The Pariahs Opera House, Toronto, Ontario: 1995 I went to a record release show for Swamp Baby because I was a friend of the singer. It wasn't terribly well-advertised, so the turnout wasn't great unfortunately. They did a respectable blues-influenced rock set. The opening band, however, really blew me away. The Pariahs were a dirty, gritty punk rock band that tore big fucking grooves in the stage. I bought the CD on the spot. Swamp Baby have split up, and unfortunately I've lost touch with Steve over the years. But I recently found out that The Pariahs still exist, which makes me very happy. Must get out to see them play again. Peter Fucking Murphy! Convergence VI, Seattle WA: May 29 2000 For me, Convergence VI was one of those experiences where you find out what happens when every person in the world exhibits the worst part of their personality. (Myself not excluded.) One of them thar "learning experiences" you always hear so much about. Still, time heals and memories fade, and as always there were things that rocked. One of them was hanging around with people that I hardly ever see. Another one was the "surprise guest" who headlined the last night, a performer ever after known as "it's Peter Fucking Murphy!" by the people who were present. It was an accoustic set, memorable both for the tiny size of the venue and for how laid back everything was. He came on stage wearing a typical Seattle grungesque hat, and joked with the audience between songs. Unfortunately for the rest of the bands, his presence kind of overshadowed the rest of the acts. Voltaire was demented and funny as always. Other bands that played were Attrition, Trance to the Sun, Unto Ashes and Faith & Disease. The Pixies Arrow Hall Toronto, Ontario: November 24 2004 What a fucking show. Somebody warned me ahead of time that the Pixies don't really do a very energetic live show, but fuck that, they were exactly perfect. The music is a lot more bounce-around-and-sing-along than moshpit anyway. They played everything I was dying to hear, including both versions of Wave of Mutilation. They did a lot of "mood" stuff with the lights that was actually surprisingly effective - lots of waving clouds and rippling water effects as well as the traditional flashing colours around. (I know, my terminology is so technical.) The opening bands weren't terribly impressive. The Marble Index were a mediocre indie band and the singer babbled at the audience between every song. The Datsuns were much more polished and I admit I kind of enjoyed their set. Axel hated them for being too "generic 70's rock noise". I guess you know you've arrived when you have a rathergood video set to your music. Arrow Hall is a cavernous venue and it was packed. And yet somehow I still managed to be exactly next to the most annoying dancing person in the place. It never fucking fails. P.J. Harvey The Spectrum, Toronto, Ontario: June 29 1993 Guvernment, Toronto, Ontario: 1996? I first heard PJ Harvey when my husband got a copy of Rid of Me and gave it to me because he didn't like it. I listened to it constantly in my car. When I heard she was going to be playing at the Spectrum I made plans to go. Unfortunately due to some timing screw-ups I ended up missing almost all of the show. When she came back, she was playing The Guvernment, a venue that was probably four times the size. This time I got to see the entire show, and it was a really good set. I remember thinking that she's really tiny. That or she plays mutant oversized guitars. The Police CNE Grandstand Stadium, Toronto Ontario: August 11 1982 CNE Grandstand Stadium, Toronto Ontario: August 5 1983 I missed the first one of these things, which pisses me off, because the Stooges and the Clash played. Curse of being poor at the time. Anyway, I caught the second and third at the CNE, which was an effin' massive venue with thousands of people. The second one included The Spoons, A Flock Of Seagulls, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, The English Beat and The Talking Heads. The following year, the opening bands were Blue Peter, King Sunny Ade & His African Beat, The Fixx, Peter Tosh and James Brown. I usually credit Jane's Addiction with being the first band to put together really eclectic line-ups for shows, but looking at the bands for that third year, I think maybe the Police actually beat them to it by 10 years. Given that this was over 20 years ago, I have no idea who I went to the show with, but I still remember all the acts. Mind you, it would have been hard to forget The Spoons. They opened for every single band I saw that decade. I ended up seeing both Blue Peter and The Fixx again at the old Ontario Place Forum. After that The Police broke up and Sting went off to become really boring. The Pretenders The Phoenix, Toronto, ON: 1994 My sister was a huge Pretenders fan and probably saw them a half-dozen times when we were growing up. Oddly enough I never really got into them However they played Toronto in '94 and and so we trucked out to see them. It was... odd. One of the first concerts where I started looking around at the audience and going, "Man, we're getting old". I don't really notice it so much with younger crowds because I'm too busy watchng the band, but when the audience gets all restrained and laid-back it's kind of hard to ignore. Now of course Chrissie Hyne is all up in PETA, which makes me roll my eyes. Prince Buster Palais Royale, Toronto Ontario: July 13 2002 I like ska plenty, but I know bugger all about it, so this show probably would have passed under my radar. However, Axel and Trevor are huge fans, so when we started seeing posters around for The Legends of Ska, they dragged me out to see it. And it was great. It was put together by some student who really loves the genre and wanted to see some of his favourite artists perform. It was obvious that he wasn't making any money out of this gig. The venue holds about 800 people comfortably so you could see everything. The audience was really diverse - everything from teenage punks to grey-haired Jamaican couples in their nicest clothes. And everybody was dancing like mad. Since ska geared towards DJs rather than towards live performances, some of these artists had probably never performed to such an appreciative crowd before. Prince Buster was the headliner, and he rocked the house. To my great amusement, had a "fluffer" who came out and worked everybody up before he hit the stage. I was also suprised at how young he looked - the man does not look capable of having had a 40-year career. Also on the bill were Justin Hinds, Lord Tanamo, Doreen Shaffer of the Skatalites, Mento Set, Derrick Harriot, and Stranger Cole and Patsy Todd. Fabulous show. It was on the strength of that experience that I decided I really wanted to go catch him when he played at the Pheonix four years later. Reggae artist Willi Williams was the opening act. That ended up being an interesting combination, we were among the very few people who stayed front-and-centre for both acts - most of the rest of the audience did a complete switch-over at the intermission. Both musicians were completely brilliant. The entire show turned out to be a fund-raiser for a group called Leave Out Violence, which I'd never heard of before. Psychopathos The Oasis, Toronto Ontario: May 24 2003 Bovine Sex Club, Toronto, Ontario: November 15 2005 I've seen this band twice by accident. The first time was when they and Zugha opened for the V-Twins. Most of the people there were to see the V-Twins, so there was a mass exodus to the front room as soon as Psychopathos got on stage. Axel in particular acted like his head was going to catch fire if he didn't get out of the room fast enough. The second time we just happened to be dragging Amon to a club on a Tuesday night and Bovine is kinda it. We didn't even know there was a band going on until we got there. The coin flip voted for going inside, so in we went. It turned out that a band called Blood Stain were on stage when we arrived. I knew absolutely nothing about them. They do a kind of early New York-style punk that is really easy to listen to. Not bad at all. When Psychopathos went on stage my friends were bitching about how bad the band is. The thing is, they aren't bad at all. They are actually really good at what they do - they just happen to do hardcore, and the majority of my friends hate hardcore. I enjoyed them regardless, and the majority of the other people in the bar seemed to be really into it. Most hardcore bands run into the issue that it sounds like all the same song, and these guys definitely don't have that. One day I'd like to catch them when I'm actually with somebody who likes that kind of music, it would give me more of an opportunity to really appreciate them properly. Last Updated November 30 2006.
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