Archive for the ‘Concerts’ Category
Von Bondies @ Lee’s Palace
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009Last Friday night Detroit indie-punk heroes The Von Bondies rolled into Lee’s Palace like a truck full of fireworks in the middle of a thunderstorm. Yes, their 60 minute show was pretty much that intense. And yes, you missed it again. Damnit, Charlie, you gotta start coming out to these things!
Tags: concert reviews, von bondies
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Glastonbury Line-Up Announced
Monday, May 25th, 2009The line-up for the 32nd edition of Britain’s most coveted (and most drunken) summer music festival has been announced. This morning organizers for the always mud-soaked Glastonbury Festival revealed the massive roster of artists playing this year’s event. The three nights will feature the likes of Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band and Blur as the main headliners on the Pyramid Stage.
The rest of the line-up is rounded out by a mix of both experienced and emerging artists that includes Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and the Prodigy headlining the Other Stage, Doves, Jarvis Cocker and Echo & the Bunnymen closing out the John Peel Stage, and Animal Collective, Bon Iver and Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80 topping the bill of the Park Stage.
Other big names playing throughout the weekend include the Specials, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Spinal Tap, Lily Allen, Fleet Foxes, Ting Tings, Lady Gaga, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Eyed Peas, Bat For Lashes, Passion Pit, 2 Many DJs, La Roux, Peaches, M. Ward, Peter Bjorn & John, Glasvegas and Tom Jones.
You can see the entire line-up by clicking here.
Glastonbury 2009 takes place between Friday, June 26th to Sunday, June 28th in the fields of Pilton, England. As usual, the festival is completely sold out, so if you’re thinking of jumping the fence, keep in mind that the 12-foot-tall, $2 million steel “super fence” they installed back in 2002 has made life difficult for fence-jumpers over the last seven years.
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The Vaselines @ Lee’s Palace
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009by Liem Vu
While many of us were fetal positioning in the late 80s (myself included), Glasgow duo, Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, were positioning themselves in a less uterine way as the world’s best songwriters. Indeed, that title was bestowed onto the group by Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain.
Although they disbanded shortly after the release of their first and only full-length, Dum-Dum, The Vaselines slid over the Atlantic and gained notoriety through Nirvana’s covers of “Molly’s Lips” and “Jesus Want Me for a Sunbeam” on their album, Incesticide.
Touring for the first time in 20 years, Kelly and McKee stopped by Lee’s Palace for an impressive and almost comprehensive 19-song setlist that saw them performing the now-famous “Molly’s Lips,” the contemptuous “Monsterpussy,” and the rhyme-happy ditty “Dum-Dum.”
While their pop melodies, psychedlic harmonies and Glasgowian wit were in abudance, The Vaselines’ status as a musical artifact showed signs of age as their opening couple of songs had them readjusting their instruments and sound levels. But it was Frances McKee’s bouts of playful banter with the audience that truly roused (or should I say, aroused?) the gentlemen as she unraveled her flirtatious leer and suggestive words.
“I hear the men in Toronto are sensitive,” said McKee after the first song, “fuck that, we want to play rough.” A collective cheer ensued as McKee launched into the appropriately titled track, “Monsterpussy.”
In the end, the moderately crowded venue offered an intimate and nostalgic evening where fans were able to relive their musical memories live especially after the recent release of Enter The Vaselines, a 2-disc compilation album of remastered tracks and different live/demo tracks.
With Rick of the Skins opening up with their very own offering of pop music, The Vaselines may have very well stepped out of the Cobain shadow and cast a new one for themselves and for future musical artistes. Yes, you heard it. Artistes.
Tags: concert reviews
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Drake @ Sound Academy - Photos
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Drake. Drizzy. Young Lion. Aubrey. Call him what you like, but don’t call him an up-and-comer - the dude is already a star. How else do you explain a sold-out show at Sound Academy for an unsigned artist? How else do you explain 2300 people spending $40 A POP, clamoring to see an artist who has yet to drop an album? Up-and-coming, please. Drake is already here.
To be purposely corny, you could feel electricity in the air before the show kicked off. Drake calls Toronto home and this was his hometown crowd, chanting his name 45 minutes before he appeared. The tiny backstage was sardined with supporters including Kardinal Offishall, everyone anxious to see what could one day be spoken of as a legendary event.
Tags: concert reviews, drake
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Attack In Black @ Horseshoe Tavern
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
By Liem Vu
So while last Saturday saw Rihanna officially become the latest inductee into The Hall of (Nudie) Fame, a different kind of non-nekkid buzz was building at the Horseshoe Tavern as music connoisseurs gathered for a flannel-filled evening of musky, folk-rock tunes and classic rock guitar riffs courtesy of Attack in Black.
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Tags: concert reviews
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Lady Sovereign @ Lee’s Palace
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
By Liem Vu
Love her or hate her, it’s still my obsession that Lady Sovereign has an uncanny resemblance to Mel C and by the looks of her ensemble last Friday, Dan Levy as well.
Ch-check it out:
What do you guys think?
*Ahem*
Now that I got my daily non-sequitur fix out of the way, let’s get down and dirty with the 5”1 expletive-prone North London MC who has been dubbed as the female Eminem by The New Yorker. While the Tetris-themed music video for “Love Me or Hate Me” saw the fruition of this comparison with Lady Sov sporting a variety of ridiculous costumes, her sharp wit has never been reduced to Slim Shady’s blatant parodies or melancholic melodramas.
