Montreal's The Dears made a spectacular return to Toronto last Friday night at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. The opener was former Dears member(and ex-Thrush Hermit member) Rob Benvie's band Camouflage Nights. Camouflage Nights also includes another ex-Thrush Hermit member Ian McGettigan with several other members rounding out the band. They were good energetic openers who seemingly blended a little bit of Thrush Hermit's guitar riff-ery, with a dash of the Dears' prog-rock tendencies[a little melodica on a slower track], a pinch of r'n'b grooves, and a whole lot of disco-punk rhythms. As expected, the off-kilter vocals of Ian and Rob were in full effect and made me nostalgic for the good ol' days of Thrush Hermit. At one point in the set a couple of ladies in horse masks came out to dance at either ends of the stage and subsequently a couple more ladies came onto the stage for a brief slinky dance routine. For the record, the beginning of one song did feature one of the best hand clap arrangements I've ever seen. Good, if not inspiring set, although at the early time of 7 pm, perhaps an unusual time to be listening to the celebratory vibe of Camouflage Nights.For a moment last Friday, The Dears made me forget about that 'other' Montreal band. The Phoenix show last Friday was the fourth time I've seen The Dears live and arguably the best one yet. I count myself lucky for catching them early in the career several years back when they played the indie stage at Molson Park during Edgefest, then catching their free live show at Yonge-Dundas Square during the Celebrate Toronto Streetfest in 2003 and lastly catching them on their home turf in a small club in Montreal during Pop Montreal 2003. I don't recall if they've played Toronto since then but with the last year or so being quite a defining year for the band abroad and down in the States, this show at The Phoenix was a sort of homecoming. Even Mr. Lightburn acknowledged that Toronto was kind of like a second home for them. Some people think that The Dears are a little boring to watch on stage but I think that the aloofness they present on stage(in particular, Natalie's and Valerie's semi-hypnotic gazes into the audience) is perfectly suited to their epic pop tunes. In fact, the rest of the band worked up quite a sweat. If Murray's vocals have been compared to Morrissey's in the past, one thing that Murray's got over him is emotion. I found this set to be much more musically straightforward and enjoyable than say their jam-heavy set they played at the 2003 Pop Montreal festival which, although enjoyable, probably went on longer than it should have.
I really thought that the luminescent coloured lighting effects were unique and pretty but the lighting also switched gears at times to stark white illumination which presented the band(mainly Murray, Natalie, and Valerie) in a wholey vulnerable light. The music, of course, was equally dramatic, from the solemn "We Can Have It"(ending in the accapella audience singalong of the lyrics "It won't ever be what we want"), the driving "Lost In The Plot", the Continental-sounding "The Second Part", the avant-funk of "Never Destroy Us", and the Gainsbourg-ish duet(and my personal fave) "22: The Death Of All The Romance". The band delved into their first album for awesome renditions of another favourite, "End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story" and their 'heart'-stopping encore "Heartless Romantic", complete with audience handclap partipation. If The Dears have been accused of being downers, it's the beauty in sadness which really defines them. But really, they're quite happy people, and Murray was even driven to chuckle while he was singing the intro to one song after an audience member blurted out something. I hear that their next album will be their 'happy album', so I guess all's well that ends well. And yes this show truly went very well. [photos from the show]
:
:
Oh my god, that other Montreal band, The Arcade Fire will be performing live this Sunday at Muchmusic's 2005 MMVA's!
The Harbourfront website has thoroughly updated its summer festivals schedules. The T.O. Twang Fest looks interesting with notable performances which include The Sadies, Friday August 12th at 9:30 pm at the CIBC stage and Carolyn Mark the same night at 11 pm in the Brigantine Room. Or how about Ancient Chinese Secret(featuring members of Atomic 7) on Sunday August 13th at 3pm at the Toronto Star stage.
Martha Wainwright will be performing a live session for Morning Becomes Eclectic today[June 14th]. Listen online. [11:15 AM PST, 2:15 PM EST]
Ted Leo/Pharmacists will be performing a live session for MPR 89.3 The Current today[June 14th].
Emiliana Torrini will be performing a live session today[June 14th] on KEXP [12 pm PST of 3 pm EST]. She will be performing this Friday June 17th in Toronto at El Mocambo.
emergelive.com is saying that the Gus Gus date at The Mod Club on July 31st is a DJ set. So, what, no band? Rotate This lists tickets for the event at $16.50 a piece. Does this mean one would pay $16.50 to watch someone spin some records. That seems kinda high for a DJ set.
UK online music zine The Beat Surrender returns with a spiffy new site design.
From Catbirdseat, comes news of a new Jens Lekman compilation, which compiles together the "Maple Leaves", "Rocky Dennis", and "Julie" EPs, along with non-EP tracks "F-Word" and "The Wrong Hands". You can order it here. As mentioned, Mr. Lekman will be performing in Toronto at The Music Gallery on October 18th.
No comments:
Post a Comment