Set 1
Dance Me To The End Of Love
The Future
Ain't No Cure For Love
Bird On The Wire
Everybody Knows
In My Secret Life
Who By Fire
Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye
Take This Waltz
Set 2
Tower Of Song
Avalanche
Suzanne
The Gypsy's Wife
Boogie Street
Hallelujah
Democracy
I'm Your Man
Thousand Kisses Deep (recital)
Anthem
Encores
So Long, Marianne
First We Take Manhattan
Sisters Of Mercy
If It Be Your Will
Closing Time
I Tried To Leave You
Whither Thou Goest
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, October 28, 2007
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.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
POP MONTREAL 2007
SUMMARY:
Night 1: Registration @ Notman House, FILM POP Analog Night @ Portuguese Association, Li'l Andy & Karaoke Cowboy @ Divan Orange, Katie Moore @ Sala Rossa, Fucked Up + Père Ubu @ Le Nationale, after party @ Korova;
Night 2: Diamond Sea @ Katacombs, Two Koreas @ Saphir, MAN MAN @ Sala Rossa, Bionic @ Petit Campus;
Night 3: Patti Smith @ église St-Jean-Baptiste, Priestess @ Bar St. Laurent II, Zoobombs @ Academy, NxNE after party @ Theatre St. Catherine;
Night 4: Dinner with the band @ Bisous, Sunset Rubdown + Black Mountain @ Le Nationale, Jay Reatard @ Lambi;
Night 5: Jealous Girlfriends + Vicious/Delicious + Eric's Trip @ Ukranian Federation, Weekends Never End 3D Party @ Korova
REGISTRATION & FILM POP
Day 1 and it was off in the rain to registration at the Notman House. A nice old reclaimed ("haunted" apparently) house at the corner of Clark and Sherbrooke. Took a quick peek around but had to run up to the Assoçiao Portuguese for the opening of FILM POP. On the way up the main it restarted to rain, so it was relieving to finally make my way up the stairs into the Portuguese Association at St. Urbain & Rachel. I warmed myself inside as The Hot Springs played on the sound system (which occurred a couple of times during the fest at various locations and always resulted in a smile on my face, can't wait to get my hands on it). I grabbed a beer and waited for the screenings at Analogue Night to start. The first short THE GOLDEN SAMOVAR (Phillip Chernyak, Brooklyn, Super 8, Canadian Premiere, 9:00 min.) was whimsical and comical at times but seemed to end abruptly. The plot was summed up as such in the program: The three daughters of a Soviet map-maker venture into an eerie woodland where enchanted cats and belligerent bears are commonplace. Screened at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival. The second serving was JILL AND JACK (Andreas Mendritzki & Aonan Yang, Montréal, 16mm, 12:30). Interesting at times, and quite beautiful for its sets, it attempted to show the sexual frustrations of a young couple, but ultimately left me wondering what the hell just happened? Thirdly, we had MOON CAKE (Marty Stano, Ann Arbor (MI), 16mm, 6:30). Blatantly inspired by Kenneth Anger, it basically seemed like a film student attempting to emulate his idol, I guess the question is would Anger be proud? The highlight for me is what came next MOTION OF LIGHT (Karl Lemieux, Montreal, 16mm, 7:07). Hand-painted on 16mm film, this film recalls the all-over movement of certain Abstract Expressionists and Automatistes. Limiting himself to a grayscale palette Lemieux evokes exterior landscapes and ephemeral quotidian objects. What an amazing effect it created, and accentuated by a very drone-y avant-garde noise soundtrack. Looking at my watch, I decided to leave on a good note, and head up to the Divan Orange for the 8 o'clock spot.
LET THE SHOWS BEGIN...
Li'l Andy & Karaoke Cowboy was first on my list to sees for POP 2007, I think the last time I saw him and his band perform was back when Jailhouse was still around. So I got myself a Moosehead and found myself a seat at le Divan. It was a smaller condensed line-up with Andy on vocals & acoustic guitar and Josh accompanying him on electric. But the Andy charm was still there with his witty, humorous lyrics, and banter between songs. Musically, the ingredients were pretty much straight up country rhythms with Josh adding twangy hillbilly chops. I stayed for as long as I could before I had to meet my girlfriend in front of Sala for Katie Moore's 9 o'clock slot, who we've both loved since the 2005 POP sampler. The show was a bit delayed so we went to Casa for a Miel Madness sandwich and a couple of drinks. There we managed to catch Sister Suvi sound checking, and once the kinks were worked out they sounded pretty interesting with a tenor ukulele and some heavy bass and beats. When we got back to Sala we had missed the opening of the Katie Moore show, but still got a decent fill. She sure has a powerful soulful voice and was nicely accompanied by a quartet consisting of a stand-up acoustic bass, violin, a semi-hollow guitar (she herself played an acoustic guitar) and drums. Next it was off to Le Nationale on the other side of town for Fucked Up and Pere Ubu. Fucked up was pretty much a perfect descriptor for both the band of the same name and the night in general. I'm sure you've heard the buzz surrounding Fucked Up's recordings, and if you've actually gone and checked out their stuff you may have been disappointed by this show. Unfortunately, they missed their sound check, I found out later, so the mix was pretty muddy. It was still quite intense all the same. Legendary Pere Ubu proceeded with a monumental show that lasted close to two hours including the long extended encore. The songs they played were great, the band was tight and in top form. Frontman David Thomas stirred up quite a reaction from the crowd with his in between song banter, some parts sent some people out the door, when he made comments about 'the girls at the show being dragged along by their boyfriends', some female fans were offended and left. Other parts were completely classic however like his phone conversations with Elvis, his rants against Bono and Sting, and his confessions of a punk rocker going through a mid-life crisis. All in all, when I left it felt like this show would be pretty hard to beat.
