This particular chapter takes us back to November concert week, so here we go:
Malajube and Young Galaxy - November 3, 2009 - Call The Office - London: We almost forgot about this one, Scott calls while we're watching Year One (it had it's moments), asks what he and Phil can do on this night...and it occurs to me, super rad French Canadian indie masters Malajube are in town. We made the venture to meet them. So Team Concert be: Me, Laura, Scotty, and Phil. We chilled in the back, missed 95% of Young Galaxy, and loved the shit out of Malajube. Check em out.
Most Serene Republic - November 4, 2009 - London Music Hall Lounge - London: This one came together nicely...after a surprise awesome hilarious visit to amateur night at Yuk Yuks, we met up with some awesome ladies and made our way to this beauty of a show. Although not the most remarkable of the week, it was nice to finally see this super melodic, now-Toronto superband. Phages being the obvious (but still surprising) highlight of the evening.
Boys Noize - November 5, 2009 - London Music Hall - London: I was unceratin about this one from the beginning; cash was already getting short, the scene at these shows is always alienating and pretentious, and I was in the zone painting a piece for the source of my recent inspiration. Long story short, I finished the piece (cause she inspires like crazy), and met Scotty to make our way to what we were about to discover was a UWO scenester fashion show with a phenomenal DJ. The crowd seemed more interested in rocking scarves and power ranger shoes than absorbing the super energetic, mindblowing performance put on by Germany's electro/techno front runner Alex Ridha aka Boys Noize. But we didn't go for them, we went for him, and it was well fuckin worth it.
Dan Auerbach - November 7, 2009 - Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto: Woods bros and Mitchell bros joined forces for the long anticipated Toronto performance by the front man of the legendary Black Keys. After several pitchers and an evil doobie I found myself on the receiving end of a disgusting headache slightly hindering my ability to rock out sufficiently. Auerbach was great, obviously, this being my 4th time seeing him, he never ceases to amaze. Unfortunately we left a little early, part way through 'When The Night Comes' and missing 'Whispered Words', but we sure did catch everything else we wanted. All in all, good times yo.
Fiery Furnaces and Cryptacize - November 8, 2009 - Call The Office - London: Show of the week. Hands down. Being introduced to Cryptacize was the surprise none of us were expecting, the California foursome was nothing short of engaging from start to finish. As for Fiery Furnaces, I had seen them at Pemberton Festival 2 years ago, and this kicked the living shit out of that. Playing 20+ tracks, going from breaks to folk ditties to metal to punk to chillout indie shit and back, sometimes in a four minute span. Duplexes of the dead was possibly the best song I saw live all week, and realistically I probably saw almost 200. This was not a show to miss. Can't wait to check them out again.
Pigeon John - November 9, 2009 - London Music Hall Lounge - London: This is my night to DJ, but thankfully Scotty is a hookup king who covers for me so I can check out one of my favorite MCs for his triumphant return to London. Meeting many friends there, I traveled with Meghan and Will, and we were super impressed by PJ's high energy, hilarious, hard to follow, solo set. I swear if you don't like or have never heard of this guy, just watch him do Hello Everybody live. You'll be a fan for life. Unfortunately we didn't stay for Josh Martinez (who was apparently amazing), but that's okay, cause I got to see my favorite girl instead. And that's better than pretty much everything.
We were due for a bit of a break after checking out 7 great shows in 8 short days, so I took a few days, painted a shitload, made some new friends, did some homework, pretended I had a job, and you know, partied way too much.
Apostle of Hustle - November 17 - London Music Club - London: Okay, I'm being biased when I say this may have topped them all. As I've said in the past, it's all about the company, then the entertainment. But this night had 100% of both. Myself and a semi-skeptical (note: skeptical, not cynical) Laura made our way through the cold way too early, to chill in the unparalleled chilled out atmosphere of LMC, enjoyed too much great conversation and acceptable house wine. No doubt, there wasn't anything to turn this night sour. After the surprise excellence of opening performer Fraser, everyone was mellowed out and anticipating where Apostle of Hustle would take it next. Minus their bass player, AOH took the stage and within seconds had everyone in the room wondering if they should be laughing their asses off or gasping in amazement at both the hilarious stage antics and undeniable talent and creativity between guitarist/lead singer Andrew Whiteman and drummer Dean Stone. Running through a wide spectrum of tunes from the entire catalog, we both had an awesome time, and are better friends for it. This girl makes me awesome, and if you don't believe me, check out what I've been up to lately.
Art Fusion - November 21 - Il Tenore - London: After 2.5 weeks of painting my ass off, thanks to my new inspiration (if it's getting old and you think I should stop, too bad, I ain't gonna), the night finally arrived. I harassed Mahy until he gave me a top spot, and I'm glad I did. Everyone's art looked fantastic, the music was on point, and the company was perfect. I thank everyone who came to support, it really means the world. I wish that everyone could know how it feels to have the person who inspires you like crazy be that proud of you. I'm not really sure if it gets a lot better than that.
Here's what's coming up:
Nov 24- Wooden Sky and Jenn Grant
Nov 25- Matt Good and Mother Mother
Nov 27- DJ Klever
Nov 28- Champion and His G Strings
Dec 2- Friendly Fires and The Xx
Dec 3- Zero 7
Here's the tunes I've been diggin like crazy!
Cryptacize-Mythomania
Zero 7-Yeah Ghost!
Until next time friends...I love ya.
