The evening began with The Magnetix, a band from Paris that had been recruited by King Khan himself while on his last European stint. The band consisted of a gorgeous girl named Aggy Sonaro on the drums and a ‘bowl-hair cut’ Joe Strummer look alike (Looch Vibrato) on the guitar. Immediately most people would draw comparisons to the White Stripes; the only difference being that these guys played straight-up, clash/sex pistol influenced punk rock which totally kicked F@#$ing ASS. From the moment they dropped their first note, to their last ‘freak-out’, the audience was completely enthralled with the Parisian duo. Their loud, fast-paced set lifted everyone from their seats and made the bar a lot of cash. They can be described as edgy surfer-rock with the late-great Joe Strummer on vocals. For their first time ever performing in North America, the Magnetix definitely left their mark on Toronto, even if it was to a hundred people in the tiny Silver Dollar.

Quickly after the set change, King Khan and BBQ crept out of the crowd, drink in hand and ready to go; but not before they could get comfortable. BBQ quickly removed his shoes and Khan changed his ‘wardrobe’ into a purple wig and ladies dress as the pair rolled into their first track, a tweaked instrumental rendition of Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode’. Without even singing a note, the Khan and BBQ Show had control over the party; good thing too as BBQ had blown out his voice the night earlier in Ottawa. I felt like I was Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the future’, freaking out with all the other kids at the school dance.

Even better, Khan and BBQ called up audience member, Andre Ethier (of recently defunct The Deadly Snakes) to help out with ‘Waddlin around’, a throwback to good old rockabilly soul. Ethier was called up again as Khan and BBQ rocked the crowd to a cover of the Sex Pistols ‘God Save the Queen’. Not only could these two rock the party with their fresh sounding throwback rock and roll, but they kept the audience involved in the performance, often calling up anyone who wanted to sing a song with them. They were even quick to shut-up an obnoxious drunk who was told to ‘do everybody a favour and leave the show’, which evidently led to the duo dedicating their next song, ‘The tea-bag song’ to the dude’s girlfriend. Needless to say, the heckling problem was quickly solved. By the time the show was winding down, Khan and BBQ had played for almost two hours, keeping the floor at the Silver Dollar shaking to some trashy fifties inspired rock n’ roll. The show itself was a gamble for me to check out, not knowing what to expect, but the reward was well worth it, an old fashion rock out at a great venue like the Silver Dollar.