concert counts

#34: i.an.eye (07-Sep-07) - The Rivoli

a friend of mine went to school with one of the guys in this band, and my old roommate had mentioned before that she thought i would enjoy their music based on knowing my music taste. they're kind of a reggae folk band. in general, i'm not a huge fan of reggae, which is one reason i didn't like bedouin soundclash very much. obviously, i know these bands aren't the prototypical reggae band, but you get the point.

so i.an.eye is basically comprised of 2 guys, and they have a supporting band behind them. apparently one of their first shows, all they did was play jack johnson covers. but now they have their own material. it was pretty good. not too reggae, it was pretty relaxed.

apparently they're going to try and do a tour in europe, so that's pretty cool.

#35a: Virgin Festival (08-Sep-07) - Toronto Island

i won tickets to the festival from a local radio station, so i was pretty excited about that. i wanted to go, but didn't necessarily want to shell out money for it, and didn't know who would do the same. but i won two tickets, so a friend of mine came with me.

first up was paolo nutini. we only really caught a song and a half of his set, which is really disappointing b/c i relaly wanted to see him perform. but the ferry was hard to predict, and ended up taking longer to get over to the island. the only full song we heard was pretty good.

then it was k-os. i've never seen him perform, and it was pretty good. i don't know any of his stuff except for his singles, but it was enjoyable.

next up was m.i.a. i was interested to see her set b/c i've heard lots about her, but never really know any of her songs. she was actually really good. i liked her show and performance, but i dunno if her music is something i would listen to all the time.

then we went to the other stage and checked out parts of matt costa's set. we couldn't see the whole thing, b/c we had to go back to the main stage and see the arctic monkeys. even though i've seen them perform before, i still wanted to see them again. they have such a distinctive british sound, i love it.

2nd last act was interpol. i was really looking forward to their set b/c i've never seen them before and their music is so good. and they didn't disappoint. their live show was great and it made their songs sound even better. definitely my favourite act of the day.

the day 1 closing act was bjork. i've never heard any of her stuff before and only know her as being weird, so i was intrigued at what kind of show she would put on. it was definitely weird too! i honestly couldn't even understand the words she was singing, and it was just all around weird. so after 2 songs or so, we decided to leave. we'd seen enough to make judgement!

#35b: Virgin Festival (09-Sep-07) - Toronto Island

day 2 started with tokyo police club. i've already seen them perform as well, so it wasn't a new show in that sense. i wonder when they're going to release another album b/c all their songs are so short and they only have one album.

then we missed the stars set, mainly b/c we were standing in line waiting to buy funnel cake.

metric took the stage next, and like the first time i saw them in whistler, it was good, but i wouldn't consider myself a fan of their music. some of their songs are really catchy, but i dunno what it is that is stopping me from actually loving their stuff.

then it was the killers. i was really excited for them b/c i've never seen them perform. and they didn't disappoint. it was a great show. i have their second album on my ipod, and i remember really liking it. great show.

then the smashing pumpkins closed the festival. i was definitely looking forward to this set the most. even though i'm not their #1 fan in any respect, i think i only have one album (meloncholy and the infinite sadness), but it was definitely one of their best. they sang lots of their classics along with their new stuff. i really wish they sang 'disarm' though, that's one of my favourite pumpkins songs. we basically waited for them to perform 1979, and then left. which i think about half the people there did as well. 1979 was great though. billy corgan did an acoustic solo version of the song, and it sounded really good.

all in all, a great virgin festival again this year.

#36: City and Colour (11-Sep-07) - Danforth Music Hall

day 1 of my city and colour shows. attack in black opened up this show (they did shows 1 and 3. casey baker did shows 2 and 4). they just released their album, and it sounded pretty good. i bought it at the merch table afterwards. i only caught half of their set though.

we had row 4 seats to the right side. and it turned out that dallas was standing on the right! what luck! he did these shows a little differently. he had the 2 people from attack in black come out and play the bass and drums behind him. so the songs were definitely louder. at first, i was mixed as to whether or not i liked the new way of performing the song. why mess with a good thing? but i was really surprised by it and really liked it. it mixes up the songs a bit, and i'm sure he must be tired of performing the same songs the same way for almost 2 years. he even made a comment about people thinking he's ruining their favourite songs.

one of the best things of city and colour shows is that dallas talks to the crowd all the time. and he's so funny, without really trying to be. he usually does it while he's tuning his guitars. and sometimes it takes him awhile, so people heckle and yell out stuff constantly. so it gets a little annoying at times, but whatever.

he played a few new songs, and some covers as well. he's going to be on a neil young tribute album where a bunch of people perform neil young songs and the proceeds go to neil young's son's charity. i don't know what the song is called, but it was really good. the CD comes out at the end of this month, so i'll probably pick that up just b/c of dallas.

he also played boiled frogs acoustically, which sounds so different without the loudness of a band and without george screaming in the background. and then he played another cover with the two other guys and they all sang a verse. also a good song, but no idea what it was.

somehow doritos were brought up during the show, and dallas was like "top 5 doritos flavours, think about it, we'll talk in 2 days." he likes doritos.

he played a few songs with the full band, then did a few songs acoustically, then the band came back. for the encore, he did save your scissors, but mixed it up a bit.

#37: City and Colour (12-Sep-o7) - Danforth Music Hall

day 2. we ran a little late at dinner, so missed the first song. we had row 2 seats on the right again. this was exactly the same set list as the day before (surprise surprise), and some of the same jokes too. gotta give him some slack though, he can't mix things up every night.

it's too bad i missed the opening act. i thought attack in black was doing all 4 shows, but casey baker opened up this show.

after that doritos comment the night before, someone at the show knew someone who worked for doritos and sent a box of chips to the venue. how cool is that? and how much do i wish i was that person? so much.

there was this super loud singer guy who sat in the row behind me. he sang so loud and would clap so loud, before the song even ended! i wouldn't mind if he sang a little quieter, but he was almost drowning out dallas. wasn't the girl he with embarrassed? i would be.

at the encore. when dallas was talking about save your scissors, and how widespread it got, he referred to west edmonton mall! he was saying how he was walking through a mall with a skating rink in it (he said he didn't have to say what mall it was but said "how many malls in canada have a skating rink in it?") and the song was playing while people were figure skating. and that's when he realized the song had gotten bigger than he thought it would.

#38: City and Colour (13-Sep-07) - Danforth Music Hall

the last of the shows i was seeing, but the 3rd of 4 shows in total dallas was doing. this was going to be a concert first for me. this was the first time i'll go to a show alone. i had front row seats, so that's why i did it. i don't think i've ever had front row seats. the first picture is one i took from my seat without any type of zoom. not bad.

pretty much the same set, except he added one more song to his acoustic part. the more songs the better!i felt a little weird having front row seats. i felt so exposed for some reason. like i couldn't take as many pictures, b/c he could obviously see me doing it and i couldn't hide behind people in front of me. and i didn't want to stare, so i kept looking away, but then i realized i was there to see him, so why would i look away?

i timed it perfectly to get there right when he started his set. there was no way i was going to sit through the opening act, then wait alone in between sets for dallas to start. so i showed up right before dallas took the stage.

even though i went to 3 shows in a row, i wasn't bored or anything. i enjoyed each one, and was glad i did it. i wasn't the only one who went to multiple shows either. dallas asked if people had tickets to multiple shows, and there were quite a few people who cheered.

check my facebook profile for a video i uploaded of the show. it's the part where dallas sings a part of justin timberlake's "my love" in the middle of his song. so good.