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Saturday was absolutely the best of the NXNE week.
Spent daytime taking the King's streetcar down to Queen's Quay. By the way, how can a street be both called Queen's Quay and Harbour Front Road? Very confusing, Canada.
Accidentally found where Harbour Parklands was, which is right near the gates to take the Island ferry. Kaya Fraser was playing acoustic. Unfortunately, we were just passing through, we didn't stay too long.
There were already a few people in line for the Bruise Cruise at the dock. The queue was confusing, there was already a RSVP and a non-RSVP line, but they also wanted us in boys-girls lines. All liquids and foods were asked to be dumped before entering the ship.
The music cruise was sponsored by M for Montreal and Brooklyn Vegan. I found out that the Brooklyn Vegan dude couldn't make it because of an expired passport. I guess it's pretty easy to let that sort of thing lapse, especially if you don't travel outside the US.
The show started a little after the boat left harbor. As you can see from the lineup, the bands are more on the punk-ish variety.
I saw all the bands, starting with Jesuslesfilles. They were giving away free cassettes (yes, cassettes are the new vinyl).
Uncle Bad Touch was a trio, which had both Kathryn and Mikey sharing the singing duties. They were pretty garagey and noisy, which is odd for for a boat ride, I guess. Young Governor's Ben Cook had the right idea, he was dressed for the part: Hawaiian shirt, skinny legs, sunglasses. He looked like Tom Cruise and Michael J Fox. I liked them, seems to have a lot of stage presence.
Ty Segall was the headliner, who came on stage with double sunglasses. Prior to playing "Annette's Got the Hits", Ty was asking for "Steve". Turns out, bassist Steve McDonald is from Redd Kross, a band that we covered heavily at KFSR 90.7FM when I was still DJing. That's actually an indication of how long Redd Kross has been around. Anyway, apparently Ty Segall was a huge Redd Kross fan, so this was a dream come true for him.
It was a three hour's tour, but Ty and the gang were still playing and human surfing when the boat dock. What a nice place to see them, especially considering that a fan told me that the night before, their NXNE showcase was packed from ear to ear, and you know how I dislike seeing sold-out shows.
We got back and headed over to see Men Without Hats and Devo at Yonge/Dundas (which I've detailed here). Devo's set ran well past 10pm, which meant that I've just missed Smoke Fairies. That's fine, that gave me enough time take it easy on the way to Comfort Zone on Spadina to see Peelander-Z.
Comfort Zone was easily the worst of the venue at NXNE that I've been to. It's a dirty, pitch black basement basically. It's perfect for low-fi or punk bands, which was what Neon Windbreaker were. They spent as much time on stage as they singing in the audience. They had a local following, which is easy to see why because of their high energy and loud performance. Only thirty minutes before they called it quits.
Meanwhile, there was a band that played while the main stage was being setup. I wish I caught their name, but they were a trio, and they played the same set of songs prior to both Neon Windbreaker and Peelander-Z.
Peelander-Black was nowhere to be seen, I am assuming he doesn't have the proper paperwork to enter the country. Cristina and my suspicions that he's still a Japanese citizen comes to mind. Either that, or they've sacked him, which I hope wasn't the case.
Talked briefly to Peelander-Red prior to their show, asked them about their 5 O'Clock show (which we couldn't make it because of being stuck on a boat) and he said it was a great show. They had children in the audience, which I think their music and show is perfect for them.
Anyway, I've seen Peelander-Z a few times now, so this was a typical show for them. Red does the usual crowd surf (failed on first attempt!), but because we were in a basement, he was playing neck to feet to the ceiling! Talk about raise the roof.
Audience participation was required, of course, and if you've seen their show, you know that this method is used to distract us while the giant squid and jump rope and human bowling are played out. Lots of fun.
Because of the festival shows, this was one of their shorter set. Don't know their new songs, but "So Many Mike", "Mad Tiger", "Taco Taco Taco", "Ice Cream", "Ninja High School", and "S.T.E.A.K." were played.
One thing I should mention is that the Toronto audience were younger, and they sure slam dance/mosh violently to Peelander-Z songs! Seriously, kids, take it easy! The poor security guard, he couldn't do anything.
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Kaya Fraser at Harbour Parklands, Toronto (06/18/11) |
Accidentally found where Harbour Parklands was, which is right near the gates to take the Island ferry. Kaya Fraser was playing acoustic. Unfortunately, we were just passing through, we didn't stay too long.
There were already a few people in line for the Bruise Cruise at the dock. The queue was confusing, there was already a RSVP and a non-RSVP line, but they also wanted us in boys-girls lines. All liquids and foods were asked to be dumped before entering the ship.
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Jesuslesfilles Uncle Bad Touch Young Governor |
The show started a little after the boat left harbor. As you can see from the lineup, the bands are more on the punk-ish variety.
I saw all the bands, starting with Jesuslesfilles. They were giving away free cassettes (yes, cassettes are the new vinyl).
Uncle Bad Touch was a trio, which had both Kathryn and Mikey sharing the singing duties. They were pretty garagey and noisy, which is odd for for a boat ride, I guess. Young Governor's Ben Cook had the right idea, he was dressed for the part: Hawaiian shirt, skinny legs, sunglasses. He looked like Tom Cruise and Michael J Fox. I liked them, seems to have a lot of stage presence.
Ty Segall was the headliner, who came on stage with double sunglasses. Prior to playing "Annette's Got the Hits", Ty was asking for "Steve". Turns out, bassist Steve McDonald is from Redd Kross, a band that we covered heavily at KFSR 90.7FM when I was still DJing. That's actually an indication of how long Redd Kross has been around. Anyway, apparently Ty Segall was a huge Redd Kross fan, so this was a dream come true for him.
It was a three hour's tour, but Ty and the gang were still playing and human surfing when the boat dock. What a nice place to see them, especially considering that a fan told me that the night before, their NXNE showcase was packed from ear to ear, and you know how I dislike seeing sold-out shows.
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Ty Segall (left) with guest bassist Steve McDonald (right) at Bruise Cruise, Toronto (06/18/11) |
We got back and headed over to see Men Without Hats and Devo at Yonge/Dundas (which I've detailed here). Devo's set ran well past 10pm, which meant that I've just missed Smoke Fairies. That's fine, that gave me enough time take it easy on the way to Comfort Zone on Spadina to see Peelander-Z.
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Neon Windbreaker |
Meanwhile, there was a band that played while the main stage was being setup. I wish I caught their name, but they were a trio, and they played the same set of songs prior to both Neon Windbreaker and Peelander-Z.
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Peelander-Z at Comfort Zone, Toronto (06/18/11) |
Talked briefly to Peelander-Red prior to their show, asked them about their 5 O'Clock show (which we couldn't make it because of being stuck on a boat) and he said it was a great show. They had children in the audience, which I think their music and show is perfect for them.
Anyway, I've seen Peelander-Z a few times now, so this was a typical show for them. Red does the usual crowd surf (failed on first attempt!), but because we were in a basement, he was playing neck to feet to the ceiling! Talk about raise the roof.
Audience participation was required, of course, and if you've seen their show, you know that this method is used to distract us while the giant squid and jump rope and human bowling are played out. Lots of fun.
Because of the festival shows, this was one of their shorter set. Don't know their new songs, but "So Many Mike", "Mad Tiger", "Taco Taco Taco", "Ice Cream", "Ninja High School", and "S.T.E.A.K." were played.
One thing I should mention is that the Toronto audience were younger, and they sure slam dance/mosh violently to Peelander-Z songs! Seriously, kids, take it easy! The poor security guard, he couldn't do anything.
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