Friday night brought forth a little bit of freedom in the form of me traipsing around downtown during the evening…
The afternoon started out well enough. Got home, had some beer, tried to convince Mike to come to a concert with me, but alas, there was no having it…so then I got a hold of Krista and at the time she thought she would go with me so I headed down to the Lieutenant’s Pump for a drink with Jason, Ben and Krista. After a nice pint of Tankhouse Ale (which did not taste soapy like the Tankhouse from The Works), we headed in behind the pub to Jason and Ben’s new pad! It was quite cool…couple of bedrooms, a living room, your standard two bedroom place. We discussed eventual furniture placement and around 10:30 I realized the band would probably be coming out soon enough so I headed to the Live Lounge sans Krista as she decided that she wasn’t up for it.
No worries, I know how to rock solo. I showed up at the Live Lounge and asked the woman outside if I could simply pay the door. She said “Sure, no problem!” and then the bouncer carded me and I headed on in. The Live Lounge used to the Pub en Ville if anyone did not recognize the name. Actually, I’m pretty sure the Live Lounge has been around for a year AT LEAST but it was my first time going there.
Upon entering, the bouncer was chatting it up with the two ticket booth ladies so I stood there for a second and then realized no one was paying attention to me.
“Why not?” I thought and proceeded to saunter to over to the bar for a drink and that’s how I got into the concert for free.
Considering I love The Dears immensely I put it in my head that I would lay down some serious cash at the merchandise booth for them at the end of the night.
The band was already out setting up their equipment when I found a great spot in the middle of the floor. Around 11PM they hit the stage and the crowd went wild. To reminisce for a moment my experience with The Dears…it was back in 2007 and I caught the last song of their set but something hit me and made me realize I should check this band out. http://palmer.grumpster.com/?p=616 Two years later, I am a big fan of their new album Missiles and was disappointed that in the past year they nevr hit up the Nation’s Capital to play. But that has changed.
The band is in top form after touring for the past year together. The keyboards and synths coupled with the visceral attack of the guitar is what makes me love this band and their music. Everything about the evening was perfect.
Highlights of the Night:
Murray getting off the stage during ‘Hate Then Love’ and singing amongst us. He sang to the girl right next to me and then demanded the audience participation from a couple who I’m pretty sure didn’t know that they should sing the part which goes “I swear, I swear, I swear it to you.” But then he allowed the rest of us to sing that part. Amazing.
The power he commands over the audience. At one point he had everyone in the place shut up to start off a song and it’s pretty powerful to be standing in a crowd of rockers, drunks and all around noise and then have it silenced.
The audience snapping their fingers to get the rhythm going. I’ve realized that many of their songs are quite intricate and demand some great musicianship to pull off.
The end of the night where the launched into some random disco hit which eludes me at the moment. I believe I shall end off all my performances with that song.
So after the band was done, I went to the washroom where the two guitarists were hanging out and then I headed to the ATM machine in order to blow some cash on the band for a great performance. When I get to the merch booth, I ask if they have any older CDs available but there are none. I then ask about the tour poster for sale but it’s from a show in the past month and not the show of that night. Hmm…oh well. In the end I picked up a t-shirt which I swore was brown but in the morning I realized there must have been a different colour light shining on it and it was actually purple (which isn’t too bad either).
It looks like the band may be going to the studio after this little jaunt in July so do yourself a favour and check them out if you can!
Setlist (from my weak memory of what was played and in no particular order):
Money Babies
Hate Then Love
There Goes My Outfit
Disclaimer
Warm and Sunny Days
22: The Death of All Romance
Dream Job
Lights Off
Crisis 1 & 2
Demons
Meltdown in a Major
We Can Have It