The Frames and Josh Ritter

Last night Fran and I went to see The Frames with Josh Ritter in support and it was absolutely brilliant.
Last time we saw Josh Ritter he was on his own with an acoustic guitar in a tiny club with about 100 people. That night it was a lovely intimate set with little stories and lots of audience interaction.
Last night even though he was in the support slot you could tell alot of people came out to see him, which really seemed to give him a big lift. This time he was with a full band, keyboards, drum and bass and sounded fantastic. He showcased a lot of tracks from his new album out in April, and all I can say is it's already on my top album list of 2006. Sometimes new material takes a while to get into but Josh's new songs were much deeper and seemed more mature (I know that's a cliche) than his last record (which is a great record). I could easily have gone home happy after Josh's set but the night was only getting started.
The Frames are the perfect live band.
Glenn Hansard, their frontman (you might know him as one of the Commitments), knows how to work an audience. That's the key to it, he uses the audience. Last night we were singing along to the choruses and even mimicing the violin at one point. Whilst we were doing that Glenn was conducting us like a giant theramin at the same time doing the close encouter hand thing. He's also a big one for stories and jokes and explaining songs but they can also take the piss out of their own music.
They also throw alot of other stuff into their songs. Last night we got some Pink Floyd, some Snow Patrol and the customary "Pure Imagination" song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As we were leaving Fran said she thought they sounded like a band built for much bigger venues, they almost have a stadium rock sound. I think they have a bit of a Dave Matthews feel to them but with a bit of harder edge. It's great that their playing smaller venues but I would love to see them play to 30 or 40 thousand just to see what Glenn Hansard could get 40 thousand people to do.
It was magical.
Alan

Octoberfest

October is a great month to be a sports fan.
The hockey is starting, the football is well underway, the baseball play-offs are on tv every night even the NBA might get a watch when nothing else is on.
So lets run the month down sport by sport:

NHL: So they're back, a little poorer and with a few new rules. How's it going so far? Great!
Scoring's up and the Leafs have turned an iffy start around with a 3 game win streak centered around the play off Eric Lindros with 5 goals in 6 games. Sure the Sens haven't dropped a point yet but we all know what happens to Ottawa in the play-offs.

MLB:The baseball play-offs have been amazing. The White Sox make it to the world series for the first time since 1959 on the back off some weird umpiring and 4 complete games from their starters.
Last night Houston blew a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth with 2 out as Albert Pujhols launches a ball into space to win it with a 3 run shot. The Astros now have to try and win one of two in St. Louis to get to their first ever world series.

Football:We're not talking NFL here! This is the big one so far. Hearts are top of the SPL having not lost a game yet, 3 points above Celtic. It's been a long, long time since anybody outside of Glasgow won the Scottish title but this year there is a glimmer of hope.

NBA:The Raptors are all set to suck and have already lost to a team from Israel in pre-season.

We'll see how it all plays out come the spring.

The NHL returns

So tonights the night,
After over a year on strike the NHL finally gets back on the rails.
I have mixed feelings about it really.
1 part of me wants to say "Fuck the NHL". A whole year without them for what?
Minimum salary for 1 year playing hockey would take me 10 years to make. Granted, nobody really wants to shell out money to sit and watch me type up my blog at work but it's hard not to feel bitter about it all. These guys are doing something in life that they truely love and to be honest that should almost be enough in itself. How many people actually like their job, let alone love it? I know if I won the lottery I'd ditch this gig in a heartbeat. I'm not saying they should make the NHL a volunteer organization but how about this.
Let's lower ticket prices to a league standard, say top price $50 a ticket and cap salary's at maybe $2 million, max. Lowest salary maybe $100,000.
Seems wacky I know, but think about it. You get a miminum of $100,000 to do something that you love, Doesn't seem all that bad to me.
But hey, it's not going to happen.
So the 2nd part of me can't help but feel excited about it.
Hockey when played well is an amazing sport. Lightening fast, physical yet with the deftist skill.
The Leafs haven't won the cup since 1967 and this city is gasping for a Stanley Cup. The Leafs pull the city together. It always amazes me in April when Go Leafs Go signs start appearing on every car, and on fire trucks, and on the front of buses.
Where I'm from citys are usually split between 2 teams so it's great to be here when everybody is pulling for the same thing.
So tonight I'm going to dig out my Leafs top, get myself a beer and settle down to watch the game. Fingers crossed that this is finally the year.
Alan

