Saint Etienne, Snowblink @ The Opera House, Toronto (October 24, 2012)

  Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne: photo by Michael Ligon

Well hello blog readers. You still here? Back in October of last year, I finally got to see UK band Saint Etienne live in Toronto. Apparently the last time they'd been to town was a decade earlier. Fortunately, I'd got to check off the band off my bucket list when I saw them live in Barcelona, Spain in 2009 during the Primavera Sound Festival. The band came to town to promote their newest album "Words and Music" (which I still haven't listened to, even though I bought the album at the show, shame on me). Much like the first time I saw the band live, it was really centered around vocalist Sarah Cracknell and her sunny smile, her charming personality, her vivacious dancing and her somewhat demure yet cool vocals. Can't really say anymore other than it was an enjoyable set,nothing more nothing less.

Photos: Saint Etienne, Snowblink @ The Opera House, Toronto (October 24, 2012)

More reviews (proper ones) over at Exclaim, Chromewaves, Indie Kid Vs. Dance Kid, The Panic Manual and The Golder Year.

The Mountain Goats, Megafaun @ The Opera House, Toronto (April 3, 2011)

  John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats: photo by Michael Ligon

Update [April 8, 12:18 am]: Review now up.

The Mountain Goats of Claremont, California are a band I've been meaning to see live for some time. I'd discovered the band back in the mid to late nineties when I was big in to zines and mail-order indie releases and had ordered one of The Mountain Goats' earliest releases, their cassette only album "The Hound Chronicles". I say 'their' when actually back then it was only John Darnielle alone recording under The Mountain Goats moniker. Underneath its truly lo-fi recording aesthetics, I could hear the songwriting talent of Darnielle. I'd lost track of the band after that, all the while The Mountain Goats recording for a variety of indie labels until they made the big jump to 4AD in 2003. However, it wasn't until about five years ago that the band crept back in to my consciousness, and so I started picking up many of their releases, both pre-4AD and 4AD, casually listening to them but never fully grasping their greatness. It was the live show that I heard and read was the thing that could convert me, and with the Goats playing shows in Toronto at Lee's Palace both in 2006 and 2007, I had a few opportunities to see them but ended up bailing on / missing both. It's now 2011, and it was time to remedy that.

Despite the wickedly wet weather or maybe because of it, The Opera House was already near capacity when I arrived a little in to the set of Durham, North Carolina openers Megafaun. An amiable trio of fellas, brothers Brad and Phil Cook and fellow Eau Claire, Wisconsin native Joe Westerlund, their vocal harmony-laden, folk-rock singalongs, augmented with guitar, drums, and banjo at times, held the crowd's attention for he entirety of their set. This was no better illustrated than with the spare acoustic traditional-soundingn "Lord, Ease My Mind" which had the band simply singing and strumming acoustic guitar and guided along by simple handclaps which the crowd eventually joined in on.

From reviews I've read, The Mountain Goats last visit to Toronto in 2007 was as a duo consist of Darnielle and bassist Peter Pughes but for this most recent visit at The Opera House the band was no actually a band rounded out with drummer Jon Wurster (of Superchunk), and keyboardist Yuval Semo. The band was in town to promote the newest Mountain Goats album entiled All Eternal's Deck. Walking onto the stage with soundbites of "Hello, America" and heavy metal music playing through the speakers, the crowd was enraptured as if Darnielle was Elvis. The four members, dressed smartly in dark suits, the band wasted no time and lept into cleverly-titled new album track "Liza Forever Minnelli".

My unfamiliarity not only The Mountain Goats' newest album but with the catalogue in general made piecing together the set list difficult, but there I tried, jotting down lyrics and song-title guesses on my iPhone in between songs. Even post-show, trying to piece together the setlist by looking at the setlists from some of recent shows turned out to be unreliable as it soon became apparent that Darnielle was not content on playing the same setlist every night. Googling the lyrics I'd jotted down, my sleuthing revealed that while The Mountain Goats played at least a few songs off the new album, including "Liza Forever Minelli" and "For Charles Bronson", and playing fan favourites including "No Children" and "Southwood Plantation Road" from Talahassee and a variety of songs spanning other albums, it was 1995 album The Sunset Tree which seemed quite prominent, with the band playing at least six songs off that album.

