At one point, no band member could be seen as they were all surrounded by fans and bananas alike. This was apparently a major issue for security as those on stage were hurled into the audience in a futile effort to keep people from dancing around Andrew
"Partying is the essence of life": this quote will likely be inscribed on Andrew WK's tomb stone.
Feeling nostalgic for a bygone age when Ziggy Stardust roamed the earth? Well then get out your striped body suits as British glam rockers, the Darkness, are coming to town.
Last week I went to see Myelin Sheaths, Korean Gut and the Courtneys at the Cobalt. The show was a fundraiser for Kier Fist from the Lethbridge, AB punk band Fist City’s top surgery. Travelling from Lethbridge was Myelin Sheaths, who along with Vancouver’s Korean Gut are some of the incredible bands with releases coming out on Alberta based Mammoth Cave Recordings.
The audience at The Biltmore this past Saturday night had a familial air. With the mellow, haunting roots musician Johnny Wakeham opening, and Hard Drugs playing their first gig in years, the majority of the crowd seemed to be a congenial combination old friends and diehard fans.
Just before Christmas I saw the Chor Leoni Men’s Choir perform Rejoice—a night filled with holiday classics, hushed cantatas, and liturgical music, accompanied by the quintet, A Touch of Brass.
Too often I look through Pitchfork, or Rolling Stone and find myself wondering why certain bands attain superstar status. To me many of them seem like their missing one or two or even several pieces that would elicit such a title. Because for every band that’s hailed ‘the next greatest band’, like Animal Collective or Odd Future there are one or two bands that are criminally underrated. Bands who given the right chance, the right break, could become mega-stars. The Sounds are one of those bands.
How many times have you heard someone say ‘Oh yeah, their albums good, but MAN you gotta see this band live!! You won’t understand it till you see it live!’? Then you go see the band and it’s alright, but you can’t help feeling that your friend has a bad case of superfanitis.
It’s a good thing people arrived early for this early show, as a healthy crowd swelled to two waiting lines. According to some of the staff there were only a handful of tickets left for purchase by the time the doors opened. Even though The Biltmore was scheduled to open at 7:00, it opened a half hour later, although I had a feeling that they wanted to create a buzz out front, and they certainly met that objective.
Waiting in line out front of The Rickshaw Theatre these days, one can’t help but be impressed with how the old place has been restored, remodeled and set up as great venue for live entertainment. Just surviving on the Downtown Eastside certainly takes effort, and bringing in acts with an avant-garde approach is certainly one way to break down certain barriers.