DAY 2
Woke up as the sun set and headed on down to the dingiest part of town. The Katacombs, commonly a hardcore punk bar situated beside Cleopatra Strip Club just south of St. Catherine on St. Laurent was where my good friends in the Diamond Sea were playing an early 8 o’clock spot. Quite a big selection of out of the ordinary beers was there to be had. I settled as I often like to do with something new I hadn’t tried before, a beer that goes by the name of an Alchemiste Bock, which turned out to be quite good. Then Diamond Sea hit the stage. Having to contend with bad sound the performance started out on uneasy footing. However the soundman eventually worked things out so that the automatic punk setting of the venue was adjusted to accommodate the poppy post-rock of the Diamond Sea. I left satisfied, but the band was still pretty pissed however. After a quick bite to eat at the deliciously greasy Lafleurs, my girlfriend and I headed to Saphir for a band that seldomly plays Montreal, The Two Koreas from Toronto. They have a sound mainly reminiscent of UK’s The Fall. Apparently their usual drummer was ‘with child’ and their keyboardist had broken his elbow so they had to contend with a replacement drummer and the singer awkwardly attempting to play keys with an amateurish one handed style. His exuberance as a frontman somewhat made up for these pitfalls but all in all I found their performance to be lukewarm and kind of wished I had gone somewhere else for the ten o’clock spot. Little does Dave Thomas know but sometimes guys get dragged to shows by their girlfriends as well and are forced to stick around out of politeness. She seemed to have enjoyed the show at least, and bought one of their CDs on which they apparently sound a lot better. Next on our list however was for many, myself included, probably the performance of the festival, MAN MAN at Sala Rossa. These face painted shamans from Philly radiated pure electricity unlike any other. Just to capture their performance in words would be a feat in itself. It was somewhat metaphysical, it was cathartic, and everyone was ripped into a mad frenzy. These men, all multi instrumentalists rip roared through a circus performance so intense, the only way to understand it would be to see it for your self. It was the first band of the festival to give me and many others I’m sure an incontrollable urge to dance. I can’t imagine anyone not becoming an instant fan after seeing these guys live. After making sure to pick up both their CD Six Demon Bag and their t-shirt, we headed off to the final show on our itinerary that night Bionic at Petit Campus. Unfortunately we missed the beginning of their set but were still there in time for a severe thumping from the rock hammer gods that are Bionic. The last time I saw them they were a three piece at barfly missing guitarist Jean Belanger to Le Nombre who were on tour in France. So it was great to have the extra power of him and his guitar back, which was thrust pleasantly into my face both figuratively and literally from where I stood near the left of the stage. These guys own the stage and step up with extremely mind shattering hard rock. After a few post show drinks it was time to call it a night.