Mod cool and blues greatness

In the last couple of weeks I've been to a couple of excellent shows.
1st up was Paul Weller at the Kool Haus.
What can I say? The man is the coolest man alive.
I've seen him a couple of times before but both times it was an acoustic seated show so I was looking forward to a full on rock show (with fingers crossed for at least a couple of Jam numbers)and he didn't disappoint.
He has a real swagger on stage, silk scarf and all. He asks us if "that's all the respect Toronto has?" at one point and points out someone in the audience saying that "you are a great audience apart from that twat". Great stuff.
I got my wish for some classics. A great acoustic "That's Entertainment", a romping "Shout to the top", which the swinging couple in front of us were really getting down to and the grand finale of "Town Called Malice". There was a lot from his new album aswell which has a real Northern Soul sound to it. It's no wonder the Gallaghers worship the man.
Next up was Joh Hammond who was at a new blues club in Toronto called the Speakeasy. It really had that "new" feeling about it with a make shift bar and people dragging tables and chairs around to fill the bizarre space left in front of the stage. Maybe they expected a moshpit? We got in early and got a great table near the front which was really essential to get a full view of the amazing guitar playing and facial expressions.
The show was one of those shows where you want to go home and throw your guitar away. The guitar playing was truly incredible. A mix of old blues stuff, Tom Waits covers (John Hammond released a Tom Waits produced Tom Waits cover record called Wicked Grin) and 2 John Hammond originals, which are a rare thing.
I have the Wicked Grin album but really went to the show with John and Len on the back of their recommendations so thanks to them for a great night.
Next up will be The Frames in Oct. and I am already excited about that, there is nothing like live music.
Alan

In a swing with my baby

When you are a daddy there a few things you need to give up.
You can forget about getting through an entire meal uninterrupted.
You can forget about getting blind drunk even when it's a free bar.
You can forget about getting through an evening without at least some minimal back pain, a sore arm and getting clothes covered in various foods, chalk, crayons....
At times it can be a bit frustrating. There's always a part of you who kind of wants to be a party monster all over again.
Last night I was at a wedding and Fiona was as always amazing. I can't put in to words how great she is so I'm not going to try. As always all of the above was true and Fran and I (and Grandma too) split the time between us so we all got a chance to enjoy the festivites baby free at least for a little while.
It got late and I managed to dance/walk Fiona to sleep where she slupmed in my arms. To get away from the noise of the party I walked her over to a swing and sat swinging my daughter in my arms whilst everybody else was inside dancing and drinking.
The point I'm trying to make here is that I wouldn't have switched with anybody else in the whole world at that point in time. There are little moments when you realise just how amazing it all is. Just how incredible a change in your life it is and how much for the better it is.
I guess what I'm saying is I love my daughter.
Alan

Melody Man

Say what you want about Elton John but the man can write a melody.
Last night we went to see him play at the ACC in what turned out to be a marathon set of almost 3 hours. The flamboyance of yesteryear has gone but Elton and his band can still belt out the oldies and play the hell out of them. Witness the amazing 10 minute version of Rocket Man and tell me your not impressed. The man can play a piano.
They opened up with 7 or 8 tracks from the new album Peachtree Road, which by his own admission has been a commercial flop but it sounded pretty good last night with his gospel singers from Atlanta backing him up. He made sure everybody new that the classics were coming so have patience through the new stuff.
Personal highlights included Tiny Dancer and Levon both from the magnificent Madman Across the Water album.
I could have done without "Don't let the sun go down on me" but I needed a bathroom break anyway.
Alan

