A good week for stuff I like…
So last night was pretty amazing. I finally got a chance to see possibly the best rock band operating these days — and one of Tanis’ favourite groups — live and I only had to make a four-hour round trip to do it.
I got the tickets a few weeks back but what with some relatively big-time disruption in my life recently I almost forgot it was even happening. I met up with my college buddy Darryl who was getting his first exposure to the band at the show. We drank a beer.
We also arrived just as the set began so no time was wasted. The band was incredible, tearing into song after song after song from all eras of their back catalogue. All the way back to …Almost Killed Me (”the Swish”)! The performances were flawless: Tad Kubler’s leads were note-perfect, Franz Nicolay’s keys and back-ups were punctuated by his on-stage flair (helped by the fact that he was dressed like Sinatra’s butler), and Craig Finn was like a spastic librarian hurtling himself around his microphone with reckless abandon.
The song selection was quite good, although they didn’t play four or so songs that I was really, really hoping for (mostly “First Night,” my all-time favourite Hold Steady song). But we got “Chips Ahoy,” “How A Resurrection Really Feels,” “Your Little Hoodrat Friend,” “Slapped Actress,” and even the awesome b-side “Girls Like Status.” It was a magical set of songs and the rather lively audience totally appreciated it. The encore was phenomenal, including a ripping version of “Southtown Girls.”
So thanks to the band for actually going on a real Canadian tour. Now they’re even awesomer than before. No thanks to the brain dead among the Keith Urban fans that flooded the highways and gas stations while I was trying to make my way home. I don’t mind waiting in line for 20 minutes to pay for my stay-awake juice, teenagers in home-made Keith Urban shirts. I only had to do a radio morning show at 6:00am. Thanks for allowing me to get just three hours of sleep, you absolute nerds. Seriously. Keith would prefer if you bought one of his shirts, you douche barges.
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Big ups to the hardcore kids in Fucked Up this week as well. They took home the Polaris Prize the other day, instantly causing newspaper editors across the country to not cover the Polaris Prize this year. They deserved it! It wasn’t just the best Canadian record of the year, it was the best record period of the year. Get on it.
the Hold Steady - First Night [4:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download the Hold Steady - Two-Handed Handshake [4:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download the Hold Steady - Girls Like Status [2:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Fucked Up - Son The Father [6:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadGet your Hold Steady shit here, dogg. Fucked Up stuff is found at the MataStore, and other places too.