DAY 3
Woke up feeling burnt and in need of some healthy food, so it was off to the terraced garden of Santropol at St. Urbain and Duluth where I had a sweet root sandwich (mix of grated carrots, raisins, coriander, nuts and mayo, topped with fresh apple slices) mmmmm… My girlfriend had the vegetarian pie which was also quite good. As dusk fell upon our now candlelit table we decided it was time to head to the église St-Jean-Baptiste in order to ensure our spot at the Patti Smith show that was taking place there at 8:30pm tonight. After about an hour of waiting in line, nervously chatting with those around us, the big doors of the church were opened wide and we were allowed to make our way inside. The setting was overwhelmingly grandiose. The anticipation was heavy in the air. After about a half hour more of waiting inside, the crowd let out a deafening roar of enthusiasm as the show was about to start, which climaxed upon Patti’s entrance. She glowed with gratitude towards the emphatic welcoming, which lasted quite awhile until she almost had to signal it to a close. Patti and her band began the performance with The Beatles’ Within and Without You a very spiritual George Harrison song that seemed to set the mood. Then Patti seared through Allen Ginsberg’s A Footnote to Howl which gave the impression of the proclamation of a new testament for our modern times, a doctrine where everything is holy, the cock and the dirt and the asshole included. Although it is hard to remember everything that happened in the close to two hour performance, some highlights were having the metaphorical balls to play Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and despite my initial scepticism pulling it off, throwing in Lou Reed’s Perfect Day near the end of the set which was goose bump inducing, as were a lot of other moments during the show, she also did a charming improvised song about coming to Montreal. Some strange moments were had with the crowd like when after one song Patti responded to someone who complimented her in French from the audience with a “merci’’ some idiot in the crowd blurted out “were not all French in Montreal you know’’ after a few moments of tension and angered retorts coming from different ends of the church, Patti responded to the man in a sarcastic tone ‘oh I didn’t realize there was any French people in Montreal I thought he might be the only one so I didn’t want him to feel alone.’ Everybody laughed and the show went on. Another strange but ultimately funny moment was when someone yelled out for Patti to play her song “Rock n Roll Nigger’’ someone else responded by saying “Your obscenity has set me free’’ there was an awkward pause and then once again laughter. She ended up closing the night with the requested song but right before made a very moving speech about the need for change, the need for protest, to protest Bush, to protest the war, to protest all war, to march with the monks for peace, summing up the messages here could never have the same effect as she had when she delivered them. She was so persuasive; the people were all up on their feet cheering, ready to go with her that very moment to fight for change. Patti proclaimed ‘I am an American artist and I am ashamed, ashamed that we could allow Bush in power for so long, ashamed that we could allow the war and all the other injustices in the world to happen and continue to happen.’ For once I left a church feeling actually inspired by the ceremony that had just taken place. This show will definitely be one of my most memorable Pop Montreal experiences ever. But now let’s try and move on to some of the other shows shall we? Strangely enough we had made plans to meet some friends at the Priestess show at Bar St. Laurent II A.K.A. Murder Bar II. What a contrast going from a beautifully ornate church cathedral to one of the seediest bars in town. Also it was like a freaking oven in there and overcrowded as hell, but I guess aficionados of Priestess wouldn’t want it any other way. The sound was shit and it was hard to see, which was kind of disappointing, but Priestess rocked it hard as usual. Next on the list was the 1:00am Zoobombs show at Academy. Now I don’t know if it was due to the Patti Smith performance being so amazing that it was hard to really enjoy any other shows that night, but this show was a bit disappointing as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Zoobombs and have seen them quite a few times where they completely blew me away, but something felt lacking from this performance. It might have also been because I wasn’t up close, I really don’t know, but usually the Zoobombs are an unmissable act to see. Their closing show at Divan Orange was pretty much the highlight of my 2005 POP experience. Anyways having made it through another night of shows, now it was time to party. So we were off to the NxNE after party, a free booze and schmooze fest at Theatre St. Catherine. Thanks to JC for the passes we partied there until about 5 or 6 in the morning, in which there was almost an unlimited supply of booze. What a great night!
DAY 4
Nothing’s going to cure today’s hangover, but at least a nice dinner is planned at a good friend’s newly opened restaurant called Bisous, just below Rachel on St. Laurent. With Chef Beaver in the kitchen a great meal is guaranteed. The evening started off with oysters, accompanied by soothing glasses of red wine. This was followed up by a delicious soup served in a mini pumpkin as a bowl. Yet another appetiser came after that, which consisted of fresh figs and a deep fried vegetable which I think was zucchini. Then for the main course there was a choice of pasta, steak, or snapper. Since I eat the former two on a fairly regular basis and had never tried snapper I went with the latter. It was a pretty interesting tasting fish and I left nicely satisfied. We had totally lost track of time and missed a few of the earlier shows we wanted to see, so we rushed off to Le Nationale for Black Mountain. Unfortunately, Sunset Rubdown had switched spots with them and gave a not so strong performance, it seems they were working through new material and it came across as kind of sloppy and rushed. We decided to leave and try to catch the Krief and Islands sets but being terribly hung over and spaced out we somehow ended up getting on the wrong line at Berri and heading straight back towards Beaudry metro where Le Nationale is located. Once we got off at Beaudry we decided ah! what the hell lets just stick around for Black Mountain after all. We managed to get a good spot in front and waited for them to take the stage. When they did the lighting was trippy and we were looking forward to a mind-blowing show, but somehow it never really did it for me. Having liked what I had on recording I was surprised that this live show came across as overdrawn psychedelia to the point in which I got bored and went outside for a cigarette. I noticed once leaving the showroom that I mustn’t have been the only one disappointed because there were many other people in the barroom and outside disregarding the show. Anyways, eventually I decided to go back in and give them a second chance and tried watching the show from the balcony instead. Maybe I was just too burnt out but I almost fell asleep. Finally the show was over, I reunited with my girlfriend outside and we cabbed it on up to Lambi for the late 2:00am Jay Reatard show. We almost got refused at the door but thanks to Andre intervening we managed to make it inside. The performance was really intense and frenetic even from the back of the room but seemed extremely too short. I don’t know if it started earlier than scheduled but 20 minutes later after we arrived it was over. I drank three bottles of water to sober up and then we headed for the Kops Krew after party in Old Montreal. We cabbed it all the way there from Lambi only to find out that we wouldn’t be let in with our passes and would have to pay $10 each cover charge, so we decided to leave and just cab it back home, what a waste. Oh well, one off night out of five isn’t t so bad though.
