November 14th, 2008
I only heard about the Eagles of Death Metal concert last week, even though tickets went on sale in September. When I found out, I was pretty excited, since they are a great band and I’ve heard they put on a live show worth checking out. I went to buy tickets, but of course they were long sold out.
Yesterday, out of the blue, my friend Spencer emails saying he has extra tickets. Lucky me!
Eagles of Death Metal play fuzzy-guitar straight up rock and roll, complete with falsetto vocals and ample doses of cowbell. They sounded great live, despite a few technical difficulties with microphones and things. Lead singer Jesse “The Devil” Hughes looked like he was having fun, which made it easy for the crowd to have a good time.
Bottom line: loud dirty rock + beer = a good Thursday night.
March 18th, 2008
Last night I went down to Toronto with some friends to see Justice at the MySpace Music Tour which was held at The Sound Academy. It was a great time, although the scheduling for the night FUCKING SUCKED.
Doors opened at 8pm, and we got there close to 9. Fancy was supposed to be there to start off the show, but I’m pretty sure the opening act was some DJ I’ve never seen before. Does this guy look familiar to anyone?
Busy P played an awesome set and really got the crowd jumpin’. He did drag on for a while, and there were a few lulls, but overall he had a good energy and kept the crowd excited. Busy P has the craziest French accent I’ve ever heard.
After Busy P finished up, there was probably the longest wait I’ve ever experienced for the next band or performer to come out. I would say this is where they fucked up big time with the flow of the night. Everyone waited around with the house lights turned up, while they played classic rock for at least half an hour until Justice finally came out on stage.
Justice finally took to the stage at around 11:15 and the crowd went craaazy. Their stage setup is amazing, with the glowing cross and Marshall stacks everywhere. They were so fucking LOUD! The Sound Academy has probably the best sound system I’ve ever heard at a live show. It was ridiculously loud, but still crisp and not distorted or hissy like the sound quality I’ve heard at other venues. And when they dropped the bass, it hit hard!
We saw Justice play about three songs and then we had to leave so we didn’t miss the last train home. Bunch of fuckers! I mean honestly, doors opened at 8pm, Fancy didn’t even show up, so I don’t think it was too much to expect the show to be done by 11:30 or so. Especially considering it was an all ages show on a Monday night. The kids have school in the morning, the adults gotta work, and I’m sure a lot of people came from out of town and didn’t want to miss their trains and buses home.
Anyway, here’s a couple blurry pics of the stage during Justice’s set:
January 28th, 2008
Friday night, I went to see Alexisonfire play their make up show for all of us that missed the original concert because of the blizzard. They put on a great show and it was nice to finally see them live. They are really high energy and had no problems getting the crowd pumped up. I brought my camera and managed to get a few decent pics (click for larger image).
December 18th, 2007
I guess a lot of people couldn’t make it to Sunday night’s concert because of the snow storm. Alexisonfire, being the cool dudes that they are, decided to put on another show in January for those of us who couldn’t attend the other day.
From their website and MySpace page:
For those of you who could not make it, we want to put on another show just for you.
If you are one of those people, bring your UNUSED ticket to:
The Sound Academy (formerly the Docks)
Friday, January 25, 2008
More details will be available on their website at a later date. I’m really impressed they are doing this and I’m looking forward to getting a second chance to see these guys in January!
December 17th, 2007
When I purchased the concert tickets online, there was no option for me to print my own ticket. I’m not sure if that’s not available anymore or what. Since the concert was only two days away, I obviously couldn’t have the tickets delivered, so my only option was to go pick them up from my local Ticketmaster outlet at the Oshawa Centre. I fought through Saturday afternoon crowds and made my way to Sunrise Records, only to find out their “Ticketmaster was down” and they couldn’t print tickets. The guy told me to come back on Monday, and I told him the concert was on Sunday. So my only option was to drive two cities away to Pickering to pick up my tickets.
The worst part of all is that we didn’t even make it to the concert. Saturday night and Sunday morning was the worst snow storm of the year and we couldn’t make it to Arrow Hall in time for the show. Parts of the highway were closed, so we might not have even made it if we tried. I really think the show should have been canceled/postponed because of the shitty weather. Especially considering the show was in Mississauga, which is west of Toronto.
I’m going to check into my options, but I’m pretty sure I’m out the money I spent on my ticket. I checked out the band’s MySpace page, and a lot of people posted angry messages saying how they couldn’t attend the show and the band should make it up to their fans. I’m not expecting much.