Tip of the iceberg

So I'm beggining to explore my new expanded music collection and I can't stop listening to The Frames.
These guys are from Ireland and have been around forever. They have a ton of albums but have never really cracked the mainstream all though they are huge in Ireland.
I first saw them support Damien Rice last year where they had alot of fun in the supporting roll and really set the night up for the main event. They constantly throw little things into their live songs like the theme from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or a little Van Morrison. You could tell there were people at the show who were really there just to see the Frames.
Now I have most of their albums and they have a live album "Set List" which is just amazing. It's hard for live albums to really reflect the experience of being at the show but this one comes pretty close. The crowd all singing along and the band playing around with things and telling stories. It's one of those shows where the crowd not only knows the songs but is also ready for all the call/response cues, brilliant stuff and the excitement and energy really comes across.
The Frames are coming to Toronto in October and judging by this album it's going to be a show not to be missed.

A moment in the sun

Well it's 8am on a friday and I have the day off work. Last night I scored one of the finest goals I have ever scored. It's a good day.
For the record I scored with a deft chip from about 20 yards whilst holding off a defender, it was a thing of beauty.
Also last night, Svato who I play football with, gave me a 300Gb hard drive full off music! So right now I am trawling through an amazing chasm of music and picking and choosing what I want to copy. It's like I've been handed the keys to HMV for a night.
I remember when a new CD would be something I would cherish and listen to 400 times. Now I seem to have 10 or 20 albums coming in a week. It's scary.
Off course I could say no but hey, I think we all know that's not going to happen.
Ok, I hear my baby wakening,
Alan

An acoustic night with Bruce Springsteen

Last night I went to see Bruce Springsteen.
The truley awesome Lynn Pettypiece and Shawn Hebb managed to get the ticketmaster box for the show so huge thanks to them.
The show was great.
When we first arrived we were presented with a list of "Rules" for the evening. No leaving once the show has started, no seating during songs, all concession stands close 15 minutes before show, etc. Not very rock n roll but I think that was the point. It wasn't going to be a rock show so Bruce didn't want piss heads ruining the show by shouting for Born in the USA every 5 minutes.
It was just Bruce on his own, a sparse stage with a grand piano, a little pump organ (much like the one Neil Young uses alot) and some soft back lighting.
He opened up with Into the Fire played on the organ which gently rose to a crescendo of noise. That was followed by Reason to Believe for which he stood stomping his feet for percussion and blowing some mean bluesy harmonica, the vocals twisted through the mike to sound a bit distorted.
The set was had a lot from his new album Devils and Dust, which is a great album and people already cheered in recognition of the new ones. He stayed away from the main stay hits of the 80's and instead picked some real gems from the early stuff. For You played on the piano was breathtaking as was Lost in the Flood. He brought the electric guitar out to do State Trooper and came back for the encore with an almost rocking Darlington County which prompted a charge towards the stage before the ushers battled them back.
I was enthralled for the whole set and by the end was hanging over the box perched on the edge of my seat. Goosebumps more than once.
The only negative thing about the night, which on another night might have really pissed me off, was the guys in the box next to us.
These guys were apparantley huge fans (they had already seen him in Detroit and Ottawa on this tour), but everytime he played an old classic they started high fiving and going "woooo, yeah, woooo ...... I can't believe he f-ing played this!!!!". This would usually go on for the first half of the song and really I don't think they actually listened to much of the set, they were to busy congratulating themselves on the fact he played a certain song.
Like I say on another night it might have really got to me but last night I was too taken in by the set to really notice.
Here is the set list:

Into The Fire
Reason To Believe
Devils & Dust
Empty Sky
Long Time Coming
Highway 29
For You
Two Faces
State Trooper
All I'm Thinkin' About Is You
Brilliant Disguise
Reno
Wreck On The Highway
Lost In The Flood
The Rising
Further On (Up The Road)
Jesus Was An Only Son
This Hard Land
The Hitter
Matamoras Banks
(encore)