DAY 5
Tonight, the show I’ve been looking forward to the most for months since it was announced, ERIC’S TRIP! Our energy reserve after five days straight of partying and running around from show to show was not surprisingly quite low, so we decided to head early to the Ukrainian Federation and just park it there for the night. We took the whole day to sleep and reload our batteries as much as possible both Saturday and Sunday so we unfortunately missed the daytime festivities of Puces Pop, which was disappointing because I had enjoyed it so much in previous years. Hopefully, I can at least get my hands on the Jack Dylan comic book poster series after the fact, which were mind blowing this year. I’ve been a fan and collector of the previous year’s series, but this year Mr. Dylan stepped it up to a whole other level. The details of the backdrops are stunning and the subject matter of humanizing the superheroes and setting them in our fair city...absolutely love it! You have Superman listening to his ipod as he sits on the cross atop Mount Royal, The Flash making out with a girl on the McGill Campus, Catwoman making friends with a cat in a back alley of the plateau, Wonder Woman sitting pensive on a fire escape, and Spiderman clinging to that huge milk bottle monument near Lucien L’Allier metro. Anyways, back to the U-Fed. We got there just a bit before 8 o’clock when the first band was supposed to start, procured a couple glasses of red wine and grabbed some seats near the front rows of the theatre. The first act, The Jealous Girlfriends, are from Brooklyn. They kind of washed over me in a pleasant way, but I can’t seem to remember much about them. The only two things that really stood out for me were one, a song where the front woman/singer/guitarist joined the pianist at his keys and combined to make a four armed keyboardist. This song was by far their strongest, both musically and vocally. Two, another song that reminded me of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a bit. Also they had a really solid, powerful drummer, which was enough to keep me entertained on its own. Next up was Montreal’s Vicious/Delicious. I remember somehow finding these guys on myspace and really loving their single, but I regret to say I was quite disappointed by their performance. The opening song had me excited for a moment when I thought it was Velvet Underground’s Heroin but it turns out they just took that slow G C progression and made a mediocre “original’’ song out of it. The songs, for the most part, seemed overly simple, long and drawn out with nothing to grab you and I was left pretty bored. What made matters worse was their stage presence or complete lack thereof. Even they seemed bored while playing their songs. I’m hoping it’s due to a lack of experience or shyness, but these kids need to stop staring at the ground and their instruments and start putting some energy into their set. Also, tighten up those songs and make them a bit more concise. It’s ok to have epic length songs, but they need some range and dynamics, not just the same riffs over and over again. I hope if the band reads any of this they'll take it as positive criticism. Now, on to the night’s main event Eric’s Trip! At first, we thought we had pretty good seats up front but as the show threatened to start people, not surprisingly, hudled near the front of the stage, so we decided to get our standing spot up front too. As soon as Eric’s Trip began to play they had the crowd stirred into a frenzy which only built more and more throughout the night. They seemed in great shape and were super tight as they rip roared through a 20-25 song set of all the classics. I was really happy they played a number of my favourite songs off their beloved album Forever Again. We were all transported back to the early 90s when Eric’s Trip was Canada’s Nirvana or Sonic Youth. The nostalgia was thick in the air, and it was nice to see blissful smiles all around. It was evident that this band meant a lot to a lot of people. The band seemed really happy as well with how good the show went. Julie (Doiron, singer/bassist) even said, and I’m not supposed to tell you this but I can’t help it, “Don’t tell anyone, but you’re the best crowd ever’’. This show really felt like one of the best shows ever. What a great note it was to end our festival experience on. After the show I proudly wore my newly acquired green Eric’s Trip t-shirt to Korova where we decided to after party. It was the infamous Weekends Never End party hosted by Heidy and Trebek every Sunday. This week they stepped it up a level by having a 3D party, complete with 3D glasses and 3D films screened on the wall. Even though it’s good for the bar and the promoters, unfortunately for my taste, it was a bit overcrowded. We didn’t stay too long eventhough the party was raging. We had just survived another POP Montreal and as little as I want to make this a fluff piece, this year once again lived up to the promise of being one of the world’s best parties. I’ll gladly wipe off my brown nose as I say: "I love you POP Montreal and thank you, thank you, thank you, you guys are beyond awesome!" MORE PICTURES COMING SOON...
