It's been awhile since I attended two shows in the same night (and in retrospect, probably could have even done three. Sorry Arkells!).
I started the night at the Cavern, where Lost Weekend (for fans of Dragonette, Foster the People, The Limousines...) served up a healthy dose of danceable pop tunes. The Cavern isn't the greatest place for bustin' a move, but it only took half a song to get people out of their booths and onto the floor. Full disclosure: I don't dance because in my mind it looks something like this:
Second stop was Lo Pub for Enjoy Your Pumas (watch their super awesome video for "Walk it Off"!). The first time I saw the Pumas about five years ago, I was on the fence about them, but they have since grown into one of my favourite local bands. Their live show has gotten way better and Rosie is the picture of a confident frontwoman.
Lost Weekend are currently working on their debut EP, and Enjoy Your Pumas are about to set out on the second leg of their cross-Canada tour.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Quinzy: A little bit taller
WARNING: This post is full of unabashed love.
I remember the first time I saw Quinzy: It was Quinzmas in the old West End Cultural Centre, before they even had to prop up one of the walls. I sat with a friend at stage left to watch the show. My strongest mental image is of the boys sitting on the floor whilst House of Doc covered "Mike! Your House is on Fire!". When Quinzy took to the stage, I was swept up in their catchy songs, great harmonies, and (mostly) witty (sometimes awkward) stage banter. I've been to most Quinzy shows since.
I've been to every Quinzmas since 2006, except last year's *sob*.
I've seen them play a bunch of Elton John covers.
I showed up at someone's birthday party at the Academy once (I thought it was a regular show, honest! They let me in, so I didn't think anything of it until there were speeches! lol).
I even spent an afternoon at the mall.
It's safe to say, without hesitation, that I love Quinzy.
Most recently, they played at Festival du Voyageur, where they performed new songs from "The Flats", their latest EP. All I could think about during their set was how much they've grown as a band since the first time I saw them. I don't have children, but I have a niece and three nephews, and I'm always telling them they've gotten taller since the last time I saw them (a total auntie cliche, I know). Well, watching Quinzy this time made me feel like they'd gotten taller. In the years since "Please baby please baby baby baby please", the lyrics have gotten a little darker and more introspective. The melodies and arrangements have become lusher and more complex. The stage banter's gotten better, too. I wasn't watching a different band; I was watching a more mature band. I cried a little bit. And then I bought a CD and a mug.
Never stop growing, Quinzy. And yes, I did just make a reference to a milk commercial.
I remember the first time I saw Quinzy: It was Quinzmas in the old West End Cultural Centre, before they even had to prop up one of the walls. I sat with a friend at stage left to watch the show. My strongest mental image is of the boys sitting on the floor whilst House of Doc covered "Mike! Your House is on Fire!". When Quinzy took to the stage, I was swept up in their catchy songs, great harmonies, and (mostly) witty (sometimes awkward) stage banter. I've been to most Quinzy shows since.
I've been to every Quinzmas since 2006, except last year's *sob*.
I've seen them play a bunch of Elton John covers.
I showed up at someone's birthday party at the Academy once (I thought it was a regular show, honest! They let me in, so I didn't think anything of it until there were speeches! lol).
I even spent an afternoon at the mall.
It's safe to say, without hesitation, that I love Quinzy.
Most recently, they played at Festival du Voyageur, where they performed new songs from "The Flats", their latest EP. All I could think about during their set was how much they've grown as a band since the first time I saw them. I don't have children, but I have a niece and three nephews, and I'm always telling them they've gotten taller since the last time I saw them (a total auntie cliche, I know). Well, watching Quinzy this time made me feel like they'd gotten taller. In the years since "Please baby please baby baby baby please", the lyrics have gotten a little darker and more introspective. The melodies and arrangements have become lusher and more complex. The stage banter's gotten better, too. I wasn't watching a different band; I was watching a more mature band. I cried a little bit. And then I bought a CD and a mug.
Never stop growing, Quinzy. And yes, I did just make a reference to a milk commercial.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
A new favourite band
Bombay Bicycle Club with The Darcys, and Lucy Rose
West End Cultural Centre
Saturday, February 25, 2012
I really like The Darcys, so naturally, when I saw that they were coming to Winnipeg, I was excited. I knew one Bombay Bicycle Club song ("Shuffle") and liked it enough not to mind seeing the band play live. No joke, this is the thought pattern that led to buying a ticket. My philosophy on concerts most of the time is, "Go for the opening band, stay for the headliner." I also prefer to let the live show sway me on bands because if a band sucks live, I won't spend any more energy on them.
Well.
The WECC was packed by the time Bombay Bicycle Club hit the stage, and I was absorbed by the music immediately. I. Loved. It. Every song was gold. I recognized one other song, too ("Leave It"). "Lights Out, Words Gone" gets played a lot when I get home from work. The weakest link was the vocals, but that could have been tour fatigue. The band was clearly happy to be playing to us, a new and enthusiastic audience for the London, England band. I picked up A Different Kind of Fix at the merch table on my way out, and play it quite a bit.