In fact, it was The Sunset Tree songs which were the crowd faves and provided most of the show's most memorable moments. The crowd shouted out requests throughout the night and The Sunset Tree's "No Children" was called out multiple times and so the crowd was enamored when the band finally played it. The song "Broom People" was preceded by Darnielle's recounting of a girl name Marci(three years older than him) he dated when he was in high school who he tried to break up with by letter after meeting another girl. An audience member supportively yelled out "Marci Sucks" but Darnielle came back in her defense and said something like "Fuck You" and expressed that given his douche-bag action he thought he at least owed her a song. When the band finally ended the first encore with "This Year" joined onstage with openers Megafaun and the combined membership chanting the chorus "I am going to make it through this year if it kills me", I had a lump in my throat.

Darnielle falls in line with some of the best musical artist / storytellers / banterers I've experienced like Neko Case and Stephen Merritt, although Darnielle's quips and storytelling felt quite more spontaneous in my opinion. When Darnielle solo performed the opening four chords of new song "You Were Cool", a few audience members yelled out "woo", though Darnielle retorted that they wouldn't necessarily know what song he was playing. Ironically that songs lyrics started out "this is a song with the same four chords I use most of the time, when I've got something on my mind" a truly hilarous, self-deprecating comment if I ever heard one. In response to a random question from audience about why he wasn't wearing shoes, he asked the audience if they wanted to know the story then lept in to it anyway, mentioning it was practice by musical artist Amy Grant who did the same thing to be more comfortable on stage. When Darnielle and band came back from the end of the main set for an encore, Darnielle quipped about doing a Grateful Dead-like lengthy second set but then instead, and more realistically offered a six-song encore set as consolation. For a surprise 2nd encore, Darnielle returned to peform a cover of Franklin Bruno's "Houseguest". I've not much to add except to say that it was a spectacular evening and am looking forward to see Darnielle and company in the future.

Chromewaves and The Panic Manual both have reviews of the show. Mechanical Forest Sound has an MP3 live recording of "No Children" from the show.

Photos: The Mountain Goats, Megafaun @ The Opera House, Toronto (April 3, 2011)
MySpace: Megafaun
MySpace: The Mountain Goats

The Hidden Cameras, Gentleman Reg @ The Opera House, Toronto (December 5, 2009)

  The Hidden Cameras @ The Opera House: photo by Michael Ligon

Update [Dec 12/09, 3:27 pm]: Review posted below.

With transplanted Hidden Cameras frontman Joel Gibb now living in Berlin, any chance to see The Hidden Cameras play live in Toronto is an occasion. Fortunately, the band's found the time over the last year and a half or so to get together to play in their hometown including the Pride Festival in 2008 and more recently an intimate record release show at Goodhandy's in Toronto in September, both of which I was fortunate to go to. Last Saturday, they ended a recent North American tour jaunt in support of their new album "Origin: Orphan" with a spectacularly fun show at The Opera House with their cohort Reg Vermue aka Gentleman Reg opening the show.

At one point during the set, Reg mentions the current tour then expresses that Winnipeg was "fun" with a chuckle prompting a fan to ask with a grin "what kind of fun?". Such was an indication of the looseness Reg exuded on stage in between performances of songs from his most recent album "Jet Black" and other past audience faves. Reg took sips of alcohol from a cup admitting he hadn't drank alcohol in about a three months, then expressed he was feeling a little drunk but in the end Reg and the band got the job done. The incestuous relationship that Reg has with his friends The Hidden Cameras (who he used to perform live with more regularly) resulted in The Hidden Cameras' Joel Gibb, Maggie Macdonald and Laura Barrett joining Reg for a few songs with some added instrumentation and vocals. Ex of The Organ, special guest Katie Sketch also came on stage to provide vocals. Continuing his giddiness, Reg introduced the band members then prompted the audience to clap more for himself. The set ended with members of The Hidden Cameras and other assorted friends lining up near the back of the stage on either side of drummer Dana Snell for a group dance-a-thon. I'll admit my newbie status to Reg's music [at the show, I picked up a copy of his album "Jet Black", as well as his CD compilation of his Three Gut recordings entitled "Little Buildings"], but under the radar for me, he no longer is.