Darlington County
Bobby Jean
Wild Billy's Circus Story
The Promised Land
Dream Baby Dream

The continuing adventures of the Babe

So in the end Babe himself decided to give up pitching. He actually had a bit of a fight with the Red Sox manager about it (he had lots and lots of fights with managers) but in the end he settled into left field and became one of the greatest hitters of all time.
The trade to the Yankees was purely about money. The Red Sox owner sent him to the Yankees for $40,000 and a loan agreement worth $300, 000.
As for Babe well he pretty much built the Yankees. In his first year there they broke the league attendance record, in his 3rd won their first World Series and eventually had to build Yankee Stadium to keep up with the attendance. It really was the house that Ruth built. The Yankees owner also insisted they play in pinstripes to make Ruth look slimmer. Without him the franchise might never have become half of what it is today.
The Red Sox on the otherhand finished in last place in 7 of the next 11 seasons.
The numbers on Ruth are always amazing. For a player today to hit the same percentage total of league home runs that Ruth did, they would need to hit more than 300 in a season. He only had 300 homers when he was 32, so hit 400 at the end of his career when many thought he was done.
He also got suspended alot, mostly for breaking team or league rules about curfews or extra curricular money making. In one season he was suspended 4 seperate times.
I have to say I'm a fan. I watched the baseball all-star game last night and the home-run derby the night before. In the derby Bobby Abreau hit 24 homers in the 1st round to beat the old record by 7. The whole time I was thinking that Ruth would have smoked em all, just like he always did.

The Babe

I've been on a bit of a baseball kick recentley.
There's something about baseball in a sort of Field of Dreams way. Not being from America I can't really appreciate the history of the game fully but even I felt something special last year when the Red Sox came back from 0-3 down to the Yankees to win 4-3 and then break the curse of the bambino by beating St. Louis 4-0 in the world series.
I decided to do a bit of reading and started with David Wells autobiography. This is a bit of a funny place to start as Wells is a 300lb beer swilling, motorbiking pitcher. Wells started life with the Blue Jays, won a world series here and pretty much hated every minute of it. He hated the fans, the city, the press, everything. Eventually he got traded to his boyhood hero Yankees where he pitched a perfect game, won the world series and then got traded back to Toronto (which off course he hated). The book was a great read and Wells makes for a colourful anti-hero. In the book Wells makes alot of references to Babe Ruth, who is his hero, and I was intregued. Off course I'd heard of Ruth but Wells really paints him as this larger than life bad boy of baseball so I decided the next book would be about Ruth.
I'm only about half way through the Ruth book but already I'm amazed. Ruth hit more than 700 home runs in his career and sits 2nd in the all time list. The amazing thing is the guy started out as a pitcher. In fact in his first 4 years in the league he only hit 6 home runs total. He did win the world series in each of his first 2 years in the league with the Boston Red Sox and was in fact one of the best pitchers in the league. In1915 he won 24 games and pitched 35 complete games out of 38 starts. That is incredible. The current leader for complete games in the American league is Roy Halliday of the Blue jays and he has 5.
You might think that things have changed alot and baseball is a very different game today than it was then but really it's not the case. Apart from a few steroids here and there it's the same game, the same stadiums (at least the Red Sox are still at Fenway) and the same rules.
I'm just on the brink of the famous trade that sent Ruth to the Yankees and cursed the Red Sox to 80 years without a world series. Ruth is about to quit pitching (which seems astonishing considering how good he was) and become a home run machine. I can't wait.

