Bad Brains The Opera House, Toronto Ontario: October 19 1991 This tour was supposed to have two dates in Ontario, one in Guelph at the Trasheteria and one the following night in Toronto. I actually had tickets to both shows, but the Guelph gig got cancelled. I've heard through the grapevine that in recent years they've gotten more religious and less thrashy, but this was back when they were still putting on kickin' live shows. I've always loved the discordant punk/metal/reggae switches of their music. And the mosh pit damn near took up the entire venue. I also met this really cool old punk couple who lived in one of those motarized homes, and spent all their time tooling around North America picking up odd jobs and going to lots and lots of shows. Bad Religion Kool Haus, Toronto Ontario: March 16 2002 Warped Tour, Molson Park, Barrie Ontario: August 17 2002 I can't even tell you for sure how many times I've seen Bad Religion play. I know for sure I was at the Kool Haus show because I was the designated chaperone for two nephews and one nephew girlfriend. They were allowed to go conditional on my going with them. The younger one had been at smaller shows before, but this was his first mosh pit, so I went in with him and we had a blast. Less Than Jake were the opening band. They do a really bouncy fun ska set. There was a circle of people skanking right next to us, and the kids got right in there. (I can't do that, I always fall over my own feet.) After the gig I bought them smogdogs and we sat on the subway steps and ate them before heading back to meet their mother on the very last train of the night. The last time I saw them was later the same year when they headlined the Warped Tour. The same tour included Good Charlotte, the Circle Jerks, The Damned, (another band Axel convinced me I should go and see play a whole bunch of times.) NOFX, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, (for the second time)Reel Big Fish and Flogging Molly. Along with a metric shitload of local and opening acts that I couldn't possibly catch because I just could not be in 6 places at once that day. I hooked up with the nephews again for that show - they were dropped off by their mother with a bunch of their friends. I showed up with a bunch of friends in a rented pimpmobile that looked like chromed sex but handled like a lame holstein. On the way in we got asked if we were looking for the VIP parking. I kick myself for not saying yes. Fantastic live band. Hot day. Friends schmoozed The Damned but failed to convince them to come back to town to have a beer with us. All pointy strappy possessions were confiscated on the way in, which was puzzling because they were vending pointy strappy things on the very premises. Felt like a wet noodle by the time we went home, so we stopped for beer and food afterwards. A great day in the history of rock shows. Bauhaus Kool Haus, Toronto Ontario: September 3 1998 This was one of those reunion "dash for cash" tours that everybody and their bass player is doing nowadays. I've seen quite a few that dissappointed -- they just seemed to be going through the motions. But Bauhaus were really, really good. I was half-expecting the worse, especially after the utterly crap Sisters of Mercy gig I had seen earlier in the summer. But they were smooth, practiced and really entertaining. And smokey. The amount of artificial smoke that was pumping from the stage had to be seen to be believed. Of course there was a lot of talk beforehand about how the famed tension between the band members might affect the show, and I think they intentionally played with that. The opening number started off with Peter Murphy present only via a television set in the middle of the stage. Just as everybody was wondering what was going on, the curtain behind the television dropped to reveal him singing into the microphone. And, as expected, Bela Lugosi's Dead went on for about a week and a half. B.B. King Ontario Place Forum, Toronto Ontario: 198? Back In The Day, one of the more laid-back venues in the city was the Ontario Place Forum. It was set in a small hollow, so you could either sit on the fixed seats or loll on the grassy hill and the stage itself rotated so that everybody would eventually end up being centre stage during various points of the show. It has since been torn down and replaced with the Molson Ampitheatre. I've never been to the new venue, but everybody who has assures me that the sound is absolutely appalling. B.B. King is one of the artists I've was able to see at the Forum. No clue how long ago it was, but I was in University at the time, so lets say early 80's. He spent the entire show sitting down, rocking back and forth and belting out the songs with his voice and his guitar. Fabulous. You know, it occurs to me as I write this that I have no recorded blues. For me, blues is music that must be experienced live or I have no real interest in listening to it. But I do love the old bluesmen. Bella Morte Saturnalia II, Chicago IL: December 16 2000 Convergence VIII, Montreal Quebec: May 30 Catalyst, Toronto, Ontario: August 31 2003 The first Saturnalia festival was held in an old warehouse that had been converted over into somebody's living space. The second one was held in a circus tent erected within the shell of a half-demolished building. As a performance space, the idea was brilliant. The actual application didn't work out so well though, because the gas heaters that had been hired to heat the place didn't work properly. Since this was December in Chicago, that meant we were