2007-06-25 - 0:13

To my pal, Poppin' Fresh

So I successfully avoided going a month and a half between updates this time. As usual, my main motivation to post is to mention recent concerts, since the Capital Idea! Festival is on the go now. I'm planning to see four shows in the ten days, of which I'm through half.

First off was Sunset Rubdown, on Thursday, which I recapped here. I'd say that this show went just as expected, which is a good thing. The last time that I saw those guys, I didn't really even know them but I came home with each of the CDs that they had for sale. This time, I was theoretically more prepared but they ended up playing a lot of new songs, so it was another novel experience.

Once again, they were very good, though. I missed out on the setlists, despite the fact that I was at the front and there were four of them; but I did get a guitar pick, which very rarely happens.

The next night was The Walkmen. I was very excited for this one days in advance, in a way that I don't get too often anymore. I've been wanting to see these guys for a while but their stops in Montreal didn't work out for me. Out of the whole festival line-up, this was the band that had me the most psyched.

Given my anticipation, I have to say that I was shocked when I showed up about thirty-five minutes before the doors were scheduled to open and was fifth in line. I really thought that I had caught too late of a bus to get anywhere near the front, especially considering the long lines that accompanied every other show I've seen at the Bronson Centre.

Other than a smaller than expected crowd, this show was excellent, if a little odd, as I detailed here. The Walkmen turned out to be one of those bands that doesn't play a tremendously long set but really pounds it out on stage, making for a fully satisfying show. I don't know if the ticket sales will warrant a return to the city but I'd love to see those guys again.

There were a couple of musical options on Saturday. At one point, I thought that I might pop in to Barrymore's long enough to see Krief's opening set. In the end, though, I just got together with friends. Justin and Angie are in town for a little while, staying with Nick; so Laurie and I met up with that crew, Aaron, and Loralei for Ribfest. Justin is always good for a laugh, so that was a lot of fun. Afterwards, Laurie and I met up with her friend Greg, who was also making a rare visit to the city.

The other non-musical happening of last week was Loralei's birthday, which was capped with a night of bowling. (I think that I need to step up my training on Wii Sports.)

Things should stay hopping this week, with shows on the way from The Fiery Furnaces and The Russian Futurists, leading into the Canada Day long weekend. Laurie's sister is making her now-traditional visit for that. At some point, I should figure out what I have saved up for vacation days at work, too; it'd be good to take at least a couple of days this summer, since I shouldn't need to keep all of them for the wedding.

J.