Concert: Metric

Ho boy, The Saskatchewan Jazz Fest is back in full swing this year. Last night I had the privilege of seeing Metric for the third time in my short life time.

Opening up for Metric were Saskatoon's favourite dance beat bands, We Were Lovers, and for sure they set the mood of the night with their mad catchy songs. After We Were Lovers were a two person group, Data Romance, hailing from Vancouver who gathered in the crowd quite nicely with their two manned big sounded songs.

I was afraid that the concert was gonna get rained on, but luckily everything cleared up half way through We Were Lovers' set.

I gotta give it up for Metric because they're the one band that I've been listening to from the get go that has remained consistent in their music and their live shows. That's definitely not a bad thing, because 1. if they were getting too wild with 'trying out new sounds' and what not, they'd probably lose me and 2. their live shows are dazzling and so full of energy courtesy of the lovely lovely Emily Haines. Who I mean, dang. I love her, and you wouldn't know it at first glance but she's pushing 40 years old.

Seeing as Synthetica was their most recent album, much of the show was based around the new songs. But of course they had a handful of throwbacks like Empty from "Live It Out" and Dead Disco from "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?" closing out their set.


Video Courtesy of Youtube user https://www.youtube.com/user/blindspirit?feature=watch>blindspirit

They put on a great show and you can tell they definitely feed off the energy from the crowd and vise versa. It was essentially an infinite loop of hype and excitement.

Review | Stars

Let me level with you guys, I never did listen to Stars’ two most recent albums. I kind of fell off after ‘In Our Bedroom After The War’. I guess after my soft rock phase I went through a screamo phase. It’s really hard keeping up with music, frankly it’s a pain in the butt.

Stars recently rolled through town and decided to go check them out for nostalgia sake. I thought it was gonna be bogus since I didn’t know any of the new stuff. Man was I wrong. New songs or not, Stars knows how to put on a show.

What I love those most about a band is how well they can put on a live show. If you don’t got the energy and just stand there and sing while your band stands there and strums, then I’m gonna go night night. But Stars had it all. It was a spot on performance, especially from Torquill Campbell, the male singer, the man is lunatic. I hope to be that good looking when I’m 40.

But what really did it for me was how sincerely thankful this band was to play in Saskatoon. Sure bands say it all the time “Saskatoon, you’re honestly our favourite city to play in. Thank you” then they jet. But Stars would thank the city, then recall times they’ve played here, tell a story or two about the city and how they have some history in it. Additionally, you can tell that they are truly thankful to the fans and how lucky they are to do what they love. And you really can’t knock on a band for that.

I’m kinda just gushing right now. It was a beautiful show and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Legacy Arcade: A Tribute to Daft Punk

Hey guys and gals,

On Saturday, March 2nd, 2013, Legacy Arcade returns to Saskatoon to play a non stop Daft Punk set to the masses at Louis' Pub.

Like most of us people who have never had the privilege of experiencing Daft Punk live, Legacy Arcade brings the experience to us but on a much smaller scale. But it's the thought that counts right?

It's a 19+ show, so come on out and party. What's the worst that could happen?

Update: Tickets are $15 and you can buy at the door.



Facebook Event

Concert: Red Hot Chili Peppers

After 30 years of being a band, touring the world countless times, a handful of member changes and ten albums you would think Red Hot Chili Peppers would see signs of slowing down in their age.



But after last night, RHCP proved that they still got it as much as they ever had had in the prime time of their youth.

Last night I had the opportunity to see Red Hot Chili Peppers once again in concert. Last time I had saw them was the first time they came around in 2006 during their Stadium Arcadium tour. I was seated to the right of the stage on the second level. It was pretty high up but I still could see everything just fine. But I still envy those people who were on the floor dead center.

This time around was the "I’m With You" tour that was written with their new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer who was the backing guitarist for RHCP for some time.

I admit I was a little hesitant to go since I’m a bit of a stickler for original bandmates and stuff. Prior to Klinghoffer was John Frusciante, the one responsible for a lot of RHCP’s sound. I was thinking that it just wasn’t gonna be the same without Frusciante. Nope, I was wrong. Klinghoffer gives the same amount of depth and emotion that Frusciante does when playing the guitar, which is critical to the sound of Red Hot Chili Peppers. On top of that, there's also Anthony Kiedis' pitch perfect spot on singing or Flea's god like prowess on the bass or Chad Smith's masterlike skills on the skins. Without any of that, RHCP would just be another band with a standard 4/4 power cord riff.

The set list blew me out of the water. I was under the assumption that it was gonna be all new songs from their I’m With You album, but instead they had an even ratio that ranged from old school (Give It Away, Suck My Kiss), to the Californication/By The Way (Californication, Can’t Stop, By The Way, etc.) days, to their new stuff, which I won’t lie, I didn’t listen to that album too much.

Red Hot Chili Peppers definitely don’t show any sign of slowing down. The band members excluding Klinghoffer, who is only 33, are of the age of 50 or over. You’d think at that age you’d see signs of wear and tear but absolutely not, they gave it 110%, which just goes to show that RHCP will one day definitely be one of the greats, if they’re not already.

Big Sean in Saskatoon

Big Sean of Kanye West's label G.O.O.D. Music is coming to Saskatoon September 15, 2012. That's pretty close. I didn't hear about this until last week.

This is something I'm definitely gonna check out. Big Sean's got the goods.

You can get tickets online at The Odeon website.

The Odeon

Saskatchewan Jazz Fest: Feist

This past Saturday I had the greatest honour to see Feist perform live in concert for the second time. The first time I had seen her in Regina, being dead set in the center this time around, it was so much sweeter.



Feist has this certain charm about her in which she looks like a doll on stage, but she goes hard when the time calls, like some sort musical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide. She's truly a lady who loves her job.

Feist is accompanied by several new live band members for her Metals tour. The most notable being the back-up singers, these ladies are actually a band themselves: Mountain Man.

As Feist was going along, these ladies were almost like 21st Century doo-wop revival singers. And by that I mean they were dancing the entire time as they were singing. It was a nice little addition to the live show.

The majority of the show were songs from Feist's new album, Metals. I won't lie to you, I wasn't a huge fan of Metals, but seeing it performed live did the album a great justice.

But on top of all that were some of her other songs from previous albums such as Let It Die or The Reminder. Most of these songs were re-done live which made them sound like new songs. I'm guessing they were done this way so that they matched the mood of her Metals album, which is a bit darker.

But when she played some of her old songs, in their original format, the crowd ate it all up. Such classics as My Moon, My Man or Sea Lion Woman.



(This video belongs to shuabert via YouTube)

If a live show isn't interesting, then you may as well stay home and listen to the albums. Leslie Feist knows that, and sweet baby does she put on a good show.

Snoop Dogg in Saskatoon

I was walking home from work and I passed by The Odeon and on their billboard I saw:

"Snoop Dogg Live in Saskatoon, July 16"

Damn!

The Godfather himself, Snoop Dogg here in chilly Saskatoon.

Tickets are on sale now at theodeon.ca

If I were you, I'd hop on this mucho quick.

Saskatchewan Jazz Festival Part 2

Sweet baby, I thought this day would never come.

The Legendary Roots Crew are returning to Saskatoon for the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, Sunday, July 1, 2012.



This is unreal news. If you missed them two years ago, now is the time. You must go to this show. They put on a magnificent show.

You don't even need to listen to their music to enjoy this show, it's just that good.

Tickets go on sale Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at $60.00.

Just go. Just do it. Holy cannoli I can't even handle my excitement.

Keep up to date with the Jazz Fest on their Homepage, Twitter and Facebook Page.