Friday, September 26, 2008

Concert Review, Concert Preview and the Interconnected Subtle Romance of the Live Music Scene

"...I am trying to say
What I want to say
Without having to say..."


Last night I was treated to watching another "indie" (if there's a better more accepted term, please tell me) band from Canada.
The first indie act I saw was Feist, and the next is coming up very soon (but more on that later).

Last night Stars performed at The Vic Theatre. This is Stars:






But I don't want to comment on the musical aspect of this show last night. Oddly, and at no fault of the band's excellent performance, the more interesting aspects of the night had little do do with the main set.

I know of Stars because a coworker thought I'd like them after I couldn't stop gushing over Broken Social Scene. Stars, like Broken Social Scene, is on the Arts & Crafts record label (the Belagio of Canada's "indie" rock scene). The two bands also have The Vic Theatre in common. Broken Social Scene is scheduled to play there Thursday October 9. Therefore, I was able to purchase tickets for BSS at the Vic box office and avoided any Ticketmaster "ass poundings" (as Mac may say).

This put me in a great mood walking into the venue, and I must admit it preoccupied most of my mind. Now that Radiohead is off my "Bands to see live before I die" list, BSS is only topped by Bjork.

The other note about last night I want to mention is the apparent surplus of attractive and (seemingly) single women who enjoy Stars. I saw pack after pack of three or four good-looking-girls with no apparent male significant other marking territory. I am well aware at the likely hood that these GLGs were significantly with each other. After all, we're talking about Canada's Independent Music Scene here Ladies, Gentleman, Lesbians and Gays. A keen taste in music is a great quality in a significant other, and sometimes tough to find in the GLG genre.

How is that ice supposed to be broken? One would think it would be easy. By mere mutual existence in that venue you have something important in common. If you are willing to spend money on a weeknight concert on a Canadian band that doesn't get radio play surely you would have more to talk about? Maybe you have to have even numbers. What I mean is: a sufficient supply of Wingmen that can give you equal numbers. If I would walk up by myself to that group of four girls last night, trying to talk to one of them, a plethora of bad events may transpire. Anything from abject ignore to hostile cockblockery. Not to mention the obvious time crunch. There's no talking during the set and after the show is a mad dash for the fresh air beyond the exit.

You've got to go in there with a plan.
Get a team together.
Quickly assess the situation
Advance on targets
Enjoy the show as a large group under the guise of a very cool group pre-date.

But people don't want to plan for some sort of massive ground attack of flirting and other romance related carnage. I won't find people to plunk down $25 to see a show with me with an indirect female-focused goal.

(That being said, me and two of my friends just spend $35 for something this upcoming Wednesday)

If I mentioned it before, it's definitely worth mentioning again:
NPR's All Songs Considered is immaculte
On a recent episode they played a song from Land of Talk
They're a band from Montreal.
Yeah, you can see where I'm going with this.
But what was great news to me is that they are the openers for Broken Social Scene!
That's going to be a wonderful night.

(And I didn't even get into the fact that the night immediately after the Broken Social Scene show I'll be seeing My Morning Jacket at the Chicago Theatre!)