freezing. Of all the Saturnalia shows I have been to, this one had one of my favourite line-ups. In particular, my friend Michelle had been raving about how much I was going to love Bella Morte, so I was really looking forward to catching them. In between bands I kept running into the DJ room where the heaters were still working, even though that meant I had to cough my way through clouds of artificial smoke. Karma Sutra were the first band to perform. They turned out to be a couple of the members from My Scarlet Life, who had played in Toronto at Convergence IV. Their set was really evocative, with a lot of eastern influences to the music. Stromkern were next up, a keyboard-based industrial act. They projected images on the tent wall behind them as they played. I loved these guys. Very danceable stuff. They get lots of club play these days. Bella Morte were next up, and I fucking loved them. After this show I got to hear their recorded music, which is best classified as gothrock. And it's... ok. Not bad, melodic, but it doesn't really stand out. But live... holy crap, they kick ass. They have tons of punk energy and they throw themselves into the music like demons. They are fantastic live. I danced my fool ass off until their set was over and I could take my numb toes back into the heated room. Inkubus Sukkubus were another goth band, from England this time. They were fun and energetic and I stayed out and froze some more. But to no avail, my heart had already been taken. I ended up helping with the cleanup of the tent the next day, and was it every nasty. Not to mention cold. Fortunately most of the puke was frozen solid. A couple of years later when I was involved in organzing Convergence VIII, we brought Bella Morte to Canada, then again for Catalyst in Toronto. They completely blew everybody away. I also got to see Andy sing songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Spice Girls at the karaoke night at Convergence IX in Las Vegas. That alone was worth the price of admission. Bile ?, Long Island, 1995 ?, Boston MA, August 10 1996 The reason I ended up seeing Bile in the first place was kind of an accident. I drove down to Long Island with my friend silentq - who I had just met - in order to go to a party being hosted by a friend named Edvamp. Who I had not yet met. Anyway, it turned out that Bile were playing somewhere in a nearby town, and Ed is a huge fan so he dragged us out of the house to go check them out. So we drove along one of the rediculous highways that run through New York State in the middle of the night until we got to some unknown venue in an unknown town with a bunch of people I had just met in order to see a band I've never heard of. Anyway. The venue freaked me out a little bit, not only by asking for ID, but by taking my picture on the way in. Once inside, it turned out to be pretty cool. It had a central area in front of the stage surrounded by pillars and there were some cages hanging from the ceiling that I assume were used for dancers. There was also a patio on the waterfront where we could hang out and look out over the water. We ended up spending a lot of time out there, because Bile were the last act in a five-band line-up. We would go inside, listen to the first few songs of some thrashy metal band, and then wander back out to the water to talk and drink. Closing time in New York is something insane like 5AM, so by the time Bile hit the stage we were all sagging against the walls. They turned out to be a lot of fun, a really loud, thrashy, dirty, gut-churning industrial metal band. They performed in balaclavas and had porn playing against the wall behind them. There was a mostly-naked girl - in balaclava - who's job appeared to be beating the crap out of people with a riding crop and a very skinny very pale and mostly-naked man - also in balaclava - who's job appeared to be getting beaten. We crawled out of there with the sun just coming up and agreed amongst ourselves that it had definitely been worth the wait. The second time I saw them they just happened to be playing in Boston the same weekend as Convergence. We hauled ourselves halfway across town to a little pub that supposedly had them peforming in the basement. We could hear them playing, but the guy at the door assured us they were doing soundcheck. By the time somebody else came to the door and informed us that the band was actually playing, we had missed all but three songs. I'm not sure what that was all about. So we hung around, chatted to the band for a while and then hauled ass back to Man Ray. Billy Bragg Arrow Hall Toronto, Ontario: 23 August 1984 The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON: 24 September 2006 In 1984 I saw Billy Bragg open up for Echo and the Bunnymen in a gigantic hall crowded with hundreds of people. I knew a few of his songs, and I was completely impressed with the pure intensity of his performance, delivered with no posturing, and in fact very little movement. He was just a passionate young man singing with an accoustic guitar for accompaniment. His seemed to be utterly focused on his songs, his voice crackling with barely suppressed energy while he rocked back and forth on the chair in time to the music. Fast forward twenty-two years. A grey-haired man stands on the stage and sings, stopping between songs to banter with the audience. He still has the same level of energy he did as a young man, but now it's totally laid back and relaxed. He is totally at ease and in complete control of the room, taking the audience anywhere he wants them