It's not been too long since I've last seen The Hidden Cameras live, that being in September at Goodhandy's where the band performed their new album in it's entirety. Even in those cramped confines, they managed to squeeze in both a vocal choir and small horn section, although both relegated to that venue's balcony which was a interesting setup but a little physically awkward to spectators. Last Saturday, the band brought pretty much the same setup to The Opera House onto one stage, and when all components were actually on stage at one time, it was a pretty spectacular sight. As they did at their last show, The Hidden Cameras donned black hoods as they strolled slowly onstage in the dark during the ominous keyboard drone of 'Ratify The New', it's cacophonic climax leading nicely into the steadied rhythm and melody of "Awoo" track 'Follow These Eyes". Obviously the set focused heavily on the new album but the band squeezed a good selection of older tunes even reaching back to "The Smell Of Our Own" for the crystalline 'A Miracle'. As such it turns out, the ambitiousness of some of the newer material provided somewhat of a counterpoint to some of their older more stripped down indie pop, but in the end it was Gibb's vocals and melodic sensibility that truly tied it altogether.

It seems like the audience were split, even in the literal sense, about their enthusiasm for the band, with Gibb at one point pointing out that the right half of the audience[the left side of the audience from the band's perspective] were much more enthusiastic than other half. I myself was about centre and somewhat expressive about my appreciation. Given that I was close to the front of the stage, I never visually saw how the crowd behind me was acting, but I couldn't help feel like there could have been a little more enthusiasm at times. I remember past Camera shows when the crowd at the front of the stage would turn into an all-out dance party. Such a vibe didn't pervade the entire show this time, but with a little coaxing from Gibb at times and just seeing the collective party atmosphere onstage seemed to coax more of the audience to come out of their shells.

Although the performance of the new album's wasn't entirely sequential it did come to that for the main set's final three songs with the band's dance-oriented 'Underage', their brassy/choral 'The Little Bit' and their melancholy 'Silence Can Be A Headline'. When the band came back for a fantastic cover of Rihanna's 'Umbrella' (which actually had the audience singing along!) and the spirited 'Music Is My Boyfriend' (which ended up with a few of the band on the floor with the audience) it was just icing on the cake. A ghostly choir clad in gold sheets, a horn section, the female members of Reg's band in blond wigs and waving flags and a general giddiness amongst other things combined for a homecoming show that one should not take for granted. Come back soon 'Cams and let's do this again.

Photos: The Hidden Cameras, Gentleman Reg @ The Opera House, Toronto (December 5, 2009)
MySpace: Gentleman Reg
MySpace: The Hidden Cameras

Yo La Tengo, The Horse's Ha @ The Opera House (October 3, 2009)

Update [Oct 12/09, 12:18 am]: Review now up.

While Nuit Blanche was to(and eventually did) take over my senses last weekend, my auditory senses were once again given the pleasure of hearing Yo La Tengo live, this time around at The Opera House earlier in the evening. Touring to promote their most recent album "Popular Songs" out on Matador, I'd only made an effort to finally listen to the album just prior to the show, but it was immediately apparent that the band's pop sensibilities were as strong as ever.

I was running slightly behind schedule, making into the venue just after openers Chicago's The Horse's Ha had begun. At the time I hadn't realized that the crystalline vocals I'd heard were of Freakwater's Janet Beveridge Bean. The music, embellished with subtle acoustic instrumentation and cello, was of a folk-ish quality that while had its merit was only slightly of interest to the chatty crowd. That said there was a polite expression of appreciation by the crowd but as an opener for Yo La Tengo they seemed a little out of sorts in my opinion. As an aside I just like to mention that I'd spent my first 10 minutes of my arrival at the merch table, eventually buying a t-shirt(which turned out to be small when I got home, grrr) and exchanging a pleasantries with Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan to who I'd mentioned I'd seen Yo La Tengo performing in Barcelona at the Primavera Sound Festival earlier in the year and was looking forward to seeing perform again that night.

