The Acorn and Ohbijou @ Sala Rossa – November 28th

Posted on November 29, 2008

Last time I saw The Acorn play live, it was in the tiny St-Hubert ave. venue, Zoobizarre with Torngat. That show is actually what lead me to write for Midnight Poutine. That was a surprisingly great show. Since then, The Acorn has been touring non-stop and headlining festivals all over the place. In barely a year, their career has immensely improved, and it really shows in the live show I’ve seen last night.

The Acorn is currently finishing up a tour with Ohbijou, who is also a fantastic band. Apparently they had a lot of fun touring together and even put out a 7 inch where they cover each others songs. Unfortunately, the record has sold out. However, last night the crowd got a chance to see a bit of what it sounded like since the lead singer of The Acorn got on stage for one of Ohbijou’s songs.

Ohbijou is a truly enchanting band. I find they sound a lot like the Forest City Lovers, which is far from a bad thing. One of the main differences between the two I’d say is the lyrical content. Whereas Forest City Lovers’ lyrics tend to be more like storytelling, Ohbijou writes songs that feel more personal. Their name is very fitting since their sound is so precious and rich. Ohbjou’s singer’s voice is similar, but with more play on vibratos and “smaller” in a very cute way. They also have a cello player in their band which enhances the sound beautifully. Honestly, it’s almost impossible to take a bad picture of the band since they’re just so gorgeous and beautiful to watch.Their songs were a little bit changed from the recordings but still captured the emotion in a very vivid and graceful manner.

Like I was saying before, the Acorn’s live performances have greatly improved, though they were pretty great to begin with. Constant touring has made them very tight together and I noticed a significant improvement on the percussion side as well as with the supporting vocals. They’ve changed things up a bit, adding in different instruments and letting themselves go into a bit of improvisation. They’re a very fun band to see since their live show is energetic and full of good humor.

Though their guitar player was telling me that they were taking it easy last night after a particularly wild performance at the Tavern in Toronto the night before, I didn’t feel that they gave any less than 100% of their game. There was a few hicups, and I felt the keyboards weren’t sometimes all they could’ve been, but nothing really noticeable to speak of.

Altogether it was a great show that finished with all members of both bands on stage performing the final song (pictured in the first photo). It was a very joyful moment that I think represented very well how much fun the two bands had touring together.

Hawksley Workman & Hey Rosetta! @ La Tulipe – Nov 21st

Posted on November 22, 2008

I’m sure that at one point while you were younger, you probably also watched the video for “Jealous of your Cigarette” and thought to yourself: no, I’m the one who’s jealous of YOUR ciggie there Mr. Workman. Well I did anyway. That was a while back, but it was probably one of my first contacts with Indie music. I remember back then I pretty much listened to Much Music stuff, and strangely enough it’s MM that brought me to Hawksley Workman. Well I was a teenager, you know. Jealous of Your Cigarette was the beginning of musical maturity for me. It awakened something in me. It’s the point from which my entire perception of music changed. I wondered what his deal was. Read on to find out what it is…
What’s Hawksley’s deal? Well he’s a flamboyant, joyful, passionate, down to earth musician with talent up the yin-yang. This gentleman is far from ordinary. His musical styles vary anywhere between stuff you can totally shake it to, to music you could listen to with your mother. I’m not sure exactly what it is about Hawksley’s music that gets me so much. I find his funky songs full of flare with a sexy attitude to them while the softer ones touch me with delicate lyrics.
Granted, Workman’s songs are not without a pretty healthy dose of “corny-ness”. If lines like “put on a sweater, then you’ll feel better” makes you cringe to a point of taking off running, his music probably isn’t for you. But the great thing about Workman is that he’s so fuckin’ fabulous that he doesn’t take himself seriously enough to care and doesn’t feel the need to reduce any part of who he is to make his creation more… too cool for school-friendly. I won’t lie and say I love ALL his songs, but for the most part, I’m pretty sure Hawksley Workman is probably one of the most brilliant Canadian musicians of his generation. I could go on enumerating the many reasons why this man impresses me to no end, but I’ll stick to the point and tell you about the concert.
His music is wide open, full of Workman’s wonderful liberated personality and so are his shows. It took me a mere 8 years before I got to see him perform, but what a worthy wait. Between-song-banter is probably my favorite thing about shows aside from the actual music. I feel so privileged when a musician feels enough of a connection with the crowd to let us into his head a little bit further. It’s really the ultimate generosity that tops off the music, and when it’s hilarious as it was tonight, you really can’t ask for anything more.
Hawksley moves great on stage. He lets himself go completely and even creates while he’s playing. His songs don’t sound stiff and redundant. And his voice… what can I say about his voice other than “this guy’s the real deal”. It’s just as powerfully full of passion, emotion and attitude as it is on the records. He has a hefty repertoire that kept him playing for well over two hours. It was a truly wonderful show, and might I add that La Tulipe is a gorgeous venue to welcome Workman to our sexy city.
Hey Rosetta! opened the show with a very very short set. The crowd was demanding more after it was over, which is not surprising since their album “Into Your Lungs” is the best release I’ve heard this year hands down. I’ll be pissed if they don’t win the Polaris Prize next year. Their album also happens to be produced by Workman as well. How very fitting to have them open for him. To read more about them click here or here.