to go. He sings an activist song and the emotion in the room is almost palpable. He sings a song of unrequited love and all around me I see eyes fill with tears. The only other performer I have ever seen with this kind of prescence was Tom Waits. No jumping around. No flashy guitar moves. Just pure force of personality. At the end of the night everybody claped until their hands were sore. The Birthday Massacre Reverb, Toronto Ontario: September 22 2002 I went to the Toronto-Goth Awards one year, which is a night which pays tribute to a bunch of local bands, DJs, venues and businesses. These guys were one of the opening bands. At the time I thought they were quite young, but with a decent sound and a lot of potential. I really liked them, but I wasn't sure if it might have been because they were so much better than the headliners - Perdition, who have a fair sized following in the local scene and I can never fathom why. I find them jarring and unpleasant. They've kind of crept upon the goth scene since them - about once a week I read a new person effusing enthusiastically about their music. I keep thinking I need to track them down and find out what they are doing now. After two and half years, they're bound to be even more worth listening to. The Black Crowes Lulu's, Kitchener Ontario: April 16 1993 The band had a couple of hits on the radio around the time of this gig, and the husband really loved them, so off we went to see them play. At Lulu's, which is one of the most annoying venues on the planet. The place was packed. Just stuffed with people. And everybody cheered and carried on and drank massive amounts and generally carried on. And I thought it was really really dull. Seriously. One of the most uninspired passionless gigs I've ever seen a band put on. They acted like they were just going through the motions. A couple of weeks later we went to see The London Choirboys at RPM, and they fucking blew me away. I remember thinking as we left the venue that they could have given the Crowes some lessons on performing in front of an audience. Black Rice 360 Club Toronto, Ontario: June 8 2005 These guys had a very energetic musical style, lots of head-flailing and jumping around. The music was driving and loud, with lots of dynamic breaks and a "shouting" singing style. Their performance was pretty intense - I could see them building up a real sweat. Both the music and vocals had a lot of dynamic breaks. It's very good aggressive rock. There aren't any real "hooks" in the music, but some of the songs were definitely catchy and interesting. They made a really good finish with the last song and used the technique of discordant vocals between the members to really good effect. They seem to be very young, but they are comfortable on stage and chat very easily with the audience. The venue was about half-full, but they got a really good response. Fun band. Lots of promise. Bleep The Kathedral, Toronto Ontario: December 20 2003 Holy Joe's, Toronto Ontario: September 25 2004 Both times I saw this band, they played with Convertible Robots and Mortmain. The band is a trio with a female singer, a guitar player, and a guy who switches between guitar and keyboard. The singer has some electronic device that looks like a big purse on her hip, and she also reaches down with a toe to flip some effects switch on a regular basis during songs. I have no techie knowledge whatsoever, so I have no idea what she was playing with, but it was obviously part of the stage gear. The music is very emotive. Interesting stuff, it had none of the traditional "hooks" that one expects out of pop music, but engaging and with good range and variation. I heard people in the audience making comparisons to the Cocteau Twins and Crane. The singer has an utterly amazing voice, with incredible range. There were songs where she reminded me of Kate Bush, she has the same way of using her voice as an additional instrument in the arrangement. The singer spoke to the audience frequently. She has a very gentle and diffident manner, very winning in a shy way. There didn't seem to be a real strong "connection" with the crowd, but everybody clapped appreciatively. There were maybe 70 people in the audience. It was a quiet crowd, but everybody there really seemed to enjoy what they heard. Not a mosh-pit kind of experience but I really liked them. Blind Melon Lee's Palace, Toronto, Ontario: September 1993 I see a lot of bands because people I'm plooking regularily happen to like them. When I date women that means Ani Difranco. When I dated teenage guys who wanted to be tough, it meant Iron Maiden. And when I dated pagan hippy types, it meant Blind Melon. They were ok. The audience dug it. Nobody pulled their dick out or OD'd during the actual performance. The Blue Demons Mitzi's Sister, Toronto Ontario: July 23 2005 Gladstone, Toronto Ontario: October 7 2005 The Smilin Buddha Bar, Toronto Ontario: June 2 2006 I've been trying to get to see these guys forever, based on the enthusiastic ranting of my friends. I found out kind of last-minute that they were going to be playing at Mitzi's Sister, a little venue just around the corner from my house, so this was the perfect excuse. When we walked in there was a woman-fronted band doing an acceptable rock number. This turned out to be The Dropouts. We hung around for a couple more songs, but every single one sounded like the exact same acceptable rock number. Our friends turned out to be on the patio, so we joined them. In doing so we got to meet Pete, the guitar player. He ate the largest plate of