With a catalogue as expansive as Yo La Tengo, they have virtually any number of setlists they could have pulled out of their hat, and that night it was all about pop music. Steering clear from their harsher, noisier experiments for the most part, it was surprising how low-key, and pop-based the set list was, coinciding nicely with the similar tone of their most recent album "Popular Songs" which there was a heavy emphasis on. All three members(Georgia, Ira, and James) traded off lead vocals during the night with the mood shifting as members also switched up on instruments. The nine-minute plus slow-building 'More Stars Than There Are In Heaven' was a surprising choice for their second song. 'Periodically Double Or Triple' was a fun organ-based, minimalist soul track. 'If It's True' had a cool Motown-ish melodic quality. The psychedelic-tinged 'Here To Fall' reminded me that they aren't all about brushed drum rhythms and minimalist bass lines. The remainder of the setlist was a patchwork of their past catalogue with a bunch from "I Can Hear Your Heart Beating As One"(highlights including the James-sung 'Stockholm Syndrome' and the main-set closer sugar-rush of 'Sugarcube') and a few select tunes from other past albums. As the setlist revealed, there were also a few covers thrown in from Devo and The Velvet Underground during the band's two encores. It was a thoroughly enjoyable if not too exhausting of a set which in a way was a blessing for those of us who planned to take in Nuit Blanche after midnight. And it was all too funny when Ira wished us happy art-gallery hopping.

Also check out Chromewaves' photos and review of the show.

Photos: Yo La Tengo, The Horse's Ha @ The Opera House in Toronto (October 3, 2009)
MySpace: The Horse's Ha
MySpace: Yo La Tengo

Caribou Vibration Ensemble @ The Opera House (September 10, 2009)

 Caribou Vibration Ensemble @ The Opera House: photo by Michael Ligon

I suspect that if Caribou's Dan Snaith's high school music teacher (presuming Dan took a music class or two and or took part in band in high school) was to have attended the Caribou Vibration Ensemble show at The Opera House last Thursday night, he or she would have been very proud. The show spanned a spectrum of sonic textures, rhythms, vocals and melodies and simply was musicality at it's best. Sometimes less is more, but in this case more was great, if not better. For the occasion, which was basically a warm up gig for Caribou Vibration Ensemble's show at All Tomorrow's Parties which went down in Monticello, New York this past weekend, Dan assembled a bevy of musical friends that included Ahmed Gallab aka Sinkane, a few Born Ruffians, Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys, Kieran Hebden of Four Tet, Koushik and perhaps a few others (yes, I didn't know every one on stage, and there was a person or two I couldn't see from my vantage point near the right front stage).

Apologies to anyone expecting a review from me of opener Koushik's set. Unfortunately I got to the venue later than expected and only caught the taileend of the set. The last song was a extended multi-drum / percussive jam quite a bit different from the downbeat groove-tronica samples I'd heard on Koushik's Myspace. However, with Koushik Ghosh also taking part in Caribou Vibration Ensemble, he actually sung lead on a dreamy, hypnotic groove number that was closer in line to his own music.

Caribou Vibration Ensemble's set was a multifaceted one, with a dizzying array of instrumentation including percussion(including a watermelon!), multiple drumkits, flute, trombone, sax, vibraphone, tambourines, shakers, keyboards, guitar, and some electronic noodling, as well as a vocal choir on at least one song. But as schizphrenic as Caribou sometimes comes across musically, spanning influences such as electronica, jazz, psychedelia and indie rock, it's the concept of rhythm that seems to tie it all together, and yes there was no shortage of it. Sinkane's Ahmed Gallab and Caribou's Brad Weber maintained a double drumkit assault for most of the set with a third member or sometimes Dan himself joining in on a third kit. Energies convalesced into all-out chaos at one point as both Ahmed and Brad stood over and on top of their drum kits in a delirious effort that had the audience spent by the end of it. And that wasn't even the set closer.

A particular highlight of the evening was the minimalist choral group rendition of "Melody" substituting the original's psychedelic pop overtones for something much more subtle and intimate - so intimate in fact that although it was Dan and five others singing the song in unison albeit quietly, you wished that the sound guy turned up the levels a little. Many of the songs showcased Caribou's more rhythmic side, reflected visually by almost constant bordering-on-epileptic strobe light effects. As Dan jumped from keys/electronic noodlery, to guitar, to drums and back to keys/electronic noodlery, most of the time singing lead (when not handing out lead vocals occasionally to guests like Junior Boy's Jeremy Greenspan or Koshik's Koushik Ghosh), I'd observed that he maintained the most humble of personalities. While Dan's humble in his own right, the very nature of his Ensemble seemed to be a showcase for the various talented artists that composed it. A musician's musician Dan is, and not a rock star, and that probably was all for the best. But with the spectacle, both aural and visual, put on display by Caribou Vibration Ensemble last Thursday night at The Opera House, I'd take that over rock star attitude any day.

