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By Alex Huynh - Losing My Edge - 07/10/2006

Making their seemingly annual June visit to Montreal, Wilco stepped up to a feverish and slightly bro-tastic audience and after the two first songs, I had this review all written up. Kicking off with "The Late Greats", they seemed in great spirits but there was something too perfect in their rendition. I had maintained after last year's show that we will look back at their A Ghost Is Born tour (yeah, which one?) as their peak, as after years of well-documented turmoil inside and outside of the band, the addition of multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and of course, guitarist/fuckin' genius Nels Cline seemed to have revitalize Wilco and Jeff Tweedy in particular. While the two new members didn't work on the album, they had fleshed out AGIB to a point where it wouldn't be so wild to call Wilco the best touring act on the medium-size venue circuit. Well, on this night, something just didn't seem to kick in. Following the opener, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" was decent, but given the musicianship assembled on stage, they could shit out "decent" in their sleep -- a state I was rapidly approaching myself.

Then it happened. "Hell Is Chrome" was simply arresting, like a poisonous dart right through the heart. It was as though time stood still, as Tweedy's presence was felt for the first time and when Cline's solo kicked in, Wilco was finally in the building and my mental review was trashed. Continuing with "Handshake Drugs" and a monstrous and crowd-pleasing version of Summerteeth's "A Shot In The Arm" (where drummer Glenn Kotche slightly inched out his bandmates for the song's MVP), the band was hitting on all cylinders and delivering a beautiful performance. Half of the set consisted of AGIB songs, not surprising as it was during those moments where you saw what Tweedy calls the defining Wilco lineup really come out. You really felt then that they loved playing together and it wasn't just Jeff Tweedy's backing band.

Yet, it was difficult to ignore the fact that the setlist was nearly identical to the last few times they came to Montreal. Only a handful of new songs were unveiled, though I suppose that is hardly a common complaint. There also seemed to be a slight evolution to the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot songs, a "let the good times roll"-ification, if you will. Songs like "Jesus Etc." and especially "War On War", desolate and heartfelt on the album, were rollicking and fun here. This is not a complaint, however, because the studio recordings reflected the band's (and their nation's) situation at that point in time and here we are, four years later, Wilco emerging as triumphant survivors -- their nation, not so much -- so the current versions reflect their outlook today. It was like they had to reinvent the YHF songs to get away from their 2002 selves and again, it is obvious that Wilco is in a much happier and saner place these days.

Perhaps that contributed to what I felt was a certain confidence -- bordering on cockiness -- in their performance. Whereas the two previous Montreal shows had the band experimenting with the AGIB tracks with the aforementioned addition of Sansone and Cline (though never tentatively, one has to add), they were now sure of the places they wanted to go and were nailing the songs with almost clinical precision. Whether this enhanced or detracted from the show is debatable and certainly a subjective matter. However, even without the element of surprise or fresh perspective, one can't help but be moved by moments like the solo kicking in at the start of "At Least That's What You Said" or the genuinely good vibes of the set closer "Hummingbird".

To their credit, the encores mixed things up a little bit, showcasing the folkier side of Wilco, some Being There tracks ("Forget The Flowers", "Kingpin", "Monday") and the already good-times of YHF's "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "I'm The Man Who Loves You". So all things considered, Montreal got a relatively diverse performance from the present incarnation of the band and while nothing absolutely new was unveiled, they still preserve the title of the best touring act on the medium-size venue circuit.

A little word on fellow Chicagoans and openers The M's: while I still think that they lack a bit in the songwriting department, their performance grew on me just like their album Future Women did. They sounded great despite the initially cavernous Metropolis -- I thought it was background music being played on the house speakers and not a live band when I stepped in. The Elephant 6 element was downplayed live -- I didn't see any xylophones! -- but the four-piece were rockier and had great harmonizing, as pointed out by an idle mind. Worth a few listens, because just one might not do.

[Tune in to Losing My Edge Sundays 2pm-4pm and Tuesdays 8pm-10pm.]

By Johnny Suck - Turn Down the Suck - 06/12/2006

Even though it’s lame, I still like to go slumming now and then. So you better believe I jumped on a free Godsmack ticket...

On my way over to Metropolis, I passed through the Francofolies site, which had Andrée Waters performing on the main stage. Stopping to watch for a few minutes, I was surprised by how good she was and even thought about sticking around for the whole set, Godsmack be damned. I don’t make light of commitments though, so I grudgingly continued on.

While not entirely eager to see Godsmack, I still thought that there was a chance that I’d like it. Come on, they can’t be one of the biggest hard rock bands around for nothing, right? Well, in the end my general impression of the show was one big meh. Their songs weren’t interesting enough to keep my attention for 3.5 minutes and they weren’t nearly heavy enough. While I probably would have loved Godsmack back when I was 14, I’m way past them now. I realize how incredibly snobby this sounds, but I think the 2000 cheering fans needed to be enlightened in that ways of Rock. Still, for the unenlightened masses -- I’m pretty sure I’m being sarcastic -- it was definitely a good show. I only recognized a few songs but pretty much everything went over well. Front man Sully Erna did a pretty good job of working the crowd, although the repeated "Thank you Canada"’s were silly. It bugs me when a single crowd of people is treated like an entire country. Seriously, the people there were Godsmack fans first, Montrealers second, and Canadians third or fourth.

Nitpicking aside, Sully Erna is still a solid singer with a pretty nice voice, which made it surprising that the best song was an instrumental. I’m a sucker for percussion, so when Erna exchanged his mic for a second drum kit and started getting all tribal, you know I smiled. Throw in a bunch of quality riffing, some "Moby Dick", a bit of "Walk This Way", a touch of Metallica and extend it, extend it, extend it and you’ve got the song of night, hands down. It was exactly the type of thing that you want to hear in concert, rather than just all the same songs that you’ve heard 100 times before, played exactly the same way as on the album.

