No Separatists At This Party

April 2nd, 2007 posted by robb

What was advertised as a headliner with two opening acts felt more like three headliners and no opener. Much was riding on every performance for each act: Sebastian Grainger was to debut his solo effort post Death From Above 1979; Albert Hammond Jr. had to convince the crowd that his solo work was equally, if not better than his previous occupation as guitarist for The Strokes; and the much anticipated Bloc Party had to disprove scathing critical assaults from their sophomore release to just about everyone. It is safe to say, by the end of the night, all three groups lived up to expectations, and often at times exceeding them.

Before the show even started, the Kool Haus was oddly at near to full capacity. T-shirts were still sold at ridiculously high prices, except for a makeshift booth that had Sebastian Grainger personally selling his own. Although pleasant to see the work ethic of Sebastian, his enthusiasm and acknowledgement to fans was less then a high school fast-food employee. Perhaps he was reserving it for his performance because what followed was material that required screaming vocals and a feel for off-beat patterns. His myspace page cited “Prince” and “Thin Lizzy” as influences that, oddly to say, made a great combination. No longer was Sebastian behind the drums but rather, he pulled a Dave Grohl and took helms comfortably with guitar on hand.

By the time Albert Hammond Jr. approached stage, one out of every ten audience members were sporting a “Strokes” t-shirt. Almost all his band mates wore similar business casual attire, along with the patented curly fro. Hammond must be riding high in confidence because his opening remarks were “I need to take a shit”, before they broke into “In Transit.” The sound was tight, and although he may hate the moniker of “The Strokes sound”, it was in fact a good thing.

Followed by the background music of Justin Timberlake remixes during set change, Bloc Party finally opened their set with “Songs for Clay”. The entire performance was full of energy peppered with memorable moments that made this Toronto show unique. During “So Here We Are”, Kevin Drew (from Broken Social Scene) joined in and sang the final leg of the song. Condoms that were given away prior to the show were blown into balloons and battered around like beach balls at a summer festival. For “Sunday”, a second identical drum set was used to deliver more complex rhythms (which felt more for show than a necessity). Although it was a great set, a few crowd favourites such as “On” and “Luno” were not performed to the dismay of the fans.

Similar to the critics, I was disappointed with A Weekend in the City. But after hearing “SRXT” and “Hunting for Witches” live, I found a new appreciation for the sound and was compelled to pull out the album again and give it a second chance. It could just be an “it grows on you” album; only time will tell.

REVIEWED BY: PHIL LEUNG

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