2006-06-13 - 0:35

Play the rock guitar like a rock star

So, the birthday was very good, with the usual supper in Chinatown (back to Chu Shing this year). The real treat, though, was getting Guitar Hero for the PS2. Best game ever.

I know that it has been out for a while but I'm not always the quickest on my game purchases. This way, it works out that I won't have a long wait for the sequel. Hopefully, I'll have gotten the hang of this one by then. I'm still trying to get through the songs on Hard mode and haven't really touched Expert yet.

In other rocking news, I went to the Bright Eyes concert tonight with Laurie and Sarah (and ended up running into Tristan and Michelle, too). After the drunken debacle of the last Bright Eyes show that I saw in Montreal, I invoked the Cat Power rule and said that I wouldn't travel to see the band again. Since they actually hit Ottawa for a change, though, I gave them another chance; and it was a decent showing.

Gruff Rhys opened with an entertaining if meandering set. At times, he struck me as a Welsh version of Hayden crossed with an improv comic. I might have preferred a tighter affair, musically; but he was fun to watch.

It was a very different line-up than I have seen for past Bright Eyes concerts but the band sounded great, as always. I thought that I was going to critique the drummer, as she looked very soft in her playing but the drums actually sounded huge all night. I also really enjoyed the violin player, since that instrument added a different colour to the songs.

The main differentiator from the last concert, though, was the fact that Conor Oberst was sober enough to deliver a decent set. I'd rank the concert alongside the time that I saw the band on the Wide Awake tour as a succesful outing. "Another Travelin' Song" and the extended closer with Gruff Rhys were the highlights.

I'll get a real review done one of these days.

J.