The Eels on KCRW

If you want to check out the Eels with Strings they played a lovely 40 minute set on KCRW which you can see/hear here

An evening with Uncle E

Tonight we saw the Eels play the Pheonix.
It was a great, great show. Want to know how great this show was? The audience stayed 15 minutes after the house lights had come up and the background music was on demanding a 3rd encore.
The Eels are what every live band should aspire to.
This was my 4th time seeing them and everytime they make an effort to make it seem like a one off show. In Scotland the whole band played in full kilt outfits. They rearrange songs, change intros and endings, use different instruments, play really weird cover versions. E's between song banter is hysterical, the guy is magnetic, he should start a cult.
The Eels are really just Mark Everrett aka E aka Uncle E and whoever he invites on tour with him.
Tonight was completely different as he was backed by a string quartette and a guy playing everything from the trash can to the musical saw.
The "with strings" really added an extra dimension to both the old and the new stuff.
His newest disc "Blinking lights and other revelations" is a 2 disc set that goes all over the map. Little country numbers, thrashy rock tunes, toy piano ballads...., it's uniquely E.
The older songs as always get reworked. He actually plays "Novocaine for the soul" but twists into it with a weird jam where everybody does their own thing but still manage to sound together.
To begin the show they project a 15 minute Russian animation about a Crocodile who goes looking for friends, followed by a short film in which E takes the piss out of various interviewers.
I loved it.
LOVED IT.
Alan

Music for a heatwave

It's hot. It is HOT. IT IS HOT!

30-40 degrees everyday with hardly a drop of rain in 2 weeks. That's probably a bit on the toasty side but it's not all bad, it is at least really feeling like summer.
Dinner on the front steps, watering the lawn, playing football......

It's been a big week in music with the anticipated release of the new Coldplay "X&Y" and the new White Stripes "Get behind me satan". I picked up them both.

The Coldplay I want to wait on before I make any real statements about it. I get the feeling it will be a grower but it's kind of faded into the shadow of the magnificent White Stripes album. I've never been a huge White Stripes fan, always liked them but never bought an album. I was swayed into this one by the single Blue Orchid, which is a sparse guitar and drums number with Jack White singing a bit higher than usual. The rest of the album is a balance of piano and bluesy guitar sounding kind of like nobody else does. I like it.

Also this week I've been listening to John Wesley Harding "It happened one night" which I picked up from the library. He decided for this, his first album, back in the late 80's to release a live album recorded before his friends and family. Unusual to start with a live album but it really works well. He sounds a lot like Billy Bragg with maybe a touch of Louden Wainwright in there to. It's obviously a very intimate performance and had some nice touches like a folky sing along of Princes "Kiss" and the final track "Bastard Son" where he claims he is the bastard son of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

Finally a word for the fantastic album "Transistor Radio" by M Ward. I bought this a few weeks ago and it's been growing on me ever since. He has a lovely quivery voice which he uses to sing a mix of folky fingerpicked track and bluesy 50's style rock'n'roll.

2 hours 10 minutes to the weekend.

An ode to Canadians

Here is an old poem I wrote about Canadians, I should probably have saved this for July 1st, Canada Day but I have nothing else woth posting right now.

CANADIANS
By Alan Moffat


Lets start with the facts, lets get right to the truth
They don’t live in igloos and they don’t say “aboot”
They’re a fine bunch of people; they make very good beer,
If they’re not out chasing beaver, they’ll be frolicking with deer.

They love to go camping, they love the great outdoors
Eat a half-pound of meat and then drink a 2-4
Fall asleep by the campfire nearly drunk out their head
Wake up covered in bites, their skin burning red.

So they blame their friend Gordie and get back in their truck
Head on back down the highway, stereo blasting Rush
With their mullets a flying in the motorway breeze
Their smokes rolled up in their lumberjack sleeves.

Now they’re such polite people, there’s no-one as nice
Till they put on some skates and get out on the ice.
With a big toothless grin they’ll be looking for a fight,
If you ain’t black & blue you ain’t doing it right.

If they’re not playing hockey they’ll be curling this week
Hard, hard, hard, hard, sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep
Then it’s back to the bar for some poutine and fries
The Leafs lost again but that’s no great surprise.

