FRIDAY, OCT. 26TH, 2007: JAPANTHER, DD/MM/YYYY, TELEFAUNA, SECRETS OF MANA @ FRIENDSHIP COVE

Been dead since POP Montreal, but resurrected for this one, baby! Hit the downtown area early to do some Halloween shopping with my girl, then stopped into a pub to watch the hockey game, and left nicely satisfied after the 1st period with the Habs up 5 to 1 against Carolina. We made our way to the Friendship Cove around 8:30pm and realized that we were the first ones there. We opened our magnum of red wine and waited for the festivities to begin. First up was Secrets of Mana (ex-Les Angles Morts) and they decided to play a bit off center in the cove facing the stage. It was interesting as Brendan Reed played some drums consisting only of a floor tom, snare and a cymbal, with cohort Kyle Fostner playing keys and other noise on his knees nearby. They stood out pretty well, even though the band seemed to be in an infantile stage. Next up, was Telefauna with an absent Tyler Rauman (AKA the mind-blowing poster maker/beat sampler for Telefauna) replaced by Graham Van Pelt (Think About Life/Miracle Fortress) on live drums. They proceeded with their usual booty- moving set, highlighted by their unforgettable hit “Turbulence’’ (which I think we’ve all loved since the 2005 POP sampler, if not before). A surprise guest appearance was made by DD/MM/YYYY (having not been initially announced on the bill) which tricked me and maybe others into thinking this isn’t the Japanther I remember from other shows??? This kind of threw me off, review wise I guess, because I was comparing them to Japanther standards from previous shows I had seen and wasn’t sure if I enjoyed the “new’’ line-up as much. But as I was leaving to go, thank god, Jack (Dylan) put me in my place and said “You’re not leaving before Japanther, are you?’’ Yes, I feel like an idiot for confessing to all this but I’d be even more of a phoney douche if I didn’t tell it like it happened (and that is what I intend to do first and foremost in this blog is to be honest and tell it exactly how it went down, at least from my perspective). In the interval between DD/MM/YYYY and Japanther I went with Jack to his room to pick up his (and I can’t hype it enough) utterly AMAZING poster series from this year’s POP Montreal. (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, it consisted of Superman listening to an ipod on top of the cross of Mount Royal, The Flash making out with a girl on the McGill campus, Catwoman petting a cat in the alleys of the plateau, Wonder Woman sitting pensive on a fire escape and Spiderman eating a banana and reading the newspaper up top the milk bottle monument near Lucien L’Allier metro). Respect this man people, especially this year. The effort and details he put into these works are utterly incredible. From Jack’s cove we heard a kafuffle; it was Japanther beginning in the show area. So we made our way back. Quite tipsy at this point, the show washed over me like a wave of chaos, and I unfortunately cannot remember many details. The crowd consisting mainly of young face lads seemed to be swept up in this frenetic wave. The vocals muffled their way through the usual telephone receiver microphones. The only sure thing I can really say is that if you missed this show, don’t cry, it wasn’t their best, I’ve seen them do better. I’d like to finish up by declaring that, all in all, a great time was had as usual and Happy 2nd Birthday Friendship Cove! and many more… You truly are one of the radest venues this city has to offer; I’ve always enjoyed visiting you.