Toronto band Metric opened the bill and they were loud! I had brought my handy dandy earplugs so all was good for my ears. My daughter later talked about how she could feel the bass in her bones. It was pretty intense, but cool. I knew their music thanks to the use of their song "Black Sheep" from the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie. Metric is a great mix of heavy tones mixed with synths and Emily Haines's lighter vocals. They were upbeat and fun with a short set. I was amused that Emily, guitarist James Shaw, and bassist Joshua Winstead all wore sunglasses while their drummer Joules Scott-Key wasn't wearing a pair. Maybe the tour manager could only find 3 pairs. Joules was a beast on the drums though.
I actually met Ben Slack for the first time in person at the concert so I spent some time after Metric's set talking to him before Garbage hit the stage. He was in the band Slack which was a great alternative group that even had some material produced by Nick Raskulinecz at Dave Grohl's studio. Ben is recently responsible for getting a historic marker for pinup model Bettie Page in front of her alma mater Hume-Fogg. He also puts out this nice free fanzine called Culture Cringe. It was great to talk music with him.
This tour has Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds as co-headliners with Garbage having headlined all the shows so far until the night before in Atlanta. This was fine with me as Noel was the reason I bought the tickets, but I was thrilled to get to see Garbage for the first time. They were an instant favorite when they came along in those grand 1990's. They were also loud enough for my earplugs, but not quite as loud as Metric. Garbage would end up having to cut their set short as there was a potential for storms so we missed out on hearing their cover of "Cities in Dust", but we did get to hear their hits played magnificently. Shirley Manson was in great voice. She went out into the crowd on the sides twice shaking hands while singing and it made me feel so good for those lucky fans. Plus I got a thrill to her Scottish accent when she would talk between songs. Garbage are anything but....they are a top rank rock act.
The stagehands quickly festooned the stage with flowers, a Man City sign, and a cutout of, I presume, Man City manager Pep Guardiola. Then it was time for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds opening with "Pretty Boy" which is so a Cure sounding song that Noel even got Robert Smith to do a remix for it. It's a great tune with one of my favorite lines being "I wanna change my star sign" which I wondered aloud about to my daughter....."do younger people even care about astrology" to which she answered me by showing the Libra pendant she was wearing. Well played. The set ran for a little over an hour which was really not enough for me, but I guess it's better to leave an audience wanting more. I didn't need earplugs for Noel's set. It was plenty loud, but not deafening.
As I knew it would be, the first half was heavily tilted toward the new Council Skies album which I thought might be too mellow, but it really surprised my how well the songs translated live. "We're Gonna Get There in the End" was sunny sugary pop complete with balloons shown on the screen behind the band. Title track "Council Skies" was a mesmerizer live. "Open the Door, See What You Find" was my favorite from the new album with it's stomping beat putting me in mind of Northern Soul while the background vocals wouldn't have been out of place on Rubber Soul. The crowd seemed to dig the new stuff with many of us singing along and several people a few rows back yelling "Chief!!!" as often as they possibly could.
After a couple of songs from earlier albums it was time for 6 Oasis covers, which is funny since Noel Gallagher wrote all of these tunes, and in most cases sang them. More mind blowing to me, even after all these years, is that 3 of the tunes were B sides to singles. There was a father and his young daughter in front of my family and it was neat to see her singing along to "Going Nowhere", "Half the World Away", and "The Masterplan." My youngest son, who is now 18, went nuts when "Live Forever" was played as this is his favorite Oasis number. Noel had joked earlier that a storm was forecast so he hoped if we survived we'd buy shirts on the way out. The concert ended with the evergreen "Don't Look Back in Anger" with Noel nailing the guitar solo. I don't know if it was the amp setup or just the way they play, but Noel's one solo made Gem Archer's playing seem tame.
A few random observations on the night. The FirstBank Amphitheater is a very nice venue. The staff was very courteous and professional. They were welcoming which is not always the case at music venues. It was pretty hot and the next time I come I think I will take advantage of their policy allowing refillable water canisters of a certain size into the event. I would have saved some money I had to spend on water. I was happy to see the security was very firm when people tried to bum rush the aisles in the front. There was one young lady, however, that security didn't bother who was outside the barrier which made me wonder why briefly until I next saw her behind the barrier taking photos. It dawned on me that she was Noel's photographer daughter Anais. I snapped some blurry pics of her cause I think it's cool she's with her father on tour.
1 comment:
Makes me want to go to that venue.
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