling. Jenny alternated between guitar and keyboard duties showing herself to be a decent musician as well as a talented vocalist. On top of guitarist Blake Sennett's melodic guitar arrangements, he also made quite an impression with his solo vocals and acoustic guitar performance of "Ripchord". I'm disappointed in myself for not discovering them before "More Adventurous" but better late than never. Rilo Kiley are quite old school actually: hints of country, pop, rock, doo-wop, and so on. And it's those old-soul qualities which I think I appreciate the most. Rilo Kiley, thanks for bringing back the craft of writing good songs.
I'll weed out my photos in the next day or two and post a link to the decent ones. Be warned, there probably won't be many good ones since I wasn't really close enough to the front of the stage for most of the performance, although I did manage to snap a decent one of Jenny Lewis which I've posted above.
And an addendum to yesterday's post...I ended up being late for Rilo Kiley's interview at the Edge studio in Toronto. When I passed by the street front studio, the band were already in and there was a group of fans taking turns getting their pictures taken with them. As I remember, it was only Jenny and Blake and some other dude who's maybe their friend or publicist. I dashed into the Eaton Centre to do something then came back about five minutes later. I was about to go into the Edge studio, pulling open the door half way, when Jenny and Blake were making their way out. The whole thing was over and Jenny, Blake and their friend walked north on Yonge St. I was heading that way anyway since I needed to get to the subway station but I never did have a chance to casually bump into Jenny especially when they crossed the street. Oh well.
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Kiddies, be sure to check out Interpol on The Tonight Show, tonight.
Sloan don't take no shit from The Seattle Weekly. Read the details over at Glorious Noise.
My hometown of Mississauga sucks sometimes. The musical guests for this year's Mississauga Waterfront Festival include David Usher, David Wilcox, Loverboy and Colin James. Ugh. This festival seriously needs an injection of youthful inspiration. Punk n' Stuff, are you listening?
Can anyone tell me why tickets for the controller.controller gig on June 3rd at The 360 in Toronto costs $20.00. [ticket info from Rotate This] Otherwise controller.controller(with ARI-UP (The Slits) & The True Warriors, Grasshopper Soundclash, DJ Will Munro) will be at Sneaky Dee's on July 2nd, tickets $12.50 at Rotate This,Sneaky Dee's or $15 at the door. [ticket info from eye]
NXNE lineups are slowly trickling in. The Gladstone Hotel lineup for June 10 is as follows(according to a post over at stillepost.ca): 10:00 Uncut, 11:00 FemBots, 12:00 Magneta Lane(website isn't working for some reason), 12:45 The Deadly Snakes. Oh yeah.
Had a day off work today and with the nice weather decided to drive my bike down to the beach, then bike ride into Toronto. I stopped over at Soundscapes and picked up a ticket for my friend for The Decemberists show tomorrow at The Phoenix then stopped by a Chinese bakery near Beverly and Baldwin for some good eats. But back to that bike ride. Man, I need to get back into shape. Don't let my slim physique fool you.
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