Live Review : Shad & Three Sheet @ The Grawood

The atmosphere at the sold-out and jam-packed Grawood on Friday was exciting and celebratory. About half way through their set, Three Sheet started jumping up and down like excited kids on Christmas morning as they chanted "we're opening for Shad, we're opening for Shad..." Both performers seemed genuinely excited to be there; Three Sheet performed with insatiable energy and made some exciting announcements while Shad wore a giant shit-eating grin through out the entire performance.

The Grawood, Dalhousie's student pub, was as frustrating as it was enjoyable. As always, the crowd was full of first-years, as older students seem to develop a healthy phobia of the venue. And though a sea of drunk 19 year olds might be the nightmare of anyone over 20, the acts that the Grawood has been booking this year make it hard to stay away (such as Fred Penner, Mother Mother, The Arkells, etc, etc).

Three Sheet, a local hip hop collective, started the night with their trademark frenetic energy. Three Sheet, as they reminded us a few too many times, has no samples, loops, or drums, instead all of their beats come from the incredibly talented beatboxing-machine of a man, EMC. The addition of guitarist Ryan O'Quinn and bassist Kevin Tilley turn this potential gimmick into an extremely unique and organic sound. Their frontman Expedyte and resident crooner Vanessa Furlong are intimidatingly talented and so full of energy that it can be exhausting just to watch them. Three Sheet is a force to be reckoned with and it wouldn't surprise me if bands are chanting "we're opening for Three Sheet" in the near future.

The last time I saw Shad was at the Squamish Music Festival this summer. His performance there was  lethargic and sluggish making his line "the only thing I love more than rapping is napping" way less funny. But on Friday night, Shad ripped up the stage better than Nicholas Cage can chew scenery, with an ear- to- ear grin permanently stuck on his face. The crowd ate it up, loudly singing along with songs and crushing in close to the stage in violent adoration. When Shad launched into his classic, The Old Prince Still Lives At Home, the crowd knew almost every word and one fan managed to sneak her way on stage, lyp-syncing every word right beside Shad, until a security guard pushed her back into the crowd. Yaa I Get It became an aggressive anthem, and the flurry of pop culture, literature, biblical, and sport references and rap disses were hurled at the crowd with astounding speed.

The combination of Three Sheet and Shad at the Grawood made for an exciting show that displayed the growing health of the Canadian hip hop scene. It was easily one of the best shows I've been to in Halifax thus far and was probably one of the best acts the Grawood will see this year.

Brasstronaut at Heroes Pub

An earlier version of this article was previously published in The Omega.

Brasstronaut, a six-piece experimental-pop band from Vancouver, played at a very busy Heroes on Wednesday night(November 10, 2010).

     Unfortunately, the crowd seemed to have different ideas for the night; one half of the crowd was there for the music and the other half was there to take advantage of the fact that there was no classes the next day.  Though this did not seem to stop anyone, including the band, from having fun.

     Brasstronaut has had an extremely busy and successful year.  In March, they released their first full-length album and then won the Echo Songwriting Prize.  They also made the long list for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize. 

     As if this hasn’t kept them busy enough, they have “done a substantial amount of touring this year,” returning from the U.K. so recently that they were still feeling jet-lagged, and are currently in the process writing new material for their next album.

     Before the show started, I had a chance to sit down with Brennan Saul, the drummer, and Sam Davidson, who grew up in Kamloops and plays the clarinet and the electronic wind synthesizer.  When I asked them if they could describe their unique sound, they hesitated to define it. 

"[There is] such a mix of different stuff in there that it is really hard to classify,” Saul said.

 "It is hard to want to pick a few words simply because the moment you choose too many defining words people have expectations and we’re certainly all about wrecking expectations," Davidson said.

     The local band BluElla opened the night with a fairly low-key set in front of an uninterested crowd.  By the time Brasstronaut started their set, Heroes was packed and noisy.  To Brasstronaut’s credit they seemed to feed off the crowd’s energy, playing particularly energetic versions of Lo Hi Hopes and Requiem for a Scene.