Photo by SarahBrideau.com

Fan trampled at Girl Talk show

Posted on November 14, 2008

This is an open letter written by Sisi Chen, one of the editors at Midnight Poutine. I found it so pertinent that I felt the urgent need to share it with my own readers. NOTE: I DID NOT WRITE THIS STORY.

Every concert-goer has a pet peeve. Whether it’s the horde of suburban teenagers in the front row singing the lyrics to every song or the fraternity douchebags sloshing their drinks all over you, there’s usually a point where you shake your head and mutter to a friend. Granted, it’s annoying. But these are things to be expected at a concert and, in the end, life goes on.

There is, however, a breaking point. Yesterday, my roommate got trampled during Girl Talk. She was knocked down as people mobbed the stage, bottlenecking through an improvised staircase that she happened to be standing near. The two friends that she was with tried to help her up, but repeatedly got pushed back by the surging crowd.

My roommate tried to reach out to them, but gave up in favour of protecting herself. She lay in a ball as people stepped all over her: on her wrists, on her ankles, on her fucking face. In the process, her purse was ripped from its strap and lost in the crowd. Inside were her bank card, Opus card, passport, money, glasses, and Vancouver medicare card.

Eventually, after a full minute on the ground, someone helped her up. Operating on pure adrenaline, she stumbled around for a bit, then made a beeline for the exit. Realizing that she’d lost her ticket, she described her jacket to one of the coat check personnel. Luckily, he was kind enough to help her find her stuff. She found her cell phone in one of the pockets and called home.

My boyfriend and I had already gone to bed when we heard her boyfriend, who was over and waiting up for her, call out to us. Due to some freak coincidence, we had a car at our disposal last night. We drove across town to find her alone and crying in front of an apartment building.

Which brings me to the question: What the fuck? What is it with the lack of concern for others? Is it so important to dance with Girl Talk that you can’t take the time to help someone up? No one’s going to convince me that you don’t notice when you’re stepping on someone’s face. At some point, it’s not just fun and games anymore.

By no stretch of the imagination is my roommate a small person. She’s 5’10, solidly built, and pretty damn fierce. At Justice, I saw her slug a guy who cupped her ass and had the bad luck of saying something obscene at the same time. At Chromeo, she spoke up for a complete stranger after a pair of harpies bogarted their way to the front. How is it that this person was so humiliated last night?

My suggestion to Metropolis: Beef up security for bigger shows. Apparently, the reason why security guards didn’t help her up is because their attention was stretched too thin stemming the influx of people wanting to get onstage. I don’t blame them, but I do blame the venue for doing such a shit job of ensuring everyone’s safety.

As for everyone else, I urge you to remember that concerts aren’t just about music. They’re about coming together and having a good time, which entails a basic level of respect for people. Next time a mob gets going, keep an eye out for your peers. Don’t let anyone get dragged down into the mud lest things go too far one day.