Night 1: Registration @ Notman House, FILM POP Analog Night @ Portuguese Association, Li'l Andy & Karaoke Cowboy @ Divan Orange, Katie Moore @ Sala Rossa, Fucked Up + Père Ubu @ Le Nationale, after party @ Korova;
Night 2: Diamond Sea @ Katacombs, Two Koreas @ Saphir, MAN MAN @ Sala Rossa, Bionic @ Petit Campus;
Night 3: Patti Smith @ église St-Jean-Baptiste, Priestess @ Bar St. Laurent II, Zoobombs @ Academy, NxNE after party @ Theatre St. Catherine;
Night 4: Dinner with the band @ Bisous, Sunset Rubdown + Black Mountain @ Le Nationale, Jay Reatard @ Lambi;
Night 5: Jealous Girlfriends + Vicious/Delicious + Eric's Trip @ Ukranian Federation, Weekends Never End 3D Party @ Korova
REGISTRATION & FILM POP
Day 1 and it was off in the rain to registration at the Notman House. A nice old reclaimed ("haunted" apparently) house at the corner of Clark and Sherbrooke. Took a quick peek around but had to run up to the Assoçiao Portuguese for the opening of FILM POP. On the way up the main it restarted to rain, so it was relieving to finally make my way up the stairs into the Portuguese Association at St. Urbain & Rachel. I warmed myself inside as The Hot Springs played on the sound system (which occurred a couple of times during the fest at various locations and always resulted in a smile on my face, can't wait to get my hands on it). I grabbed a beer and waited for the screenings at Analogue Night to start. The first short THE GOLDEN SAMOVAR (Phillip Chernyak, Brooklyn, Super 8, Canadian Premiere, 9:00 min.) was whimsical and comical at times but seemed to end abruptly. The plot was summed up as such in the program: The three daughters of a Soviet map-maker venture into an eerie woodland where enchanted cats and belligerent bears are commonplace. Screened at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival. The second serving was JILL AND JACK (Andreas Mendritzki & Aonan Yang, Montréal, 16mm, 12:30). Interesting at times, and quite beautiful for its sets, it attempted to show the sexual frustrations of a young couple, but ultimately left me wondering what the hell just happened? Thirdly, we had MOON CAKE (Marty Stano, Ann Arbor (MI), 16mm, 6:30). Blatantly inspired by Kenneth Anger, it basically seemed like a film student attempting to emulate his idol, I guess the question is would Anger be proud? The highlight for me is what came next MOTION OF LIGHT (Karl Lemieux, Montreal, 16mm, 7:07). Hand-painted on 16mm film, this film recalls the all-over movement of certain Abstract Expressionists and Automatistes. Limiting himself to a grayscale palette Lemieux evokes exterior landscapes and ephemeral quotidian objects. What an amazing effect it created, and accentuated by a very drone-y avant-garde noise soundtrack. Looking at my watch, I decided to leave on a good note, and head up to the Divan Orange for the 8 o'clock spot.
LET THE SHOWS BEGIN...
Li'l Andy & Karaoke Cowboy was first on my list to sees for POP 2007, I think the last time I saw him and his band perform was back when Jailhouse was still around. So I got myself a Moosehead and found myself a seat at le Divan. It was a smaller condensed line-up with Andy on vocals & acoustic guitar and Josh accompanying him on electric. But the Andy charm was still there with his witty, humorous lyrics, and banter between songs. Musically, the ingredients were pretty much straight up country rhythms with Josh adding twangy hillbilly chops. I stayed for as long as I could before I had to meet my girlfriend in front of Sala for Katie Moore's 9 o'clock slot, who we've both loved since the 2005 POP sampler. The show was a bit delayed so we went to Casa for a Miel Madness sandwich and a couple of drinks. There we managed to catch Sister Suvi sound checking, and once the kinks were worked out they sounded pretty interesting with a tenor ukulele and some heavy bass and beats. When we got back to Sala we had missed the opening of the Katie Moore show, but still got a decent fill. She sure has a powerful soulful voice and was nicely accompanied by a quartet consisting of a stand-up acoustic bass, violin, a semi-hollow guitar (she herself played an acoustic guitar) and drums. Next it was off to Le Nationale on the other side of town for Fucked Up and Pere Ubu. Fucked up was pretty much a perfect descriptor for both the band of the same name and the night in general. I'm sure you've heard the buzz surrounding Fucked Up's recordings, and if you've actually gone and checked out their stuff you may have been disappointed by this show. Unfortunately, they missed their sound check, I found out later, so the mix was pretty muddy. It was still quite intense all the same. Legendary Pere Ubu proceeded with a monumental show that lasted close to two hours including the long extended encore. The songs they played were great, the band was tight and in top form. Frontman David Thomas stirred up quite a reaction from the crowd with his in between song banter, some parts sent some people out the door, when he made comments about 'the girls at the show being dragged along by their boyfriends', some female fans were offended and left. Other parts were completely classic however like his phone conversations with Elvis, his rants against Bono and Sting, and his confessions of a punk rocker going through a mid-life crisis. All in all, when I left it felt like this show would be pretty hard to beat.