It cuts like a knife when the Bryan Adams tune ends
But Shania comes on so they can all cheer again
“Man I feel like a woman” and they all sing along
They all feel like a woman when they’re singing that song.

Ah Canadian women, there can be none more fine
I flew half way across the world to just to be with mine
And although sometimes I miss home, just a little it’s true
I love the Canuks and their maple land too.

And yes now I love hockey, hell I’ve always loved beer
And I sure do like camping with the beavers and deer
But I don’t much like Rush; hey they’re just not my style
And I still have all my teeth every time that I smile

I don’t have a mullet, my hair doesn’t grow that way
But I’m trying to end my sentences with EH!
So I’d like to say thanks to all the Canadians I know
And I think I’ll end with a “Go Canada Go! “

The library is awesome

I am always promoting how wonderful libraries are. The fact they have Cds and Dvds is amazing and it is all FREE!. The Toronto library has a great website where you can browse their catalogue and then order stuff to be delivered to your local branch.
When it's quiet at work I tend to surf the site looking for Cds I don't have and so I end up with huge lists of stuff on order. I thought just to illustrate how amazing libraries are I would list what I currently have on order:
Til' their eyes shine, the lullaby album - Kate and Anna McGarrigle
()- Sigur Ros
About to choke - Vic Chesnutt
Blood on the tracks - Bob Dylan
Blue Horse - The Be Good Tanyas
Come dancing with the Kinks - The Kinks
Digital Ash in a digital urn - Bright Eyes
Experience Jill Scott - Jill Scott
A Ghost is born - Wilco
Good news for people who love bad news - Modest Mouse
The Heavy Blinkers - The Heavy Blinkers
Leadbelly - Leadbelly
Live at Luther College - Dave Matthews
The McGarrigle hour - Kate McGarrigle
Old world underground, where are you now? - Metric
Room on fire - The Strokes
Sieze the day - Damien Dempsey
Slow Wonder - A.C. Newman
Some Devil - Dave Matthews
Take this hammer - Leadbelly
Take the red cane whirlwind - Kelly Joe Phelps
Think Tank - Blur
Want One - Rufus Wainwright
Want Two - Rufus Wainwright
You're a woman, I'm a machine - Death from above, 1979
Acoustic Brazil - Various
Richer - Bill Frisell
Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
Be Cool - Soundtrack
I can't stop - Al Green
Live at Montreux 1994 - Johnny Cash (DVD)
Lateralus - Tool
Live at the Apollo - Blind Boys of Alabama
Live in New York City - Bruce Springsteen
Music from the O.C. - Various
Return to sin city, A tribute to Gram Parsons - Various (DVD)
Slanted and Enchanted (Reduxe) - Pavement
Wildwood flower - June Cater Cash
Word or Mouf - Ludacris
and that's only the music, I also have books and movies on order.
At the moment I have out:
Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles (I have been using the library to catch up on the classics)
A momentary lapse of reason - Pink Floyd
They were wrong so we drowned - The Liars
Clouds taste metallic - The Flaming Lips
Wilco - Being there (Which is an amazing album)
Now if that doesn't make you want to go out and get a library card, nothing will!

Metallica are pussies

Hey Hey,
Last night Fran and I watched the Metallica documentary "Some kind of monster".
The film is in concept alot like the Wilco movie I reviewed a few weeks ago. They film Metalllica as they make their latest album "St. Anger" going through the whole process from writing to recording to promoting.
The difference is Metallica are pussies. Yup, that's right, I said it. PUSSIES.
Now I'm not trying to start a war with any metal heads out there but if you watch this film you will understand.
The band has a full time therapist for christ sakes. They pay him $40,000 a month. He is in virtually every meeting the band has. Why do they have a therapist you ask? Well becuase they all hate each other (or more accurately James Hatfield and Lars Ulrich hate each other). Half the movie is taking up by Lars travelling around with his therapist trying to get "closure" from people who have left the band.
The whole thing is very, very funny and well worth watching but it really felt like it went on for ever. Mind you it does take them 2 YEARS to make the album. 2 YEARS!!!
How the hell can it take 2 years to make a metal album. It shouldn't take 2 weeks. And we are not talking ground breaking cutting edge stuff here. No we are talking the same thrashy riff driven stuff they always had. Off course now they question whether guitar solos are passe and spend time trying to work out how different drum beats make them feel.
It's like these guys started out playing in their parents garage oh about 4 million years ago but have evolved into an episode of Frasier albeit one where Fraser has a bit more hair and tatoos.
Jeez it's sad.
I tell you the Wiggles could kick their ass.
Rock on
Alan