Feist @ Bell Center – November 5th

Posted on November 7, 2008

I’m not into hockey enough to go see an actual game and I don’t usually do big shows, so I don’t get to see the inside of the Bell Center very often. There’s a reason why a usually choose to stay away from that place and it’s not that good acts don’t come to the venue on a regular basis, it’s rather a matter of how it’s totally void of intimacy. I’ve seen Feist a few years ago while she was still in her pre-Reminder era and she was already big enough to fill one of the larger Montreal venues. Back then she was good live, now she’s fantastic.

I really hated being miles away from the stage, but I wasn’t the only one. The place was pretty full and most of the seats were taken, which I find impressive and slightly surprising. Before the show, me and my friend were debating how many whales could fit in the giant volume of the venue (my estimate was a little scary). It must be hard work trying to fill that much airspace between you and the audience with a minimum of ambiance. I’m not really sure which artist has managed to do that, but without giant screens or excessive lighting, from where I was sitting I would’ve probably felt more into it if I was watching a concert on my tv set. I must admit that I would’ve probably hated it if it had all that though (I usually hate frilly stuff), but a few screens to see her pretty face from afar would’ve definitely helped.

Aside from the lack of ambiance though, the visuals that we got to see kept my eyes entertained while the music enchanted the rest of my brain. The big screen projections were really fantastic, and the artist responsible for this is apparently a former McGill student. The style was perfectly fitting to Feist’s artsy and down to earth image. (Don’t judge it by the video below. My cam doesn’t do it justice)

As far as the music is concerned, as I said earlier, Feist has gone from great to excellent. Her live performance was absolutely flawless and the sound really did her justice even in that giant of a space. Proper credit must also be given to the gifted musicians backing her up. There was a point during How My Heart Behaves when the gentlemen’s unbelievably great backup vocals and the music was so perfectly right on that I almost teared up (that happened moments before I actually before I pulled out my cam to shoot the video). It’s not my favorite song on the album, but boy did they nail that one. Same goes for When I Was a Young Girl, which is a song I usually skip on my playlist, but seriously, wow! Generally, I also loved how the music deviated slightly from the record, which in my opinion, is a must during a live show. If it sounds exactly the same, you might as well stay home and listen to the record. The muted trumpet accents particularly impressed me as well.

Hayden also did a great job during his oh-so-short first part. Altogether, it was a pretty perfect concert except for the venue. It’s great that she plays big rooms and all since it gives more people the chance to see her live, but I don’t think it’s such a good trade off. That venue’s just too freakin big. I feel Feist is an artist that definitely deserves a more intimate setting. I wish we could just go back to her playing smaller venues. The National would be pretty great I think, but that’s just me.

Photo and video by SarahBrideau.com

Feist and Hayden @ Bell Center Tomorrow!

Posted on November 4, 2008

It’s been a while since we’ve seen our beloved Canadian sweetheart, Feist, come around Montreal (I think).Tomorrow night though, she’s moving into greater spaces with an upgrade to one of the biggest venues in town and to offer the Montreal public a starry performance at the Bell Center. Though she started out in the Toronto Indie scene with the infamous collective Broken Social Scene, her solo career has made this unpretentious-diva famous world-wide. Her gorgeous, graceful voice has not only crossed political borders and oceans, but appeals to fans from all age groups.

This time around Feist has added a humanitarian agenda to her national tour. She is involved with “two major charity efforts: there will be a food drive with local affiliates of the Canadian Association of Food Banks at every show along her Fall tour; and the Canadian charities CARE Canada, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) and War Child Canada will receive ALL of the proceeds from Feist merchandise sales. Concert-goers are asked to bring non-perishable food items to the Bell Centre, where a local representative from the CAFB will be accepting donations. One lucky winner each night will win a very special piece of limited Feist memorabilia, custom made for the food drive winners.” (quoted from press release of October 30th, 2008).

As an added bonus, one of my undergrad-years favorite, the great singer-songwriter and ever-so-charming Hayden will be opening up the show with his slightly melancholic folk songs. I haven’t had the chance to see him play live yet, but apparently he’s a hoot on stage. The in-between song stories and chatter are reported to crack smiles on audience faces everywhere.

I believe there are still tickets left, so go, bring your friends, bring nonperishable goods, buy the merch, and support the great causes. I even believe she now has a very special limited edition of The Reminder being released, with a bunch of cool remixes on it.

Photo courtesy of her MySpace page