I Wanna Tell You There's a Really Good Reason Why I Came Home Wasted in the Middle of the Night...

Date: 18 April 2011
Venue: Starlite Room

Guests: Angela and Scott
Tickets: $20
 

Two of my favorite bands, with two of my favorite people in my favorite venue! How wonderful! A band called Dinosaur Bones opened up. They did a pretty good job of keeping the crowd engaged and getting their material out there.

Said the Whale 

So endearing. You can tell with this band on stage that they love touring, and they have fun being with each other. Every time I see them, my loves grow exponentially for them. Vancouver based, the songs switch between Ben and Tyler, which gives the sets wonderful depth. Jocelyn rocks the keyboard and Spencer is crisp and concise on the drums.  So happy they won a Juno for best new band this year!

Set list
Jesse new
Citys a mess
Sleep on
Bc Orienteering
The Light
Most important Lie
Holly Ontario
False creek change
Black heart
Sandra new
Camillo
Goodnight

Said the Whale played a couple new songs that they are working on, of which I'm stoked for. Not only is it new Said the Whale music, it's more touring opportunities, and therefore, more Ben hugs, and more love for the band.It's a win win... for me.

Tokyo Police Club:

 

Set list

Favorite Colour

Not Sick

Graves

Juno

Nature of the Experiment

End of a Spark

Tessellate

Be Good

In a Cave

Frankenstein

Bambi

Breakneck Speed

Wait Up (Boots of Danger)

Your English Is Good

Favourite Food

Citizens of Tomorrow

Cheer It On 

The Starlite room did the band the justice it did not receive at the wide expanse of Northlands at Sonic Boom. The crowd was rocking and having a great time, the sound and lights were just right... conditions were perfect.  The band is from Newmarket, Ontario,and were founded in 2005. They made a name for themselves pretty quickly with Nature of the Experiment, and then their follow up album Elephant Shell established them firmly in the Canadian Indie Rock Scene. Champ is a phenomenal third release. I love the tracks Bambi, Gone, Boots of Danger and Breakneck Speed. Boots of Danger was recently nominated for Best Indie Video of 2011 by Much Music. Hopefully they do well!

What really makes these bands stand above and beyond the rest was their social nature. both bands were mingling with the crowd afterwards. We even got the name of our favorite underage drummer put on the special guest list for an exclusive Sonic session the next day because the drummer of Tokyo Police Club wanted to meet him and was compassionate for being <18 in an >18 world.

Here is goes again....

Date: 09 July 2010

Venue: The Starlite Room

Guests: Ryan & Scott

Tickets: $20

As an aside... we lined up an hour early to get three of five coveted seats in the house... which were pretty awesome. During the one hour of waiting, torrential downpour and thunder storms. Needless to say, we were a crew of three, very damp and soggy Neufelds. Ryan jumped the gate to try and get under the awning by the Starlite entrance... but was throughly rebuked by a bouncer. I found a cheap umbrella at City Centre Mall... through, predictably, upon returning it to the boys, the rain  ceased. 

Opening Band:
Michael Bernard Fitzgerald
Three guys from Calgary. They warmed up the room really well! He had good energy as a lead singer and the keyboardist and the guitarist (both names Steve) played well too. I loved that they played a cover of Baby Got Back... a rendition that sounded quite sweet.  I like when an opener plays cover songs, since often I am not familiar with the original songs they play, and it helps get into the show. He also played the next day at the Sounds of Old Strathcona on Saturday. Normally, I like to do a little research and listen to an opener before the show, but up until we arrives inside starlite, the opener was "And Guests". 

Main Act:
OK Go

Set List:

Invincible

Needing/Getting

A Million Ways

All Is Not Lost

I Want You So Bad

White Knuckles

Oh Lately

Good Idea

Here it Goes Again

What To Do

Last Leaf

Don't Ask

Get Over It

Back From Kathmandu

End Love

This Too Shall Pass

WTF

Skyscrapers

Do What You Want


Oh, OK Go. You are always a good time. I find the music is a blast to dance to and the guys are original and fun on stage. The videos really got me hooked a few years ago, quite original and upbeat... and they most certainly check their egos at the door, and you can tell that they have fun with what they do. OK Go just left their record label, EMI, to start their own label, which they are pretty stoked about . From the fans perspective, it looks like there will be a lot more YouTube videos and creative freedom with this switch. As a downside, there were no albums for sale as merch at the concert... as they haven't pressed any of their own vinyl as of yet. Luckily, I have iTunes and the most awesome Edmonton Public Library to help me through the tough times until I can have a vinyl of my very own. 

The show was a great experience! There were confetti cannons that showed the room with colourful paper. The front-man Damian came and played in the middle of the floor, for an entire song as well as in the middle of a song or two song, and pulled up the guy who was one person behind us in line to play his guitar on stage (who did really well!). The band played with the space quite well, and as an encore, played WTF, Skyscrapers and Do What You Want with awesome lighted jackets that were quite fun, and furry neon-lighted, laser guitars. 

Now, for the heart to heart: I was a little disappointed there was no band dancing, like we saw last time... although they had to use a recorded track for when they did "A Million Ways" in Seattle in 2005... The band skedaddled pretty quickly after the show; although my superfan-in-training, Scott, was able to track down three of the four band members for a chat as well as grab signatures for our Million Ways vinyl single from the first show we saw them at. And they didn't play You're So Damn Hot...  the gateway song that first got me tuned into to OK Go 6 years ago... A couple others I was hoping to hear were Love Cats and Television, Television...but I guess you can't always get what you want... sometimes, it's pretty damn close.

If you ever get a chance to see OK Go, I heartily recommend them. Fun, fun, fun.
Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.