Snow Patrol

Well another Wednesday night, another sold-out show at the Kool Haus.
This week it was Snow Patrol, a band who are apparantley way more popular here than I thought. Not only was the show sold-out but it was full of kids (and when I say kids I mean 14-16 year olds, girls dressed as Brittany and guys with baseball caps and acne). I had no idea they had a younger following here in Toronto.
They only have one album out here which is "Final Straw" from last year and the show last night simply emphasized what a great album that is. Not a bad track, in fact I think any song on there could be a single. They are all catchy, melody driven tunes with Gary Lightbody's great voice adding so much to all their songs. He so often uses woo's and la's in songs to great effect.
There was a few new tracks in there with the best being "Chasing Cars" which I was singing along to by the time it was finished.
Fran and I in fact had a great night with dinner followed by "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" followed by the show. When you are parents you have to make the best of it.
Here's the set list:
Chocolate
Wow
Gleaming Auction
Spitting Games
It's Beginning to Get to Me (new)
Batten Down the Hatch
How to be Dead
Chasing Cars (new)
Glazed Knees
Same
Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
Ways and Means
Run
Black and Blue

encore

Your Halo
PPP??
Tiny Little Fractures

And it was all yellow

Last night we saw Coldplay at the Kool Haus. It's a pretty small venue (maybe 2000) for what is probably one of the biggest bands on the planet right now. For that reason our $32.50 tickets were going for as much as $600 outside the venue!!!!!!
I've seen Coldplay 3 times before. The first when they were just starting out at a tiny little venue in Edinburgh (one of the best shows I have ever been to), the 2nd at T-in-the park with 70,000 other people and the 3rd at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto with maybe 10,000. Eveytime they have been great. They always seem so sincere and humble and pull out all the sing-along, clap your hand stops.
Last night was no exception all though I detected a little more swagger in the performance, with Chris declarying Jonny Buckland as the greatest guitar player in the world at one point. I think they've earned a little swagger.
The set was short at 90 minutes which was my only real complaint. It was really a warm up for a bigger summer tour so maybe they will get a bit more epic when they are back to arena shows.
The set was a mix of new stuff from their album which comes out in June and tunes from Rush of Blood (only Yellow was played from Parachutes).
The crowd was buzzing and sang along to very word of the older stuff. Predictably the new stuff was met with a more muted reaction and it was hard to gauge what it will be like with the sound cranked and bouncing off the walls. They played one track "Til' Kingdom Come" with the drummer playing Piano and the bassist on Harmonica which sounded great. Apparantley it's the hidden track on the album although they said themselves that it's the least hidden track ever.
Chris also tacked on a few lines from The Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)" onto the end of Politik, maybe for the hip Canadians in the crowd (and me).
A great show from a great band.
When I first saw them back at the liquid rooms in Edinburgh I never thought they would rise to the heights that they have. They seemed like they didn't really believe it themselves for a long time but I think they are growing more comfortable with the idea. Fingers crossed the new album lives up to the hype.
Here is the set-list:
Square One*
Politik
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Speed Of Sound*
Warning Sign
Yellow
Low*
The Scientist
'Til Kingdom Come*
Clocks
What If*
ENCORE:
A Message*
In My Place
Fix You*
*=new stuff

Music club blog

The link I posted in my earlier post about music club was high jacked by Fiona. What can I say she is a shameless self-publicist.
The real link is here