The Darcys put on a great show and if I had hated Bombay Bicycle Club, I still would have been glad I attended. I was disappointed that The Darcys don't have CDs for sale, only vinyl records or free downloads. I'm not saying I don't like free downloads (I do!), but I refuse to buy vinyl. It's a craze that I can't afford to get into! And I don't have a record player. Maybe I should have handed them ten bucks for the free download...would that have been weird?
Lucy Rose began the night. She sat at the front of the stage with her guitar, and had everyone mesmerized. She kept remarking on how quiet and polite we were. We were listening! Her voice is beautiful. I learned once I got home and was reading the liner notes on Bombay Bicycle Club's CD that she sang back-up on a few of their tunes, so that explained why they took her on tour with them. She also performed with them on a few songs.
Overall, I'd say this was one of the best line-ups I've seen in awhile, and so far the standout concert of the year (the year is young, I know). I hope they all come back soon!
West End Cultural Centre
Saturday, February 25, 2012
I really like The Darcys, so naturally, when I saw that they were coming to Winnipeg, I was excited. I knew one Bombay Bicycle Club song ("Shuffle") and liked it enough not to mind seeing the band play live. No joke, this is the thought pattern that led to buying a ticket. My philosophy on concerts most of the time is, "Go for the opening band, stay for the headliner." I also prefer to let the live show sway me on bands because if a band sucks live, I won't spend any more energy on them.
Well.
The WECC was packed by the time Bombay Bicycle Club hit the stage, and I was absorbed by the music immediately. I. Loved. It. Every song was gold. I recognized one other song, too ("Leave It"). "Lights Out, Words Gone" gets played a lot when I get home from work. The weakest link was the vocals, but that could have been tour fatigue. The band was clearly happy to be playing to us, a new and enthusiastic audience for the London, England band. I picked up A Different Kind of Fix at the merch table on my way out, and play it quite a bit.
The Darcys put on a great show and if I had hated Bombay Bicycle Club, I still would have been glad I attended. I was disappointed that The Darcys don't have CDs for sale, only vinyl records or free downloads. I'm not saying I don't like free downloads (I do!), but I refuse to buy vinyl. It's a craze that I can't afford to get into! And I don't have a record player. Maybe I should have handed them ten bucks for the free download...would that have been weird?
Lucy Rose began the night. She sat at the front of the stage with her guitar, and had everyone mesmerized. She kept remarking on how quiet and polite we were. We were listening! Her voice is beautiful. I learned once I got home and was reading the liner notes on Bombay Bicycle Club's CD that she sang back-up on a few of their tunes, so that explained why they took her on tour with them. She also performed with them on a few songs.
Overall, I'd say this was one of the best line-ups I've seen in awhile, and so far the standout concert of the year (the year is young, I know). I hope they all come back soon!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
It's the memory that dies
On a recent episode of Criminal Minds, Reid said that the music you hear when you're 14 is what sticks with you the most later in life. When I was 14, I listened to a lot of Live's "Secret Samadhi". I saw the band once when they opened for Nickelback (trust me, I wasn't there for Nickelback), and when I found out that Ed Kowalczyk was returning to the 'Peg, I was super excited. What I couldn't figure out was why he was playing at Cowboys. Touring bands rarely play CanadInns bars anymore!
Ed was fantastic. He started the set with "The Distance", and went on to play through some solo tunes. The set was mostly comprised of Live singles, which was awesome! Sadly, tunes from "Secret Samadhi" were totally absent, as were other songs from "The Distance to Here". However, I'm not complaining. Ed's voice was spot on and he was clearly having a good time despite the small crowd (he could barely keep the smile off his face). I hope he comes back, and plays somewhere like The Pyramid.
My real beef with this concert was the opening act. Nothing against Marc Labossiere; he's a good performer and kept the crowd entertained throughout his set of cover songs. However, I find it hard to believe that CanadInns couldn't find an available original band to open the night. In fact, I don't believe they tried (feel free to comment, person who books CanadClubs). All I could think about all through Marc's set was how many bands there are in this city, and which ones would have been better choices. I wasn't even being picky with my choices. The thing is, and maybe this is a crazy old-fashioned idea, it's a big deal for opening acts to get gigs with more established artists. Isn't it?
So WTF to CanadInns for an epic fail in putting any effort into this show.
Ed was fantastic. He started the set with "The Distance", and went on to play through some solo tunes. The set was mostly comprised of Live singles, which was awesome! Sadly, tunes from "Secret Samadhi" were totally absent, as were other songs from "The Distance to Here". However, I'm not complaining. Ed's voice was spot on and he was clearly having a good time despite the small crowd (he could barely keep the smile off his face). I hope he comes back, and plays somewhere like The Pyramid.