DAY 2
Woke up as the sun set and headed on down to the dingiest part of town. The Katacombs, commonly a hardcore punk bar situated beside Cleopatra Strip Club just south of St. Catherine on St. Laurent was where my good friends in the Diamond Sea were playing an early 8 o’clock spot. Quite a big selection of out of the ordinary beers was there to be had. I settled as I often like to do with something new I hadn’t tried before, a beer that goes by the name of an Alchemiste Bock, which turned out to be quite good. Then Diamond Sea hit the stage. Having to contend with bad sound the performance started out on uneasy footing. However the soundman eventually worked things out so that the automatic punk setting of the venue was adjusted to accommodate the poppy post-rock of the Diamond Sea. I left satisfied, but the band was still pretty pissed however. After a quick bite to eat at the deliciously greasy Lafleurs, my girlfriend and I headed to Saphir for a band that seldomly plays Montreal, The Two Koreas from Toronto. They have a sound mainly reminiscent of UK’s The Fall. Apparently their usual drummer was ‘with child’ and their keyboardist had broken his elbow so they had to contend with a replacement drummer and the singer awkwardly attempting to play keys with an amateurish one handed style. His exuberance as a frontman somewhat made up for these pitfalls but all in all I found their performance to be lukewarm and kind of wished I had gone somewhere else for the ten o’clock spot. Little does Dave Thomas know but sometimes guys get dragged to shows by their girlfriends as well and are forced to stick around out of politeness. She seemed to have enjoyed the show at least, and bought one of their CDs on which they apparently sound a lot better. Next on our list however was for many, myself included, probably the performance of the festival, MAN MAN at Sala Rossa. These face painted shamans from Philly radiated pure electricity unlike any other. Just to capture their performance in words would be a feat in itself. It was somewhat metaphysical, it was cathartic, and everyone was ripped into a mad frenzy. These men, all multi instrumentalists rip roared through a circus performance so intense, the only way to understand it would be to see it for your self. It was the first band of the festival to give me and many others I’m sure an incontrollable urge to dance. I can’t imagine anyone not becoming an instant fan after seeing these guys live. After making sure to pick up both their CD Six Demon Bag and their t-shirt, we headed off to the final show on our itinerary that night Bionic at Petit Campus. Unfortunately we missed the beginning of their set but were still there in time for a severe thumping from the rock hammer gods that are Bionic. The last time I saw them they were a three piece at barfly missing guitarist Jean Belanger to Le Nombre who were on tour in France. So it was great to have the extra power of him and his guitar back, which was thrust pleasantly into my face both figuratively and literally from where I stood near the left of the stage. These guys own the stage and step up with extremely mind shattering hard rock. After a few post show drinks it was time to call it a night.
