Rage Against The Machine The Concert Hall, Toronto Ontario: March 31 1993 Lollapalooza Barrie, Ontario: July 10 1993 I really like Rage. They were idealistic, political, passionate, and appealed largely to the kind of people who like to yell FUCK in public places. Their Concert Hall show was the first time they played Toronto. Their opening band was Quicksand, a really energetic hardcore band. Immediately after the show I went out to the lobby and bought all their CDs. (Oh, how I long for those days of my youth, when bands use to fill their opening slot that fit thematically with the headliner, instead of the gig being sold off by the record company to the highest bidder.) I thought Rage were great, but I think they confused most of their audience. About midway through the show they stopped to read out some passages from Howl, and the aforementioned Fuck yellers had no idea how to take it. I thought it was hilarious, but then I'm a big fan of confusion as a subversive act. A couple of months later they ended up on the bill for Lollapallooza III. The actual headers were Primus, who I thought were kind of goofy, but still kind of entertaining. Other bands on the bill were Arrested Development, Alice in Chains, Dinosaur Jr, Fishbone (who are fucking great live), Tool, Babes in Toyland and Front 242. They made a point of telling the audience while on stage that they weren't selling any merchandise at the show because the prices were so inflated by the venue, and that people should order it from them for half the price. To this day I still wander by open doors of clubs on weekend nights and hear, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me," in a hundred drunken voices. Random Killing El Mocambo, Sneaky Dee's & other venues in Toronto Ontario: 1993-1999? These guys were one of my favourite punk bands for a really long time. They played good ol' straight-up, jump around and be really insane music that absolutely could not be beat. They also played a lot which is kind of the hallmark of good punk band anyway. It's music that's meant for live shows. There's a story somewhere in how they managed to get a song on Sesame Street. I'm not kidding. They have a song called Twelve that was broadcast with a punk muppet band jumping around. Pants-pissingly funny. Of course what always happens is there is a group of bands who are playing around the same time who always end up doing a lot of shows together. Since I was going to see Random Killing every time I could, I also got to see Armed & Hammered and Politikill Incorrect play with them a lot. Politikill Incorrect were noteworthy because they had two singers, and man and a woman who would rant, rather than sing, over the music. Now I really want to go out and see a bunch of punk bands. Damn. Real Gone Cadillac Lounge, Toronto Ontario: April 8 2006 The only reason I saw this band is because they opened for The Von Drats. I'm glad I did. They do a tight rockabilly set that had everybody bouncing, and they looked like they were having the time of their lives. I drank way too much and closed the bar down and woke up the next day feeling like shit. I did remember to buy a CD before they left though. Their encore was a fast rocking version of Swords of a Thousand Men and I was hoping it would be on the CD, but no such luck. Ah well. Guess I'll just have to go see them live again. Red Hot Chili Peppers Lollapalooza, Molson Park, Barrie: August 5 1992 I did't go to the first Lollapalloza because I was going through one of my "I fucking hate big shows" periods. (I get those every once in a while) and I refused to set foot in Molson Park. Then Jane's Addiction split up and I was pissed at myself for not going. So the second year, I decided to check it out. As well as the headliners, the lineup included Ministry, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam, and Lush. It was -- well, it was Lollapalooza. Hot, dirty, sore feet, expensive food and really long line-ups to use the filthy bathrooms. I ran into a bunch of people I knew, checked out some of the more interesting booths, ate a lot of crap and got a sunburn on my nose. I saw Soundgarden an additional time - at the Concert Hall in Toronto with Pantera opening. For the life of me I can't remember if it was before or after. Pantera were really loud and really dull. I really got into Soundgarden, but I remember thinking that Kim Thayil's guitar solo sounded exactly like the one from Up In Smoke. Rhea's Obsession Lee's Palace, Toronto Ontario: November 29 1997 Convergence IV, Toronto Ontario: August 21-23 1998 Labyrinth, Detroit MI: September 25 1999 Reverb, Toronto Ontario: November 2 2001 When I somehow managed to end up involved in putting on Convergence IV in Toronto - and I'm still not sure exactly how the hell that happened - Rhea's Obsession were the first band we signed on. At the time they were one of the pre-eminent bands of the Toronto goth scene. We opened the weekend with Masochistic Religion, who came out on stage to do a dirge-like set complete with coffin and flaming bible. I got the strong impression that none of the out-of-towners really "got" Masochistic Religion. The best name I heard for them all weekend was "The Gothic GWAR". Rhea's Obsession played the main band night with headliners Faith & The Muse and with The Changelings and My Scarlet Life. They all played their butts off and were fabulous to work with. We ended up bringing opening band My Scarlet Life back to Toronto to play at Hallowmas the following year. We finished off the weekend with An April March and many many drinks. Which hit me like a ton of bricks becase I hadn't slept all weekend. The next time I saw Rhea's was at a gig some friends were putting on in Detroit. My friend Nicole and I drove down, and ended up getting coralled into judging for the costume contest. Not too shabby, since there was a lot of eye-candy at the event and it gave me the perfect excuse to chat people up. The opening band turned out to be a really good act called New York Room. The lead singer was a really attractive woman wearing only a lace dress, black thongs, and gold body paint. And she could actually sing. I was really impressed with their set. And with, you know. The gold body paint. The last time I saw Rhea's was at the Book TV launch. Other than that they don't really seem to be playing gigs any more, although occasionally their mailing list will spit out news about a project or two. Robin Black And the Intergalactic Rock Stars Lee's Palace, Toronto Ontario: June 7 2003 A lot of my friends have panned this band so I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly impressed. This is a glam act. The entire band dresses in black with lots of glitter, sunglasses, tight tshirts and fog. The first song they came out with was called I'm Better Than You and that pretty much set the tone for the night. The stage personae is rock-god arrogance, and he actually manages to pull it off really well. At one point, he held up his hands to command the audience to cheer, and they did. Then he slashed his hands to get them to stop and they did that too. He did this a couple of times over the course of the night. Now that's not exactly a fancy trick, but it is one that 's going to make you look really stupid if you don't pull it off, but the audience did everything he told them too. I also saw him handle a couple of hecklers really well - make a come-back and then immediately slam into another song so they can't respond. And it's the type of act that is going to get hecklers just from it's pure obnoxiousness. The lyrics are fucking hysterical. The vocal reminded me a bit of T'aime Downe, but the music was much harder. It was good quality glam-metal, but a bit standard -- not a lot of variation. There were a couple of songs that I thought were quite catchy, but the real charm is in the lyrics and the pure energy that goes into the show. The venue was packed while they played and the entire audience was bouncing like mad. Most of them left as soon as the set was over. He definitely has a big following in this town. If I had any complaint at the time it was that he talks to much. There were frequent breaks while he made passionate speeches at the audience and got them yelling back responses. At the time I thought it was a bit overdone, but in retrospect I'm wondering if they were actually having technical difficulties - there was an awful lot of shuffling things around on the stage going on while he was doing this. If so, he does an admirable job of distracting the audience. So yeah. I was impressed. What's more, I'd go see them again. Last Updated April 9 2006.
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