Rhett Miller - June 17, 2006 at the Central Park Summer Stage in NYC

So it was my birthday, and I couldn't have been happier to hear that Rhett Miller, of one of my favourite bands, the Old 97's, was playing a free concert in Central Park.

It had already been a long, hot day in New York when we made our way to the theatre. I have to admit we both slept pretty much through the two opening acts.

I've pretty much loved the Old 97's since the first time I heard Murder (Or A Heart Attack) in some bar one summer. I remember trying to remember the lyrics so I could google them when I got home, and new musical obsession was born.

I didn't even know that Rhett Miller was a hottie until some time later. Anyway, he's embarked on a solo career, and of course, I missed him during SXSW. (Side note, SXSW is crazy, but even crazier is how easy it's been to catch up on what I missed!)

Anyway, the Central Park gig, was great. He played a lot of songs from the new album of course, but one of the funniest moments was when he went on record to announce that he would no longer play Question to help some guy propose. "It's too stressful. One day she's going to say no!"

The Boy Least Likely To - May 30, 2006 at The Plaza in Vancouver

This was the first show of the North American Tour for The Boy Least Likely To. You can read about how they spent that first day on their web blog found here.
Jof Owen

The opening set was by the surprizingly fun Toronto band, The Bicycles, The Boy Least Likely To took to the stage with their song, Hugging My Grudge.

Now I have to admit when I first heard the song I didn't read the song title. For quite a long time, I misunderstood the lyrics. The line is "I don't think I'll ever be happy unless I'm unhappy and hugging my grudge." I'm afraid I thought he'd only be unhappy hugging his crotch.

The lyrics are usually pretty sad but the music is so lively and childish that it's hard not have a good time at their show. Both Jof Owen and Pete Hobbs were really funny, riffing one liners at each other and telling stories and asking for questions from the crowd.

When a crowd member asked if they were married they joked "To each other?" When told they could legally marry in Canada Jof did funny double take and said "No really, we're just friends"
Pete Hobbs

About mid show they played a cover of George Michaels, Faith. ("We have to play a cover! Our albums only 37 minutes!")

Apparently they hate the "encore" as much as I do. I've mentioned before how dumb I think it is to have the band huddle around the corner while people are supposed to yell. Anyway, Jof apparently thinks that's dumb too because where the end of the show should have been he said "If we left the stage right now, you'd all holler and have us back wouldn't you?"

One song in the "encore" was only 10 seconds long. They closed the show with the song everyone was there to hear, Be Gentle With Me. It also summoned the use of the bubble machine which is always fun and I think a good way to end a show.


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Birds Of Wales - May 23, 2006 at Richards On Richards

This was the west coast release of the Birds Of Wales self titled CD. Morgan Ross grew up in Burnaby so it was pretty big love fest. At least half the crowd were former friends or classmates.
Morgan Ross

My favourite cat calls were "Take off your shirt" and "I went to elementary school with you!".

Check out Fall Of The 49 on my MySpace. It's an amazing song.

The Secret Machines - May 9, 2006 Richards on Richards

I really wanted to see The Secret Machines at SXSW this year. We showed up at La Zona Rosa at 1:00 for their 12:45 start time to find DJ that was to precede them, still on stage. I was tired, and cranky so we skipped them. I'd heard the show was great, so I was glad to get to see them.

It was all about the ambiance. The band was lit entirely from behind with little or no direct lighting.

The Secret Machines are brothers from New York plus one. What I thought was unusual was that for a three piece they had a road crew of four.

Their material is two sided. On one side, they play these amazing pop songs like "Lightning Blue Eyes" and "Nowhere Again" and on the other side they play these long experimental groove tunes which I'm not so fond of. In their own bio, they talk about the songs having themes of isolation which permiate through the album.



Visually, the show was quite stunning and musically it was pretty true to the record. Maybe not my favourite show but I'm glad I finally got a chance to see them.

More photos on my flickr site.

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