DAY 3
Woke up feeling burnt and in need of some healthy food, so it was off to the terraced garden of Santropol at St. Urbain and Duluth where I had a sweet root sandwich (mix of grated carrots, raisins, coriander, nuts and mayo, topped with fresh apple slices) mmmmm… My girlfriend had the vegetarian pie which was also quite good. As dusk fell upon our now candlelit table we decided it was time to head to the église St-Jean-Baptiste in order to ensure our spot at the Patti Smith show that was taking place there at 8:30pm tonight. After about an hour of waiting in line, nervously chatting with those around us, the big doors of the church were opened wide and we were allowed to make our way inside. The setting was overwhelmingly grandiose. The anticipation was heavy in the air. After about a half hour more of waiting inside, the crowd let out a deafening roar of enthusiasm as the show was about to start, which climaxed upon Patti’s entrance. She glowed with gratitude towards the emphatic welcoming, which lasted quite awhile until she almost had to signal it to a close. Patti and her band began the performance with The Beatles’ Within and Without You a very spiritual George Harrison song that seemed to set the mood. Then Patti seared through Allen Ginsberg’s A Footnote to Howl which gave the impression of the proclamation of a new testament for our modern times, a doctrine where everything is holy, the cock and the dirt and the asshole included. Although it is hard to remember everything that happened in the close to two hour performance, some highlights were having the metaphorical balls to play Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and despite my initial scepticism pulling it off, throwing in Lou Reed’s Perfect Day near the end of the set which was goose bump inducing, as were a lot of other moments during the show, she also did a charming improvised song about coming to Montreal. Some strange moments were had with the crowd like when after one song Patti responded to someone who complimented her in French from the audience with a “merci’’ some idiot in the crowd blurted out “were not all French in Montreal you know’’ after a few moments of tension and angered retorts coming from different ends of the church, Patti responded to the man in a sarcastic tone ‘oh I didn’t realize there was any French people in Montreal I thought he might be the only one so I didn’t want him to feel alone.’ Everybody laughed and the show went on. Another strange but ultimately funny moment was when someone yelled out for Patti to play her song “Rock n Roll Nigger’’ someone else responded by saying “Your obscenity has set me free’’ there was an awkward pause and then once again laughter. She ended up closing the night with the requested song but right before made a very moving speech about the need for change, the need for protest, to protest Bush, to protest the war, to protest all war, to march with the monks for peace, summing up the messages here could never have the same effect as she had when she delivered them. She was so persuasive; the people were all up on their feet cheering, ready to go with her that very moment to fight for change. Patti proclaimed ‘I am an American artist and I am ashamed, ashamed that we could allow Bush in power for so long, ashamed that we could allow the war and all the other injustices in the world to happen and continue to happen.’ For once I left a church feeling actually inspired by the ceremony that had just taken place. This show will definitely be one of my most memorable Pop Montreal experiences ever. But now let’s try and move on to some of the other shows shall we? Strangely enough we had made plans to meet some friends at the Priestess show at Bar St. Laurent II A.K.A. Murder Bar II. What a contrast going from a beautifully ornate church cathedral to one of the seediest bars in town. Also it was like a freaking oven in there and overcrowded as hell, but I guess aficionados of Priestess wouldn’t want it any other way. The sound was shit and it was hard to see, which was kind of disappointing, but Priestess rocked it hard as usual. Next on the list was the 1:00am Zoobombs show at Academy. Now I don’t know if it was due to the Patti Smith performance being so amazing that it was hard to really enjoy any other shows that night, but this show was a bit disappointing as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Zoobombs and have seen them quite a few times where they completely blew me away, but something felt lacking from this performance. It might have also been because I wasn’t up close, I really don’t know, but usually the Zoobombs are an unmissable act to see. Their closing show at Divan Orange was pretty much the highlight of my 2005 POP experience. Anyways having made it through another night of shows, now it was time to party. So we were off to the NxNE after party, a free booze and schmooze fest at Theatre St. Catherine. Thanks to JC for the passes we partied there until about 5 or 6 in the morning, in which there was almost an unlimited supply of booze. What a great night!
DAY 4
Nothing’s going to cure today’s hangover, but at least a nice dinner is planned at a good friend’s newly opened restaurant called Bisous, just below Rachel on St. Laurent. With Chef Beaver in the kitchen a great meal is guaranteed. The evening started off with oysters, accompanied by soothing glasses of red wine. This was followed up by a delicious soup served in a mini pumpkin as a bowl. Yet another appetiser came after that, which consisted of fresh figs and a deep fried vegetable which I think was zucchini. Then for the main course there was a choice of pasta, steak, or snapper. Since I eat the former two on a fairly regular basis and had never tried snapper I went with the latter. It was a pretty interesting tasting fish and I left nicely satisfied. We had totally lost track of time and missed a few of the earlier shows we wanted to see, so we rushed off to Le Nationale for Black Mountain. Unfortunately, Sunset Rubdown had switched spots with them and gave a not so strong performance, it seems they were working through new material and it came across as kind of sloppy and rushed. We decided to leave and try to catch the Krief and Islands sets but being terribly hung over and spaced out we somehow ended up getting on the wrong line at Berri and heading straight back towards Beaudry metro where Le Nationale is located. Once we got off at Beaudry we decided ah! what the hell lets just stick around for Black Mountain after all. We managed to get a good spot in front and waited for them to take the stage. When they did the lighting was trippy and we were looking forward to a mind-blowing show, but somehow it never really did it for me. Having liked what I had on recording I was surprised that this live show came across as overdrawn psychedelia to the point in which I got bored and went outside for a cigarette. I noticed once leaving the showroom that I mustn’t have been the only one disappointed because there were many other people in the barroom and outside disregarding the show. Anyways, eventually I decided to go back in and give them a second chance and tried watching the show from the balcony instead. Maybe I was just too burnt out but I almost fell asleep. Finally the show was over, I reunited with my girlfriend outside and we cabbed it on up to Lambi for the late 2:00am Jay Reatard show. We almost got refused at the door but thanks to Andre intervening we managed to make it inside. The performance was really intense and frenetic even from the back of the room but seemed extremely too short. I don’t know if it started earlier than scheduled but 20 minutes later after we arrived it was over. I drank three bottles of water to sober up and then we headed for the Kops Krew after party in Old Montreal. We cabbed it all the way there from Lambi only to find out that we wouldn’t be let in with our passes and would have to pay $10 each cover charge, so we decided to leave and just cab it back home, what a waste. Oh well, one off night out of five isn’t t so bad though.