     Half way through the set, Edo Van Breeman, the lead singer, asked if someone in the crowd would body surf, since it had never been done at one of their shows before.  It took a couple more songs before someone worked up the courage to get on top of the crowd and suddenly it seemed like everyone wanted to.  In the middle of the song Hearts Trompet someone from the crowd hopped on stage and started talking to Van Breeman.  Van Breeman nodded as if they were agreeing on something, and then handed over the mike to their temporary new band member, who promptly started screaming into it as if he was fronting a punk band. Van Breeman and the rest of his band seemed as bewildered and surprised as the rest of us, but they also seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. 

     Slow Knots was the set closer and the floor erupted into a particularly energetic 'mosh-pit' as people went flying into the stage, knocking over equipment and band members. 

Not a single beat was missed, but at the end of the song a man leapt onto the stage, making a slashing motion across his throat, and the show was over. 

I went and talked to Edo after the show. 
“What just happened?" I said.

"That was awesome," he said.

"That has never happened at one of our shows before.”  

After all, Brasstronaut is all about wrecking expecations. 

Terri Clark at the Interior Savings Center

An earlier version of this article was previously published in the Omega.

Canadian country singer, Terri Clark, proved herself to be a top-notch entertainer when she played at the Interior Savings Centre last Friday(November 19th 2010).  The coliseum was only half full, and the floor was filled with chairs, dampening the atmosphere, but Terri Clark exuded energy and charisma on stage, putting on an entertaining performance. 

           

Clark grew up in Medicine Hat, Alberta before moving down to Nashville to pursue music.   She has had a fairly successful career: two of her albums have gone platinum in both Canada and the United States, and she has had her fair share of top ten country hits. 

Despite her success she has felt unsatisfied with her past career and music.  “I wasn’t connecting with what people wanted me to record. It felt like I was on an assembly line: nothing new, nothing fresh or true to me – and it seemed like the fire was going out,” a quote from her website said.  With this in mind, she broke from her label and independently produced and released her new album, The Long Way Home.  The album has a definite mainstream country music sound, but it has grown in both complexity and maturity. 

Having little experience with country music, I was curious to check out Clark’s show.  Despite her music not being of my particular taste, I was pleasantly surprised by the vigor of her live  performance.  Switching between sharing the stage with a backing band and appearing with just her acoustic guitar, she also gave her band ample time to display their own talents.   Through most of the performance she adlibbed lines and responded to the crowd.

Her new material was heavily featured in the concert but that didn’t stop her from playing her old hits, such as Poor, Poor Pitiful Me, which seemed to get the best response from the appreciative crowd.

           

The main problem with the show didn’t have anything to do with Clark or her band at all–the biggest problem was the placement of chairs on the floor.  While Terri Clark was doing her best to get people to dance and sing along, the chairs made it difficult for crowd to move around or work up much energy.  Behind the chairs,  quite a ways away from the stage, was an open area where a few couples had moved from their seats to dance and two-step. 

           

Despite this downfall and a partially empty coliseum, Clark seemed genuinely excited to be performing in Kamloops.  The crowd also responded warmly and enthusiastically to her.   

When she left the stage the first time, the applause was surprisingly loud for the size of the audience.  When she returned for the encore she blasted through a rocking cover of Folsom Prison Blues that featured both a drum and a bass solo.  She finished the night with a more toned down version of If You Want Fire from her new album before finishing her set. 

Clark seems to be one of those performers  who is a genuine pleasure to watch live whether you are a fan or not, as she not only comes across as sincere but is entertaining and exciting to watch. 

 

Kamloops Burlesque

Picture taken by Jessica Wallace

An earlier version of this article was previously published in The Omega.

On Tuesday night at the Blue Grotto, Kamloops Burlesque preformed to a sold out crowd for the second time in a row.  The show mixed erotic dancing, tap dancing, magic, and comedy for an entertaining night.  The mostly female crowd was a mix of ages and demographics and responded enthusiastically to the festivities with applause and catcalls. 

            Burlesque is a form of entertainment that is extremely difficult to define.  It started out as a way of parodying high-class entertainment such as opera or theatre, while emphasizing risqué elements.  More recently Burlesque has become a random often scattered mixture of strip-tease, comedy, and music. 

Surprisingly it is an art form that seems to have more female than male fans, and one that many feminists have embraced.  This is probably not only because Burlesque is more about teasing than gratuity, but because Burlesque often features many different body types and ages, is often ran by women, and embraces both amateurs and pros. 