nachos I have ever seen before going on stage. This wasn't bigger than his head, it was bigger than both our heads put together. He ate the entire thing. And didn't even look mildly uncomfortable afterwards. The show itself was a lot of fun. The band performs in identical Mexican wrestler masks and band shirts and the guitarist even wears a blue glittery cape and speaks to the audience in a low growl. It's all instrumental - or at least it was that night - and it's all good old-fashioned surf garage. The music was great - if I had one complaint about the show it was that they stopped to talk after every single song. The energy in the room was pretty low-key, which I think was a factor of the venue itself. I remember thinking that I would love to see these guys in a really high-energy line-up where there's some space to jump around. They also had a burlesque dancer come out for a couple of songs. I've always wondered exactly how that twirling tassles thing was accomplished, now I have a working demonstration to go on. I got to see them again because friends The Von Drats were opening for one of their gigs. The whole thing was billed as a burlesque night and they had a different dancer for each number. I caught the entirety of the Von Drats set, but ended up missing the first several songs by The Blue Demons because I was trying to get a drink at the bar. I was gone for almost half an hour while all the men who walked up to the bar were served immediately. I finally gave my cash to a male friend and got him to buy me a pint. Male friend suggested I go home and get my penis. I agreed on the condition that I climb over the bar and beat the cougar back there to death with it. Anyway. Wheen I finally got back to the stage I could barely see the band behind the wall of delighted hipsters, so it was obvious they were going over really well. They were able to really feed off the energy of the much less laid back crowd, and it turned out to be a really good set. The most recent (and best) show I saw them at was a "surf-battle" night they played with The Von Drats again (opening this time) at The Smilin Buddha bar, Turns out I was right. Great band to see when the energy is high. The Blushing Brides The Gasworks, Toronto Ontario: 1980+ I seem to end up seeing a lot of bands because of people I'm sleeping with. I dated a guy for a while who was a huge Rolling Stones freak. The Blushing Brides are a Stones cover band who have managed to milk that particular cow for over 25 years. (At last check they were still going.) They do a passable imitation. I saw them play a bunch of times with this same guy, and always at The Gasworks. The same Gasworks from Waynes World. Bonham Band Skydome, Toronto Ontario: 198? I saw this act solely because my boyfriend was a huge freak. For anybody who doesn't know, Jason Bonham is the son of the late John Bonham, drummer for Led Zepplin. His set at that time consisted mostly of Zepplin covers. It was one of the earliest shows to ever play the Toronto Skydome, and what an awful place to see a gig. It was a big concrete echo chamber and the cloth baffles they hung from the ceiling did almost nothing to ameliorate the problem. Plus he was a million miles away from us. Plus he's like a drummer and no matter how good you are at that shit, there are only so many drum solos I can listen to before I start to lose interest. The one and only admirable thing was that he was able to do the entire show with a cast on one arm. The Boomtown Rats Seneca College, Toronto, Ontario: March 23 1980 I loved this band. I think this was maybe the second gig I've ever seen. It was part of a tour to support The Fine Art of Surfacing. It also happened just after I Don't Like Mondays had made a big splash on the radio, so the place was packed. Nowadays I tend to hang out near the back of shows where I can watch and drink my beer in peace, but back then I was all about the front and centre. There were no security barricades at this show and the stage was about chest level, we were getting crushed right up against it - a couple of times I thought I was going to get pushed right under it. I would not be surprised if a few people went down there to escape when the press got to be too much to take. Bob Geldof was young, Irish and full of piss-and-vinegar and he was bouncing around the stage like a demented marionette while the rest of the band did their best to beat their instruments half to death on stage. It was fucking great. He kept dragging people out of the audience to dance with him and at one point he pointed at my sister. She tried to climb up but the press was too bad, so everybody around her just grabbed her and literally threw her up onto the stage. The opening band was a local act called BB Gabor. Bouncy catchy danceable new-wave that gives me the worst ear-worms on the planet. In fact, ever since I started writing this I've had Metropolitan Life stuck in my head on endless repeat and I've gone so far as to go onto ebay and search out the damn EP (no CDs exist anywhere) so I can actually listen to it. Unfortunately I found out while hunting around for links that he killed himself about 10 years later. Suck. As early gigs go, it was one of the big reasons why I turned into such an music-addict for life. Breeding Ground Lee's Palace, Toronto Ontario: 198? Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo Ontario: 198? I probably saw them play a few more times than this, I just can't remember when. My husband at the time used to roadie/guitar tech for this band, so he'd get me in for free. I think I spooked people by actually pitching in and hauling the odd Marshall when it looked like they could have used to the help. I get the distinct impression that's pretty rare behaviour among female hangers-on of bar bands. I always really liked their live sets. Molly Johnson would usually get up on stage with them for their big radio hit. They were definitely one of the better new wave bands kicking around Toronto in the 80's. The Brickbats Hallowmas, Toronto, Ontario: October 29-31 1999 Hallowmas was an event that we put on after Convergence 4. It was intended to be a music festival that came without all the extra work and expectations of Convergence, and I think it went pretty well. Six years later I'm still getting people asking me if we ever plan on doing another one. The first two nights were the more mellow themed one. We started off with Autumn, who I had never seen before. Great band. And total sweethearts! They dealt with technical difficulties, customs hassles and generally high stress levels, and still performed like complete professionals. Local bands Ariel and Translucia also played that night. The following night's line-up consisted of My Scarlet Life and Parade. I really liked My Scarlet Life and they were also one of our bands at Convergence 4. They don't exist any more, but Preston has a half-dozen other projects depending on who is playing with him. Halloween itself was dedicated to silly punk'n'billy stuff with The Vampire Beach Babes and headliners The Brickbats. I liked The Brickbats, they were like full-sized cartoon characters. They came out on stage wearing pumpkins on their heads and generally acted rediculous. They were an enormous amount of fun. Since then the band has gone through a few personel changes and been reincarnated as The Brides, but I much prefered the old version. The Brides Convergence 10, Chicago IL: May 9 2004 Convergence is normally one big social drunk-fest. This one was kind of weird for me though, because there was a picket line at the hotel where it was being held, and I can't cross picket-lines. So all my socializing was done at the events in the evening and there were a lot of people I just didn't see much of. As a result, the bands took a much bigger role than they normally do. The first time I saw The Brides was with a slightly different lineup playing as The Brickbats - we hired them to play at Hallowmas. I loved the The Brickbats, they were goofy and fun. The Brides - well, they were good, and certainly the crowd seemed to love them. But they sounded a lot cleaner and I really missed the rawness and punky roughness of the old act. Of course my favourite act of that weekend was Goteki, who had everybody dancing up a storm. Manuskript are a fun band, very bouncy and energetic, I had previously seen them at Whitby and thought they were a lot of fun. I'd heard good things about Frank the Baptist, but they didn't really do it for me - I'd still check out their recorded material though. Passion Play and Arch Visceral Parlor were also on the bill. and Black Tape For a Blue Girl who are a swirly-goth band who are most definitely the direct opposite of my Thing, but who are nevertheless very good at what they do. That pretty much sums up my Convergence experience that year. Although it did involve a lot of drinking. Bunchoffuckinggoofs The Turning Point, Toronto Ontario: December 10 1983 There were a few punk clubs in Toronto in the early 80's - I remember the Turning Point, The Upper Lip on Yonge St, Quoc Té's in Kensington Market and Larry's Hideaway, which was kind of generic metal/punk/rock venue that would book anybody with a guitar. Anyway, a friend of my sister's dragged a group of us to the Turning Point one night to check it out. It was the first time I'd ever been in a punk club and I was utterly fascinated. And more than a little bit intimidated. We climbed the stairs that took us up over some store on a section of Bloor Street that was (at the time) way out of the normal shopping district. The owners seemed to be an older couple who really didn't seem to care what the customers did to the place. They served me half-warm beer out of a big cooler and I retreated to one of the big stuffed bench seats with the stuffing hanging out of the seams, sitting facing the front so I could watch the 'hawks slamming each other around in front of the stage. I was utterly bemused when I went to the bathroom - I could watch the people who were smoking up and leaning against the barely-holding-onto-the-wall sink through the giant hole that had been punched through the cubicle door. There were five bands on the bill that night, including The Terminals, Direct Action and Chronic Submission. 10,000 Screaming Apaches stuck out in my mind as one of the best band names I had ever heard. Bunchoffuckinggoofs were the last band on. They're a Toronto institution, that was 23 years ago and I still see flyers that they're still playing around town. 20 years later I walked into a little tiny hole-in-the-wall that used to be a restaurant and could maybe hold 30 people if nobody inhaled. The DJ played The Demics and Slow and old Stooges. You had to walk across the stage to get to the bathrooms, which were full of cigarette butts and grafitti. At quarter of two, the DJ would walk out into the middle of the floor and clench his fists, his eyes would close and his face would turn red, cords bulging out of his neck as he yelled, "LAAAST... CALLLLLLL!" It was like old times. Last Updated September 25 2006.
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