Demonstrating that she is just as much a rapper as she is an entertainer, Lady Sovereign hit up Lee’s Palace in support of her sophomore album, Jigsaw, where she cranked out a few oldies (“Love Me Or Hate Me,” “Public Warning”), a bunch of newbies (“So Human,” “Bang Bang,” “Pennies”), as well as a cover of Metro Station’s “Shake It”.
However, the highlight of the night was when Sov would take “breaks” during her set where she would interact with the audience, making it an evening of memorable sound bites and crazy shenanigans.
Here are the highlights:
1.) Brushing her hair with a toothbrush
2.) Quenching the audience’s thirst by drenching them in beer
3.) Throwing out some cash money into the crowd during “Pennies”
4.) Touching herself in the nether-regions
5.) Flashing her female-bosom support apparatus
6.) Letting her fans drink her vodka only to realize, “Oh great, I got the pig’s flu”
7.) Stealing a green tie from a concertgoer and saying it looked like a green lizard’s [lady business].
For a 23-year old artist, Lady Sov carried herself like a veteran without ever coming off like a pompous or pretentious musician. Thank you, Sovereign, for giving Toronto an evening of cheekiness, wittiness and sneakiness.
First, the Adele gig at Massey Hall, then the leaked Susan Boyle rendition of “Killing Me Softly,” and now, Sovereign. Thanks Britain, you sure have been generous this past week.
Tags: concert reviews, lady sovereign
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Green Go @ Wrongbar
Monday, May 4th, 2009By Liem Vu
After a six-month love affair with Thunderheist’s “Jerk It,” I found myself at a sudden crossroads of having to find an equally danceable track with a perfect mélange of melodic hooks and frenetic electro-rhythms. Guelph synth-rockers, Green Go, were the answer to my woes as they burst onto the small stage a few weeks ago at Sonic Boom Records with their anthemic tune, “You Know You Want It,” in celebration of Record Store Day.
Holding their own against other Toronto indie-heavyweights like Slim Twig and Hooded Fang, frontman Ferenc “Fezz” Stenton and frontwoman Jessica Tollefsen’s co-ed stage presence were nothing short of a perfect marriage of Chris Martin-esque humility and Emily Haines-like ferocity; traits that seemed ever more potent at their CD release party last Thursday at Wrongbar.
Like the colourful orgy of confetti-like Chiclets on the cover of their first full-length, Borders, the Guelph quintet hit the stage in celebratory fashion (and often, in technicolour) as they ushered in the album’s release with a sonic sampling of tracks that included the spirited (“Brains for Breakfast”) and the sassy (“Cash for Gremlins”).
The large crowd of fedora-rocking and skinny jean-sporting hipsters went from subdued sways to voracious head bobbing offering us a glimpse of what Electric Circus (ah, the nostalgia) may have been like today if it were still around.
In a warm and fuzzy moment that rivaled any episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (ah, the cuteness), Tollefsen’s dad gave a gleeful grin when the red-panted frontwoman screamed out, “That’s my dad!”
While the under sixty-minute set omitted some of the stronger tracks from Borders, it was nevertheless a success as even the photographers abandoned their stoic professionalism for periods of psychedelic thrashing.
So if you haven’t done it yet, Go Green…er…Green Go! You know you want it. *Cue strobe light, disco ball, sweaty-ness and most importantly, indie-ness*
Tags: concert reviews, green go
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K-os Karma
Friday, May 1st, 2009K-os has a brand new album Yes! and I’m all about the positivity that resonates from the word and the music. K-os is about to embark on the Karma Tour, which could have you catching his live show for FREE in every major city in Canada.
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Tags: Concerts, k-os
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Lily Allen @ Sound Academy - Photos
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Lily Allen is the cutest and also one of the coolest. I mean, I’m not biased or anything - maybe slightly - but you can’t hate on a lady who lets loose on stage… dancing like you would in the safety of your bedroom, comfy in some Air Jordans, lighting a cigarette, having a drink, giggling like she’s maybe a little self-conscious up there, discussing her under-attire Spanx, moaning about on-tour weight gain. You get my drift.
Lily changed venues to the Sound Academy after fans ravenously scooped up her first block of tickets set for The Phoenix Concert Theatre. And this place was paaaacked! She busted out from backstage with “Everyone’s At It” (or as her setlist says, “Everyone’s A Tit”) and then “I Could Say”. Throughout the night she stuck mostly to her latest album with a few tracks from Alright, Still thrown in for extra spice.
More, plus photos after the jump!
Tags: Concerts, lily allen
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Kings Of Leon Photos From The ACC
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009by Alberto Bonora
Last night Kings Of Leon ripped the roof off the ACC with an amazing show. The sold out ACC is a huge jump for the boys from Tennessee who have previously played the Kool Haus. With the success of their latest album ‘Only By The Night’ it was no surprise to me that they would sell out the ACC, it was only a matter of time.
The minute that the Followill brothers and cousin stepped foot on stage, everyone in the ACC were on their feet cheering. This was probably the loudest show I’ve ever been to at the ACC (which also includes Leaf & Raptor games).
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Tags: Concerts, kings of leon, Reviews
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