           

Tuesday had all these features and more.  The most popular section of the show was when four women dressed as men came onto the stage and not only did a dance but hit on the women in the crowd with embarrassingly bad pick-up lines.  The dance ended with a man dressed as a woman coming on to the stage and being harassed and knocked around the stage by the dancers, A Night at the Roxbury style. 

           

Other highlights included two dancers, one at the front stage and one at the back stage who were covered in balloons.  Lighting sparklers they popped the balloons along to the music until they only had underwear and pasties on. 

           

The second half of the show was all about audience participation.  People in the crowd who had dressed to impress were invited onto the stage for a fashion competition.  A man who not only strutted, but also took off his tie, vest, belt, and shoes, easily won.  Later on, audience members were invited onto the stage to try and learn a choreographed dance.  The results were hilarious as some members tried to follow along and others gave up and just did their own thing.

           

The only major downside to the show seems to be the location.  The seating is extremely limited, and even when standing it can be hard to find a spot where you can see the stage.  The bathrooms are by the stage, and require some creative maneuvering through the crowd to get to.  Not only that, but those of us who were lucky enough to be closer to the front didn’t dare leave our spots to go get a drink, as we knew that our spots wouldn’t be there anymore when we returned. 

           

The event has been extraordinarily popular.  We attempted to go see the show last time, but we didn’t show up early enough to get in the doors.  This time we showed up a half an hour before the doors even opened and the line up outside the Grotto was already stretched down the majority of the block, from the Grotto to Carlos O’Brian’s.  

The event runs every month, and if you are interested in going, I would suggest arriving early.  If you end up going, I’ll see you there.

Steve Aoki crowdsurfed Kamloops Tuesday night

A previous version of this article was published in The Omega.

Steve Aoki put on exciting show at Cactus Jack’s Saloon this past Tuesday night, living up to his reputation as one of the world’s biggest DJs.

The globetrotting DJ stopped off in Kamloops in between gigs in Whistler and Colorado.  The event was sold out, and the bar was packed with a young and enthusiastic crowd.  Either because of the cold or the value of tickets there were no ticket scalpers outside the club. 

Aoki himself didn’t come on until around 12:30 a.m.  And the push to the front by the crowd was almost immediate.  This seems to be one of the major problems with famous DJs is that their shows end up being more like rock concerts.  The crowd wants to be as close to the fame as possible and push forward, leaving little room or space on the floor to actually dance.  This is problematic for an artist like Aoki whose particular brand of electro-house isn’t that groundbreaking but is extremely effective at getting you to move your feet.  

Aoki has had a highly successful career in the music industry, constantly changing his role in the creation of music.   Founding his own record label only a year after graduating from high school, he has released albums from an incredible array of bands and artists: Bloc Party, MSTRKRFT, The Klaxons, and The Bloody Beetroots to name a few.  He has also been successful as a performer himself, and has been releasing remixes and original creations under his own name for the last couple years, The crowd was not disappointed even with all of the hype surrounding him.

The night first heated up with several talented local DJs including: Jesse Faubert (the Diplomat), Mikael Finley and Ross Koch of Totally Boss, and DJ Erik-B.  DJ Erik-B took the stage just before Aoki.  I have seen him perform many times around town, but never like this.  His mixes were inventive, and novel, but at the same time floor-fillers.  The crowd responded quickly, and the floor was packed, in a matter of seconds. 

Because of miscommunication problems, we had a little bit of difficulty getting into the show and were forced to stand outside in the cold for a while.  In that short period of time there was quite a few people walking around, unsuccessfully looking for a way to score tickets.  When we finally got into the show, the club wasn’t very crowded and had a long way to go until it filled up.  Ironically, this ended up being a good thing, as it allowed people to have room to dance and move around on the floor.  One of the biggest complaints about Cactus Jack’s has been the difficulty to move around and navigate through the club.  The layout seems to hinder flow and movement, which in turn inspires frustration and aggression among the patrons.  Tuesday night was no different, except for at the beginning of the night when the club was only half full.

             

Despite these flaws in the show, Aoki lived up to the excitement he inspired.  His beats and mixes weren’t anything you haven’t heard before, but they inspired the crowd to stand on tables and counters and dance like the possessed.  Aoki clearly fed off the crowd’s energy and reacted like a wild man on the stage, jumping up and down,screaming into the microphone and even jumping into the crowd.  Overall, the night was a success, displaying both local and international talents to a wildly enthusiastic and energetic crowd.