Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Jimmy Eat World - October 17, 2010, Kool Haus, Toronto

Okay...so I knew who these guys were when they were recommended to me by my blog inspiring music buddy....or at least I thought I did.  And you know them too...(or at least you think you do...) If you don't know the song "The Middle", you've clearly just woken up from a coma.  Since it's release in 2001 I believe I've heard it on approximately 80% of movie trailers I've ever seen in the past 9 years.  (OK...that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration, but seems it's used a whole lot.)  That one, as well as some of their more popular radio friendly tunes was what my perception of the band was before I was given all studio albums, as well as more demo, live and unreleased material by the band than you can shake a stick at, and dove into it.  And what I discovered, was that the band almost has a split personality....they have their radio friendly stuff, which is good (usually a couple off each album...fun, upbeat...power poppy)...and then there is the stuff that I really, really, REALLY dig.  Little edgier, but still melodic, with great musical composition and stellar use of harmonies you don't normally find in a rock band these days.  When it was announced they were coming through Toronto to the Kool Haus (a venue I'm sort of really not a fan of, by the way), I bought tickets.  I really wanted to give them the "live" test.  Figured I'd hit the show by myself if I couldn't find someone to drag along with me (and turns out Jakki, my concert buddy, was up for it after many hilarious renditions of "what are they called again?") 

Off to the Kool Haus we went....on a Sunday night!  Pure wildness!  Once we got past security (a story in itself) and into the venue, we managed to find a sweet spot along the side by the bar where we were not (a) in the midst of the mosh pit and (b) able to see the stage regardless of our vertical challengedness.  Life was good!

From the second they hit the stage, until they threw pics and drumsticks into the audience and said goodnight, I was in....and so were they.  When listening to some of the live recorded stuff prior to the show, I was a bit apprehensive, because it was all a little raw....  But man, raw is good, when you are in the thick of it.  It was loud and unpolished and the vocals were flawed...but it was real, and so what I was looking for.  YES!  The boys ripped it up and gave us a rock show and this is what live music is supposed to be. 

There was a good mix from all of their albums, and the fave tune of the night was a tie....Futures, a song I never really had any particular attachment to, performed live, was amazing and has become a new favorite, and when they slowed it down for Hear You Me, I felt a real emotional connection.   But the live performance of 23 was epic.  This is a tune meant to be heard live.


Would have liked to have heard a few more of my favorites off the new album (Cut, and Littlething), but have a new appreciation for the tunes they did play from it:  their first single, "My Best Theory", that I was not overly fussy for was meant to be heard live and a little rougher around the edges, and Movielike, a tune I immediately enjoyed, was first rate.

You'll note the absence of (decent) photos...Kool Haus is a venue that doesn't allow cameras at all so people were getting by with their cell phones for any captures.  I really like that the band has been pretty vocal to the venues about allowing the fans to snap and record, and at one point, Jim even jumped into the audience to get a photo taken with a fan.  The band in turn takes photos of their audience for each show (Toronto's is attached here in this Link).  They don't take themselves too seriously and understand that any media that is captured by the fans is good promotion for them.  In this day and age in the music business, fan appreciation is key.

This year, I've seen a number of really big stadium shows, and a number of really intimate ones as well, but this was probably one of my favorites as it was just a stripped down, warehouse, play the music in it's rawest form jamfests.  Fantastic show by the boys and my fan status has been permanently cemented. 
Set List:

Bleed American
Your New Aesthetic
A Praise Chorus
My Best Theory
Lucky Denver Mint
Let It Happen
For Me This Is Heaven
Futures
Big Casino
Action Needs an Audience
Dizzy
Coffee and Cigarettes
Movielike
Hear You Me
Evidence
Work
The Authority Song
Pain
Blister
Goodbye Sky Harbor

Encore:

23
Get It Faster
The Middle
Sweetness

23, first song of the encore.  Can you hear me singing?  :-)

Friday, October 8, 2010

Brandi Carlile - October 6, 2010, Koerner Hall, Toronto

Brandi Carlile was a "recommend" to me by a fellow music fan early last year and she has become one of my very favorite artists.  I admit, I was skeptical, at first.  I tend to not enjoy "chick singers", because in large part, they lack substance (too much emphasis on the "presentation" as opposed to the "musicianship"), and her name alone invokes images of bubble gum pop, but rest assured, she is the real deal.  She can be classified as multi-genre and could be described as folk,  a wee bit country or rock (or more accurately, a combination thereof), but possesses an overwhelming sense of artistic integrity and raw talent.  She is, in a word, legitimate.  If you don't know her, well...you are missing out.

