Thursday NXNE Part 1
The Coast @ The Horseshoe
Despite my TTC mishaps, I made it almost on time to see The Coast open up the Horseshoe. I’ve known about this band for about a year now, but had never really listened to them. As it turns out, I wasn’t really missing all that much. That’s not to say they’re a bad band, just that I don’t like their songs.
They have very nice live energy, they can convincingly rock (no small feat for otherwise friendly-looking indie hipster types), and they played a loud, noisy and sweaty set. Live reviews, as was opined later in the evening, have to deal with performance just as much, or more so, than content. It’s the content that was lacking for me. There was no shortage of decent rhythm or rock riffing, but I get the feeling if I sat down with their CD, I’d be dealing with some pretty typical pop-rock material with no particularly compelling lyrical voice or unique element at all. They are a good rock band. One of dozens in Toronto alone.
I See Rowboats @ Cameron House / Rah Rah @ The Boat
They sounded pretty great from the cramped hallway we waited in briefly, as the Cameron House was “full” (despite peeks inside revealing a relatively sparse crowd that had the ability to sit at tables comfortably - it was not “full” relative to any other club we visited last night, that’s all I’m saying. Fire safety be damned!) The violin in particular sounded quite lush and warm and, best of all, loud and clear. It would have to be nice to get in for this one, except we entered the club late because I HAD TO HAVE A HOT DOG. Yep, I ruined this one. Sorry Tyler and Jenny. The hot dog kind of sucked, too. The unhealthiness of it was really just the second layer of guilt, greasily filming over the guilt of getting us all stuck in the wait line.
So we went to the Boat, to catch the last half of (I don’t know their name and the NXNE Schedule page will never ever load, apparently) and they were quite nice. Apart from a poorly chosen ancient and dirty Expos baseball hat on the lead singer, the band was amicable, catchy and fun. In particular there was a memorable lyric that went something like “It’s fashionable to be single / in big cities, but not in small towns” which I thought was entertaining and more-or-less true. Good on you, whoever you were.
EDIT: I’ve finally discovered who the band was - it’s Rah Rah from Regina, SK. I like them.