In the end, I’ll admit that they were alright, just not at all for me.

Highlight: Watching a tag team catfight break out between two Barbie-doll blondes and two ‘big’ girls. The blondes would have gotten pummeled had the fight not been broken up by a couple of idiot guys. Apparently some people don’t know the meaning of the term "erotic hilarity".

[Tune into Turn Down The Suck Mondays from 6-8pm]

By Erin Stewart - Rock the Plank - 05/15/2006

It was a rainy Wednesday evening outside, as the Spectrum filled with a crowd buzzed with the anticipation of Scotland’s post-rock kings, Mogwai (named after the cute, furry, yet potentially sinister gremlin-producing/becoming creatures from the film Gremlins). Despite being a full show located at one of Montreal’s largest venues -- well in my world anyway -- I knew nary a soul in the largely francophone crowd. I was previously unaware of the franco-devotion to this sextet of aging Glaswegians, but my Montrealais ex-boyfriend informed me after that his ilk loooove Mogwai. So after nudging my way through the French chatter into the sweet spot (middle back, between the speakers) the house lights dimmed and the fancy, ray-of-colour-beam-shooting disco lights commenced along with a droning wall of noise.

Mogwai ambled onto stage, wearing matching green track jackets; however, this was not your garden variety boy band. Instead of breaking into choreographed dance moves, these six thirtysomething, pasty white Scottish men launched into a serene, vocoder-employing, super-loud sonic ballad to an excited crowd. The sheer bulk of sound waves emitting from Spectrum’s massive speakers was palpable; the bell-clear drum beats resounded to the very core of my mildly vibrating sternum. I stood transfixed for a while, literally feeling the music and the emotion of the performance. Not that the lads themselves were particularly “show-stoppers”; they mostly stood in place and went through the motions, one by one shedding their athletic exteriors. It was the music -- a lot of it unfamiliar to me as I stopped paying much attention after Rock Action despite Young Team being one of my favourite albums of the 90's -- that was positively entrancing.

I’d also never really considered Mogwai stoner music until I smelt the Mary Jane being blazed by les hommes beside me (and subsequently recalled one time this dude Chris, who used to hang around my warehouse abode last year, sat in the middle of the room stoned out of his pants facing the speakers blasting Mogwai at 3am) and thought yeah, that makes sense. Having gone through a mellower period in the middle of their eleven-year career, the most recent album Mr. Beast returned to the louder, more cacophonic sound of early Mogwai, and they were certainly producing quite the sonic wall that evening.

Check out Mr. Beast released this past March on Matador Records, and I recommend Young Team -- which I’ve owned for nearly a decade, don’t I feel old -- featuring a vocal appearance from fellow Scot and super nice guy Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap.

[Tune in to Rock The Plank every Thursday from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. ]

By Idle Matt - Idle Minds - 06/18/2006

"They rock out. They blow the roof off. Some of the best shows I've seen in my life were D.O.A. gigs. I've never seen D.O.A. not be amazing."
- Henry Rollins

27 years on and Vancouver's legendary D.O.A. are still touring on a regular basis. I don't use the term "legendary" loosely; D.O.A. are often cited as one of the best early hardcore punk bands, let alone Canadian punk bands. Hell, D.O.A. arguably invented the term "hardcore" with their album Hardcore 81. Seeing lead singer and guitarist Joey Shithead work a crowd is a thing of beauty, injecting every show with just the right mix of rock star moves, banter and political content.

This occasion marks the third time I've seen D.O.A. in three years and once again, they didn't fail to entertain. In fact, this was my favourite one of the three shows I've seen. I chalk this up to song selection and the unexpected -- to me at least -- return of original bassist Randy Rampage. A member from the band's inception in 1978 until the end of 1981, Randy was involved with most of the early D.O.A. singles and full-lengths that I consider essential (which is pretty much anything before Let's Wreck The Party. Looking at him, it's hard to believe that he was -- and is -- part of the band. It might have been the long blonde hair and the bandana, a look he's maintained since the 80's during which he was the lead singer of Canadian thrash metal band Annihilator. Yes, that was him singing "Alllllliiiiiiice in hellllllll!" (ah... I'm reliving memories of watching the Pepsi Power Hour on MuchMusic in the late 80's. RIP Dan Gallagher).

As for song selection, D.O.A. played every song I wanted them to play. This included personal favourites "World War III", "The Enemy", "The Prisoner", "Nazi Training Camp", "Class War" (a Dils cover) and just in time for the Stanley Cup finals, a rousing version of "Overtime", their contribution to Johnny Hanson Presents Puck Rock Vol. 1, including the crowd-pleasing Hockey Night In Canada theme song interlude. Joey predicted an Oilers win. Well, you can't win ‘em all.

I'd be remiss to not mention The Great Baldini (a.k.a. Jan Rodgerson), their drummer since 1999. Honestly, he's one of the best punk drummers I've ever seen, with a very aggressive playing style that suits the music perfectly.

The band played two songs during the encore, and amazing choices they were. Fittingly, Randy introduced "Disco Sucks", the first song D.O.A. released as a single. Finally, as if the stars were perfectly aligned for me that night, the show ended with my favourite D.O.A. song "Unknown".

My only complaint is that they always hit Montreal at the end of their tour, and as a result, the T-shirt selection is thin to non-existent. One of these years, I'll be the proud owner of a D.O.A. shirt -- mark my word.

Another year and another D.O.A. show, and as long as they keep on touring, I'll be there to see them.

And remember, "Talk - Action = Zero" (or was it "Talk - Action = A Good Dinner Party"? I forget).

[Tune in to Idle Minds Sundays from 4pm to 6pm.]