My real beef with this concert was the opening act. Nothing against Marc Labossiere; he's a good performer and kept the crowd entertained throughout his set of cover songs. However, I find it hard to believe that CanadInns couldn't find an available original band to open the night. In fact, I don't believe they tried (feel free to comment, person who books CanadClubs). All I could think about all through Marc's set was how many bands there are in this city, and which ones would have been better choices. I wasn't even being picky with my choices. The thing is, and maybe this is a crazy old-fashioned idea, it's a big deal for opening acts to get gigs with more established artists. Isn't it?
So WTF to CanadInns for an epic fail in putting any effort into this show.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Awesomest Thing I Heard Today
I'm not going to lie, I like Lana Del Rey. There's something about her lyrics that I just connect with, especially in "Born to Die". I also love Arkells. Hence why I think this is awesome:
Video Games (Lana Del Rey Cover)
Video Games (Lana Del Rey Cover)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
New name, new direction
Hello Blogosphere!
My blog started out as an assignment while I was in CreComm at Red River College. You will see by scrolling that my posts were rather varied in subject matter. I thought about deleting my past posts, but that's not really fair, is it? Some of those entries were alright.
I've decided to take this blogging thing a little more seriously, hence the name change from "Bonnie's (Mostly) Music Blog" to "Concert Goers Anonymous". I go to A LOT of concerts. How much is A LOT? Check out my Flickr page. My new goal is to write reviews of the gigs I attend, and maybe throw in some CD reviews, and music recommendations. We'll see. I know this isn't highly original content; every music blog is about reviews. I'm adding my voice to the conversation.
Welcome! I hope you enjoy my ramblings!
And away we go.
~Bonnie
My blog started out as an assignment while I was in CreComm at Red River College. You will see by scrolling that my posts were rather varied in subject matter. I thought about deleting my past posts, but that's not really fair, is it? Some of those entries were alright.
I've decided to take this blogging thing a little more seriously, hence the name change from "Bonnie's (Mostly) Music Blog" to "Concert Goers Anonymous". I go to A LOT of concerts. How much is A LOT? Check out my Flickr page. My new goal is to write reviews of the gigs I attend, and maybe throw in some CD reviews, and music recommendations. We'll see. I know this isn't highly original content; every music blog is about reviews. I'm adding my voice to the conversation.
Welcome! I hope you enjoy my ramblings!
And away we go.
~Bonnie
Sunday, July 4, 2010
NXNE Day the Last
Since there weren't any conferences on Sunday, C and I went to see "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" to kill the afternoon. I liked it; I'm a huge fan of the games, so I was biased. C's words were, "It wasn't as bad as I expected," so that's saying something!
We went to Rancho Relaxo to catch The Withouts. They were alright; very Scratching Post-esque.
After The Withouts, we headed over to the El Mocambo for Rah Rah and England's Ten Bears. As I mentioned in the previous post, I thoroughly enjoyed Rah Rah the second time. They were full of energy and their songs felt fresher in the bigger venue. Plus, they all fit on stage, rather than spilling into the aisles of the record store.
Ten Bears were fantastic. I had them marked down as a "must-see" after listening to their MySpace page. I was disappointed that they weren't selling any merch; I would have bought their CD even before their set! iTunes only has one song available from them, so I guess they're still working on a full-length.
Thus concludes a crazy awesome NXNE experience! Would I go again? In a heartbeat. I wish I had been able to see more bands, but a) there were so many! and b) I hate leaving in the middle of a set! I also wish there had been a merch table set up in the Hiatt-Regency (where all the conferences were) for all the bands to sell their CDs. There were a lot of acts that I would have bought albums from, even though I didn't get to see them. Maybe someone will read this and agree that it's a good idea for next year.
All of my pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lastsparkfades/
We went to Rancho Relaxo to catch The Withouts. They were alright; very Scratching Post-esque.
After The Withouts, we headed over to the El Mocambo for Rah Rah and England's Ten Bears. As I mentioned in the previous post, I thoroughly enjoyed Rah Rah the second time. They were full of energy and their songs felt fresher in the bigger venue. Plus, they all fit on stage, rather than spilling into the aisles of the record store.
Ten Bears were fantastic. I had them marked down as a "must-see" after listening to their MySpace page. I was disappointed that they weren't selling any merch; I would have bought their CD even before their set! iTunes only has one song available from them, so I guess they're still working on a full-length.
Thus concludes a crazy awesome NXNE experience! Would I go again? In a heartbeat. I wish I had been able to see more bands, but a) there were so many! and b) I hate leaving in the middle of a set! I also wish there had been a merch table set up in the Hiatt-Regency (where all the conferences were) for all the bands to sell their CDs. There were a lot of acts that I would have bought albums from, even though I didn't get to see them. Maybe someone will read this and agree that it's a good idea for next year.
All of my pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lastsparkfades/
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