DAY 5
Tonight, the show I’ve been looking forward to the most for months since it was announced, ERIC’S TRIP! Our energy reserve after five days straight of partying and running around from show to show was not surprisingly quite low, so we decided to head early to the Ukrainian Federation and just park it there for the night. We took the whole day to sleep and reload our batteries as much as possible both Saturday and Sunday so we unfortunately missed the daytime festivities of Puces Pop, which was disappointing because I had enjoyed it so much in previous years. Hopefully, I can at least get my hands on the Jack Dylan comic book poster series after the fact, which were mind blowing this year. I’ve been a fan and collector of the previous year’s series, but this year Mr. Dylan stepped it up to a whole other level. The details of the backdrops are stunning and the subject matter of humanizing the superheroes and setting them in our fair city...absolutely love it! You have Superman listening to his ipod as he sits on the cross atop Mount Royal, The Flash making out with a girl on the McGill Campus, Catwoman making friends with a cat in a back alley of the plateau, Wonder Woman sitting pensive on a fire escape, and Spiderman clinging to that huge milk bottle monument near Lucien L’Allier metro. Anyways, back to the U-Fed. We got there just a bit before 8 o’clock when the first band was supposed to start, procured a couple glasses of red wine and grabbed some seats near the front rows of the theatre. The first act, The Jealous Girlfriends, are from Brooklyn. They kind of washed over me in a pleasant way, but I can’t seem to remember much about them. The only two things that really stood out for me were one, a song where the front woman/singer/guitarist joined the pianist at his keys and combined to make a four armed keyboardist. This song was by far their strongest, both musically and vocally. Two, another song that reminded me of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a bit. Also they had a really solid, powerful drummer, which was enough to keep me entertained on its own. Next up was Montreal’s Vicious/Delicious. I remember somehow finding these guys on myspace and really loving their single, but I regret to say I was quite disappointed by their performance. The opening song had me excited for a moment when I thought it was Velvet Underground’s Heroin but it turns out they just took that slow G C progression and made a mediocre “original’’ song out of it. The songs, for the most part, seemed overly simple, long and drawn out with nothing to grab you and I was left pretty bored. What made matters worse was their stage presence or complete lack thereof. Even they seemed bored while playing their songs. I’m hoping it’s due to a lack of experience or shyness, but these kids need to stop staring at the ground and their instruments and start putting some energy into their set. Also, tighten up those songs and make them a bit more concise. It’s ok to have epic length songs, but they need some range and dynamics, not just the same riffs over and over again. I hope if the band reads any of this they'll take it as positive criticism. Now, on to the night’s main event Eric’s Trip! At first, we thought we had pretty good seats up front but as the show threatened to start people, not surprisingly, hudled near the front of the stage, so we decided to get our standing spot up front too. As soon as Eric’s Trip began to play they had the crowd stirred into a frenzy which only built more and more throughout the night. They seemed in great shape and were super tight as they rip roared through a 20-25 song set of all the classics. I was really happy they played a number of my favourite songs off their beloved album Forever Again. We were all transported back to the early 90s when Eric’s Trip was Canada’s Nirvana or Sonic Youth. The nostalgia was thick in the air, and it was nice to see blissful smiles all around. It was evident that this band meant a lot to a lot of people. The band seemed really happy as well with how good the show went. Julie (Doiron, singer/bassist) even said, and I’m not supposed to tell you this but I can’t help it, “Don’t tell anyone, but you’re the best crowd ever’’. This show really felt like one of the best shows ever. What a great note it was to end our festival experience on. After the show I proudly wore my newly acquired green Eric’s Trip t-shirt to Korova where we decided to after party. It was the infamous Weekends Never End party hosted by Heidy and Trebek every Sunday. This week they stepped it up a level by having a 3D party, complete with 3D glasses and 3D films screened on the wall. Even though it’s good for the bar and the promoters, unfortunately for my taste, it was a bit overcrowded. We didn’t stay too long eventhough the party was raging. We had just survived another POP Montreal and as little as I want to make this a fluff piece, this year once again lived up to the promise of being one of the world’s best parties. I’ll gladly wipe off my brown nose as I say: "I love you POP Montreal and thank you, thank you, thank you, you guys are beyond awesome!" MORE PICTURES COMING SOON...
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