Photos: Caribou Vibration Ensemble @ The Opera House (September 10, 2009)

More review/photos/coverage over at Chromewaves as well as eye, Exclaim, and NOW.

MySpace: Koushik
MySpace: Caribou

It's Not Over Yet

concert review: Klaxons @ The Opera House (Toronto, Ontario), October 9, 2007



I have no doubt young London, UK's Klaxons are a talented band. Yes, they just won the Mercury Music Prize for their debut album "Myths of the Near Future" but that has entirely nothing to do with my opinion of the band. Upon listening to the album a few months ago(that which I posted about last month), I appreciated it for it's youthful energy, it's spiky pop tunes which are at once danceable/pogoable as well as hummable. So it's surprising a little that I didn't get that much into their show at The Opera House last Tuesday. The twenty-something MySpace contingent seemed to be at the show in full-force eating up everything the Klaxons threw at them. While I enjoyed the show for it's energy as much as the next person, I couldn't help feel how rushed the show felt as if the band were compelled to get through their set as fast as possible. Along the way, the band made efforts to bring the audience along for the ride(not that it was that hard to do) such as vocalist/keyboardist James Righton as he got the crowd to clap along on several songs. But that rushed quality seemed to manifest itself in an overall sloppy performance(or maybe it was just bad sound), with vocals and melodies that seemed to get buried in the sonic stew of guitars, keyboards and drums. A commenter over at Brooklyn Vegan said about the band's show in New York City recently, "....just wait a year or two and people will be embarassed to admit they were into these people. Pure hype-machine baloney..." I'd no sooner surrender to those opinions but the fact is any band that can produce wonderful pop moments like "Golden Skans", and "It's Not Over Yet"[check out the links below for terrific acoustic rendtions of these songs the band performed for MPR's The Current] can't be a fluke.

Openers Glasgow, Scotland's Shitdisco cancelled from what I read but in their place were I believe a local three-piece who were purveyors of a somewhat similar disco-electro-punk aesthetic. I didn't pick up on their name, but maybe that's just all for the better since it wasn't my cup of tea.

Some photos from the show over at my Flickr.

Video: Klaxons - "Golden Skans" (live on MPR's The Current)
Video: Klaxons - "It's Not Over Yet" (live on MPR's The Current)
MySpace: Klaxons

The Supine

concert review: Andrew Bird, Plants and Animals @ The Opera House (Toronto, Ontario), September 25, 2007

Montreal's Plants and Animals opened the night, of their set I'd only caught the last two songs, but which were enough to pique my interest. Their second last song was loud, with hints of an underlying melody trying to creep to the surface while their last song was on the other end of the spectrum, undeniably melodic, slow with some psychedelic pop influences. They're back in Toronto at Lee's Palace on November 16 then at The Drake Hotel on November 17.

Amidst a darkened stage, Andrew and his two bandmates(drummer & guitarist) took to the stage. I'm mostly a newbie to Mr. Bird's music only having made the effort for the first time earlier this year to listen to some of his songs. He straddles the line between standard pop conventions and more sophisticated, classical influences. His show at The Opera House was a fine performance, and somewhat like says Rufus Wainwright, Andrew Bird brings a new sophistication to pop music without suffocating what makes good pop music good - that is, the melodies. Andrew's an impressive multi-instrumentalist shifting from violin, to guitar, and xylophone, plus a generous amount of whistling, often times all within the same song. I also appreciated Andrew's different violin techniques, playing the standard way with a bow, but then shifting to playing it like a ukele and casually plucking at its strings. Not to leave his bandmates out, both drummer Martin Dosh and guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker were more than capable in their own rights, adding subtle nuances to their arrangements. With a multitude of multi-coloured lighting effects and the wonderful vintage amps and spinning gramphophone-like contraption on stage, the visual elements complimented Andrew's tunes nicely. The only thing I felt missing from the show was more stage banter from Andrew, and given the conceptually abstact song titles of his most recent album "Armchair Apocrypha"[which I picked up at the show], you'd figure Mr. Bird would have more to say. A minor disappointment of what was otherwise a terrific set.

Check out a few photos from the show below. More of my photos from the show over at my Flickr.





Check out more reviews of the show at Torontoist and Jordan Bower's blog.

