Day 6 – Weezer Wednesday. Killer Mike: Sometimes, technical difficulties actually make a show amazing. This has happened twice in my life: Coldplay @ Bell Centre in Montreal (guitar broke – had to re-start their biggest hit twice) and yesterday...
Day 5 – Neil Peart drum solo night. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: On Friday, I mentioned that music ‘fans’ who categorically reject country music are more or less idiots. They just haven’t heard the right country music yet. Grace...
Sunday night @ottawabluesfest. Fun. headlining. The Joy Formidable: The show of the festival thus far. I liked this band before the day started, and now I love them. The Welsh threesome brought some serious power, noise, and beauty in a...
Day 3 – another hot one. Amadou & Mariam: The legendary blind husband and wife team were amazing. Funky west-african rhythms that have an amazing club sense… buildups, drops and continuous grooves. Pretty much the perfect band to see in...
Day 2. Friday night on Lebreton Flats. Camera Obscura: Holy crap – is this band good! Admittedly, I only caught 3 songs of this set to open the night – but they were all amazing – pitch perfect and surprisingly...
Day 1 of RBC Bluesfest is over. It was awesome. Here are our thoughts about what we saw on day 1 in easy-to-read executive summary format. There will be a quiz at the end. The Split: This band does not...
Our final review for NXNE 2013 was the duo touring their critically acclaimed new album. They are Montreal’s Majical Cloudz. Venue: BLK BOX, the hottest venue outside of the centre of the Earth First Impressions: Some good preshow banter. At...
Heading up the 11pm show on our NXNE schedule was Eight and a Half. We had previously enjoyed their opening set for The Jezabels last fall. Venue: BLK BOX First Impressions: Solid rhythm section. Promising electronic parts.
We headed as far north as North By Northeast would take us, and checked out The BB Guns up on Bloor Street. Venue: Lee’s Palace First Impressions: Girl guitar assault. Fronted by 3 ladies, with Clint Rogerson (from Action Makes)...
Dublin’s Villagers were the first post-Bruise Cruise band that we saw on Saturday night. However, it wasn’t a full set, but a solo acoustic set by Conor O’Brien. Venue: Sidedoor (aka the Soho House)
The last act on the Bruise Cruise around Lake Ontario was Mikal Cronin. Venue: Bruise Cruise (partly out on the lake, but we actually docked for the majority of the set)
Our Booze Bruise Cruise continued, as we got shitfaced checked out Odonis Odonis. Venue: Bruise Cruise (out on Lake Ontario)
We probably shouldn’t have, but we skipped Fat Tony to enjoy some beers and fun in the sun out on Lake Ontario on the Bruise Cruise. The first act we ventured inside to see were We Are Wolves. Venue: Bruise...
The 1am treat after the free show by The National were Vancouver’s Gold & Youth. We interviewed them the day after their debut album came out, so check it out here. Venue: BLK BOX (which should be renamed HOT BOX,...
The big act at this year’s NXNE and the centrepiece of the Yonge-Dundas Square free concert series showcase was a band from Brooklyn called The National. Heard of them? They’re friends with President Obama, so they have some influence. Heck,...
