Camra Obscura - Phoenix Concert Theatre

I logged in today to write a blog entry regarding the amazing Camera Obscura concert last Thursday. I noticed I had a lot of saved drafts...8 to be exact...all incomplete. So! First assignment is to finish this one, gotta keep you current. Then I will go through the lost archive blogs and finish those.


Back in June, Camera Obscura was my first concert I saw since moving to Toronto, went by myself to Lee's Palace and it was great. So when they announced another Toronto show in November I thought "should I see this band twice in one year...is it overkill?" the answer was "no..no it's not overkill". With the release of My Maudlin Career this year I have listened to this album virtually everyday and many times two or three times in the day.

So on November 24th, I headed down to meet my friend Christine for dinner at Mercatto, which not to give a full review of the restaurant. Mercatto was fantastic! The service was great, our waitress was prompt, helpful and friendly. The food was delicious and reasonably priced, I had a great ravioli with a Fantinel Pino Grigio, it was just great! I highly suggest it.

After dinner we wandered down to the Phoenix, got in a little early and enjoyed a beer. The venue is good. It has a lot of space, decent acoustics and reasonable prices for beer. The only complaint I would have it that it gets incredibly hot...like insane, which when it is cold outside it is hard to dress appropriately. Christine wanted to go to the front, closer to the stage. Now, this is important. I am one more for hanging near the back and I like to have some space, this would play a role later on in the night.


The opening band Papercuts took the stage. They sounded pretty good, Jason the lead singer had a great voice. What really stood out about Papercuts was the fact that on the third track Jason was having some technical difficulties, his cord kept falling out and not working. The band did not miss a beat, Jason handled these issues like a professional and provided a great opening act for Camera Obscura. Post concert I had a chance to chat with Frankie and Graham from the band and picked up their 7" which is great. I encourage you to check out their Myspace and listen to some tracks.

Camera Obscura took the stage and began with "Sweetest Thing" and mainly stuck to tracks from My Maudlin Career. The band was great, Tracyanne, the lead singer was amazing as always. Carey (Who I have a crush on) was jammin' away on the keyboards and is really hot...something about girls in bands, don't know. The most fun though is watching Tim, their touring percussionist who plays the trumpet, wood blocks, xylophone and occasionally jumps up plays the drums as well.

About seven songs in, Christine all of a sudden rests her head on my shoulder and says "Dave, I don't feel good", so I think "Alright, let's get out of the crowd so we can breathe"...nope, no time Christine faints. Holy crap this was insanely scary. She comes to a few seconds later as I am trying to get her to her feet. We start walking out of the crowd and she drops again and goes straight to the floor. Security joins us a few seconds later and is helping me get her to the side. After a break and some fresh air, we figure the fainting spell was due to the heat and crowd, so Christine says she is okay so we chill out at the back and hear them finish off the concert. As they lead up to "Forest and Sands", Tim (who is American) comes out wearing a turkey hat....that's right a turkey HAT!! It was awesome, as those who know I am an expert on turkey hats and although this was not a homemade turkey hat, it still was impressive.


As the crowd is pouring out, we decide to wait until the place clears out as to not have to stand in the line up. As we are waiting Carey passes by...my heart stops for a second and I think "Crap..missed my chance" then we start walking out and I look behind me and there is she again. So I say "You guys were awesome"... in her state of clearly looking for someone gives a very nice "Oh...Thank you" in a great Scottish accent. So, although I missed a few songs while we went outside, it was a great show again. A lot of memories (not all great ones), but had a great dinner and a great show.

I am looking forward to the 2010 stop and I will certainly go see Camera Obscura again, and if Papercuts comes back I would go see their show too, they were a pretty good opening band.

Well, that's the concert update. Many updates from the lost blogs coming.

Till next time

--Dave

"Oh it feels like none of this is real, I pretend that my heart and my head are well, But if the blood pumping through my veins could freeze, Like a river in Toronto I'd be pleased, You said I made you feel warm, Said I made you feel warm inside" -- Camera Obscura - "Forest and Sands"

So much to say!

It's been a long time since I posted anything. I have been working on the new site which I hope to have up before the new year. There is so much I want to write about lately. I just returned from the Aretha Franklin concert and it was good, not great but good. Aretha Franklin is a legend, the Queen of Soul. She was having some vocal issues during the concert, missed a few notes had a few coughs but overall she was still amazing to listen to. Tomorrow I get to go see Dan Auerbach and later this month, I am going to check out Camera Obscura for the second time this year.

I love listening to music, it makes me happy the only other thing that makes me happier is great food. As I was sitting in Roy Thompson Hall listening to Aretha belt out "Chain of Fools" I thought to myself what a great mash-up it would be if Jamie Lidell jumped on stage right now. It would be great if I could DJ and create the mash-ups in my mind. I wonder what other great mash-ups are out there. What two artists would you like to see?

Mash-ups of legendary artists don't always work. The other day U2 took the stage in Berlin where MTV made a huge mistake in constructing a wall to prevent those who did not receive free tickets to the concert from viewing it....Okay this is just stupid!! (I'm getting to the mash-up, pardon my rant) What person at MTV who was figuring out the logistics for this free show thought to themselves, let's construct a WALL in BERLIN to prevent people from seeing a FREE show!! This person or group of people were not thinking clearly. But, on to the mash-up, U2 takes the stage and does what they do performing a great set from all accounts I have read. During "Sunday Bloody Sunday" the one and only Jay-Z takes the stage to contribute his part. This was the most awkward on stage partnership I have seen. Bono and Jay-Z just look uncomfortable and it doesn't flow properly. You can check out the performance over at Stereogum http://stereogum.com/archives/photo/jayz_joins_u2_in_berlin_099681.html

The mash-ups don't end there. Recently the ever aging Weezer has done even more to make their fans scratch their heads. First their initial singles off Ratitude sound like teen pop songs. Now they partner up with the likes of Chamillionaire (didn't realize he still was around), Kenny G...seriously Kenny G?! and Sara Bareilles who is actually quite terrific. I can appreciate Weezer exploring new musical avenues but really Kenny G??? Ridiculous!!

I am busy going through a lot of music I have received recently. I will post reviews on: The xx, Elvis Costello, Julian Casablancas, Sally Shapiro and a few more. As well as some re-visiting of albums from Wyclef Jean and in preparation for their new album some Dashboard Confessional.

Till next time, let me know what artists you would like to see mash it up. I think a dueling piano's album with Alicia Keys and John Legend still tops my list.

--Dave