MySpace: Andrew Bird
MySpace: Plants and Animals

Baby, We'll Be Fine

Tuesday's show at The Opera House featuring The National was arguably the best show of the year. It was my favourite show of the year so far and that's saying a lot given that I'm a relatively newbie to the band. So if I wasn't necessarily singing along like some persons I noticed, I was feeling every bit as delirious as they were. Stay tuned to this space - I quite possibly will elaborate further on the show but I will say that lead vocalist Matt Berninger is every bit caught up in the moment(with a stage presence that reminds me of a less flamboyant Morrissey, but trading in Morrissey's fey vocals for the deep rumble of say Leonard Cohen) and he gave me the impression that every moment he was on stage he was having the time of his life.

Check out Torontoist and Chromewaves for terrific reviews of the show.

alucardx has the set list.

MySpace: The National

I Love My Jean

concert review: Camera Obscura, The Essex Green @ The Opera House(Toronto, Ontario), January 31, 2007

This past Wednesday, the Merge Records double-bill of Scotland's Camera Obscura and Brookyln's The Essex Green made it's way to our fair city for a show at The Opera House. My initial selfish disappointment upon hearing news that the show was moved from the cozier Lee's Palace to the larger Opera House soon turned to appreciation. If anyone deserves success, it couldn't have happened to a nicer band than Camera Obscura. Any concerns I had whether they could make a successful jump from their show at the cozy Horseshoe Tavern in July 2006 to the larger The Opera House this time around were soon put to rest. I know it's still early in the year but I wouldn't be surprised at the end of the year if this show makes my fave concerts of the year list.

Starting off the night promptly at their 9:15 pm scheduled set start time was Brooklyn's The Essex Green. Their 60-ish folk-pop 1999 Kindercore debut "Everything is Green" was my only reference point. Unfortunately, they didn't play anything off of their debut release but rather they'd focused on material from their last few releases including their most recent Merge Records release, "The Cannibal Sea". Man, was I pleased with what I heard from the band during their set, definitely improved by the onstage energy exuded by the band. With lead vocals alternating between keyboardists/flutist Sasha Bell and guitarist Christopher Ziter, the band performed a sprite set of pop music, approaching a level of power-pop akin to say Fountains of Wayne, and at times a twangier sound(attributed mostly to guitarist's Jeff Baron's meaty guitar lines) that reminded me of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Rounding out the sound were cute-as-a-button Julia Rydholm's energetic basslines and the spectacularly fluid drumming of Tim Barnes. Not much in the way of banter, except for Julia's brief account of her first childhood visit to Canada and her excitement of staying at the Marriot, then Sasha saying something along the lines that Julia would be using the jacuzzi when they get back to their hotel. Wakka, wakka.

Musically, I'd say that Camera Obscura were as on top of their game as they were last year at the Horseshoe Tavern. The difference was that I think acoustics of The Opera House brought out the lushness of the material off of "Let's Get Out Of This Country" that you just couldn't get within the smaller confines of the Horseshoe Tavern. The band chose to start off the first half of the show with mostly mellower material but when the triple attack of "If Looks Could Kill", "Let's Get Out Of This Country" and "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" finally came it was exhilirating. The band still doesn't have that much of a rockin' stage presence but I've come to accept that. But what they do have is charm, humour and even a sense of playfulness. It was fun to watch their trumpeteer jump up to the drumkit during one song and tap the cymbal as the drummer continued to play. Towards the end of the set, the band begun a hand-clap that got most of the audience joining in as the band jumped into a rendition of "I Need All The Friends I Can Get". Kudos to members of The Essex Green for restarting the handclapping and getting the audience back into it. After they'd performed "I Love My Jean", which the guitarist had explained contained lyrics based on the writings of Scottish poet Robbie Burns, I'd caught an additional quip from the guitarist I hadn't initially heard clearly because of his accent. But when I'd thought harder about what he'd said, I think he said that Robbie Burns died of Syphillis. Maybe you had to be there, but the comedic timing was priceless.

Here are some photos from the show I took.

YouTube: Camera Obscura - "Suspended From Class" (live at The Opera House - January 31, 2007)
MySpace: Camera Obscura
MySpace: The Essex Green

More reviews/photos over at chartattack, Chromewaves, Torontoist, Gigs and Discs, and It's Not The Band I Hate....