After an awesome afternoon/early evening at the BBQ house show at 159 Manning, my evening then shifted to the official NXNE venues.
Zola Jesus @ The Garrison
Kicking it off I went to The Garrison to properly see Madison WI's Zola Jesus. I only caught the last three songs the night before at Sneaky Dee's and I was balls-ass-sweaty from biking to retrieve my ID at my apartment, so I really wanted to see the whole set and without the said hygienic condition. The set was great. Nika Rosa Danilova, the singer is simply amazing. She is able to use her voice as a true instrument, taking the mic and changing the distance from her voice to change the volume as she belted it out. Her training as an opera singer showed. She was also a great performer, jumping into the crowd a few times to sing. The music was a perfect accompaniment: dark, brooding synth. One of the highlights of the festival.
After the show I bought the new Stridulum EP on vinyl from the merch table, which Nika was looking after. I try to actually buy every record that I really really like that comes out, and since the EP is one of my favorites of 2010 so far I had to pick it up. Plus I flirted with her and she seemed to enjoy the attention.
Best Coast @ The Garrison
Up next was Best Coast from sunny California. The music was certainly sunny for sure. Sunny garage pop and the singer had a bit of a Loretta Lynn/Neko Case thing going on and it was good times all around. But I did think the set was a little boring all-in-all. They could of spiced up the music a little, or the singer should of tried to give-er and really try to sound like the above singers. Maybe this observation was due to just witnessing an amazing singer in the previous set.
The Soft Pack @ The Garrison
So this the point of the night where I started to live dangerously. I absolutely had to see Mudhoney at the Horseshoe Tavern at 1 AM, so I was a little concerned about not getting in. I also absolutely had to see The Soft Pack, and they were playing at 12 AM at The Garrison as well as 11 PM the next night at Lee's Palace. But I was not sure I would be able to get off Toronto Island in time the next day to make it for the show. So I decided to stay for The Soft Pack and chance it.
And I was glad I did.
They were sooooo much fun. Their sound is slightly poppy, slightly garage rock, and very California sounding punk rock. They hail from San Diego, and remind me a bunch of The Replacements, or this year's version of Obits. I got down and dirty in the small but fun pit. The set was great and I had fun singing along and dancing. GOOD TIMES.
Man or Astroman? @ The Horseshoe Tavern
So I booked it over the the Horseshoe for Mudhoney and I totally lucked out. A power outage at Queen and Spadina pushed all the bands back so I was able to actually catch the end of Man Or Astroman?'s set. Boy I'm glad I did. It fucking ruled! They sound like The Repo Man Soundtrack. Punkrock surf-rock. So amazing. Plus they're supposedly from "space" so all their songs, stage banter and stage props are space-themed. Gimmicky but AWESOME. Plus they lit shit on fire, the singer came out in a space suit for the last song and they had this tower thing on stage which shot sparks of purple electricity out. FAR OUT.
Fucking Mudhoney @ The Horseshoe Tavern
Fucking MUDHONEY played next. M-U-D-H-O-N-E-Y. They fucking owned it. For real. Best band of the whole weekend. I was right up front in the amazing pit, singing along and getting fucking sweaty. They played all my favorites and when they played "Hate the Police" singer Mark Arm dedicated it to all the G20 security bullshit we here in Toronto have to put up with next weekend. I lost my shit. I couldn't "WOOOOO!" after a while and had to resort to just yelling out "FUCKING MUDHONEY!!!" It was the best. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Grooms @ 64 Augusta
After that incredible set I was still fiending for some more music, so I stopped by my man Felix's house on Augusta for an after-hours basement show. When I showed up, the cops had come just before, so the show was on hold. Everyone was waiting around, trying not to be too loud. Eventually the show went on. I missed Grasshopper which I figured would happen, being that it was around 3:30 AM. But I did see the Toronto band Grooms. They put on a great set of rhythmic post-hardcore. It was rocking and heavy at times. Great set. Very impressed.
Brides @ 64 Augusta (This photo accurately describes both my inebriated state and the band's)
After a looooong set up due to A) a lack of a bass guitar B) ridiculous technical difficulties and C) the band being completely fucked up (other than the drummer who was really fucking good) Toronto's Brides was able to get a few songs off (which sounded great) before the wheels fell off again. The rhythm guitarist seemed particularly wasted. So was I at this time and I decided to leave. Hopefully I'll get to see them again when both parties are clear headed.
I decided walking my bike home at the point was wise. I listened to the birds chirp as the sun came up. It was all very peaceful after a shit show of a day in which I saw 13 bands. Damn son.
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