Sitting in my front row seat....
TOUCHING the stage!!!!  Awesome!
 I had the opportunity last year to see her at the Mod Club and she was beyond fantastic.  So when her fan club announced that she was returning to Toronto, I was all over it.  Was very curious about the venue as well - Koerner Hall, in the Royal Conservatory of Music...swanky!!  Jakki and I managed to snag front row tickets even!

The opening act:

The opening act was Luke McMaster.  Do you remember a (Canadian) pop band from about a decade ago called McMaster and James?  (sheepishly admit that yes, yes, I do).  Well Luke McMaster was (obviously), the McMaster part of the duo.  He was pretty good, I guess.  Would classify him in the "singer-songwriter" genre - had an acoustic guitarist and backup vocalist to accompany him.  I guess the only problem I had with him was that he was a little, um, earnest.  A wee bit sweetly schmaltzy.  A talented, guy...sings, writes, plays...but not really my thing.  I have discovered recently that the majority of my mellow, ballad type songs on my ipod (like 99.9% of them), are of the broken hearted, stomped on, feel like your guts are being ripped out variety rather than the ain't love grand variety, so I acknowledge that it could just be me and my musical attitude preference.....C'mon...it's a well known fact...some of the best art was created in the midst of working through deep pain!



pic from her Mod Club show...
Koerner Hall didn't allow cameras
 Brandi!

Perhaps as an homage to the venue, Josh walked on stage alone and took his seat at his cello opening the show with a solo.  Then the rest of the band joined him.  Brandi, the twins (guitarist Tim, and bassist Phil), and drummer Allison, along with cellist Josh, proceeded to entertain the shit out of us all.  No light show, no wardrobe changes, no dance moves, just stripped down, all about the music goodness.

I don't even know how long the show was.  (other than "not long enough").   We had a great variety....they pulled out the electric guitars and rocked the joint (not entirely sure the venue was prepared for that....my chair was literally shaking!), pulled back and went acoustic ("I Will", one of my favorites of hers and my favorite moment of the night, she sat on a stool and picked it out on guitar, singing with eyes closed), and even did a couple of unplugged numbers, at the lip of the stage, no mic, using the natural acoustics of the venue and the strength of Brandi's voice to belt out the song.  (see below for video of "Dying Day")

At one point, she even put it out to the audience to pick the next tune.  People shouted out requests, and we voted by applause on what she played next.  One of my fave tunes off "the Story" album, a hidden track, won the applause-o-meter and it was a great pleasure to hear "Hiding My Heart Away" performed live.  UN-freakin'-real.

One more moment needs to be mentioned (there are so many, to give a play by play would go on forever)....

The band left the stage and she sat on a stool with her guitar and strummed a bit, explaining that this is the point on the written set list where it just says "me", where the band leaves the stage, and she decides on the spur of the moment, depending on how she's feeling, what song she's going to do as a solo.  Well didn't she launch into Patsy Cline's "Crazy".  What a great moment....I think Ms. Cline would have been proud.  I know it gave me the chills. 

Here's the thing with a Brandi Carlile live show....you hear her recorded stuff and think "holy shit she's good", but performed live it's on a whole other level that doesn't even compare. The music just flows out of her and she has a vocal range that is pure and effortless.  (Her register is impressive, but she doesn't hit notes for the sake of display, it's pure and organic and flows naturally.  Just because a singer "can" hit those notes, doesn't mean that they "should" (Mariah Carey, I'm looking at you, ugh!)).  Brandi opens her mouth and it is just natural, skin humming, reverberate to your soul magic. Whether it be quiet beauty on some of her softer stuff, or belt out grrrrowl on the rockier tunes, it's balls out raw, feel it in your bones talent. And while a lot of her stuff tends towards the aforementioned heartbroken, working through some pain vibe, you know to watch her perform it, even when in the moment, that she's not tortured, she's having the time of her life....clearly the songwriting was her catharsis (and this is how I choose to justify my preference of the deep vs. the light and fluffy thankyouverymuch!).  Her and her wonderful band (love them all), really adore each other, have a great rapport on stage, seem to be enjoying life to the hilt and love what they do, and it translates to one giant freakin' love fest between band and audience. 

And even in the rather reserved venue built for a symphony type audience, when she exclaimed "and this is a song by the late, great, Johnny Cash" and launched into the rockingest version of Folsom Prison Blues ever, people couldn't help but get out of their cushy seats and finally, let it take them over.  Awesome.  Can't wait to see her again.

Dying Day - one of the 2 songs they did completely unplugged....