The Weakerthans with Constantines and Roy: 9/18/03, at the Troubadour, West Hollywood
Sep 19 '03
The Bottom Line After Six Years, I finally experienced The Weakerthans live. My friend, unfortunately, spent the show passed out** in the women's room.
This show was a long time in the coming for me. I've been a Weakerthans fan since the Winter of 1997/1998 when they released their first album, and yet, until last night at least, I'd never seen them perform live. Back in 2000, I almost caught them at the Fais Do Do, but I never made it for some reason, and always regretted it.
I have an ex-girlfriend who saw them live plenty of times, and she'd always described the show as something of a religious experience. I was full of anticipation and really excited to finally get the chance to see this concert.
I arrived at The Troubadour with my good friend Brenda fifteen minutes after the doors opened. The sign on the window already said "SOLD OUT", so I was grateful that I'd had the forethought to buy my tickets in advance. After a slight snafu involving the usual misspelling of my last name (everyone is quite sure it needs an "E" at the end), I got my tickets and found my way into the venue.
It was my hope that I could get a concert poster and a cd, so we went straight for the merch table to see what was available. No Weakerthans posters, unfortunately, so I decided to just pick up the new release by Constantines. (Normally, I wait until I've seen an opening act before buying their album, but since Lukasneville recently wrote a very complimentary review of this cd, I decided to go for it without even a listen. I figure, when Lukasneville calls something "the best release of the summer", you buy it!)
I slipped the cd into Brenda's purse and we grabbed a spot up front by the stage and talked about the upcoming Mates of State concert in October. After a short wait, the opening band assembled on the stage and the show began.
Roy
Well, first of all, I was very doubtful of this band from the start because of the name. What can I say? I just didn't like the name! But they quickly dissipated my prejudicial attitude with an incredible performance that combined an ass-kicking sound with an engaging stage presence. I really got into this bands set.
Roy is a Seattle based rock n' roll four-piece reminiscent of Jets to Brazil meets Oranger, which is to say that they skirt along the pop side of rock/emo. The two guitarists share equal time with lead vocals, and the bass player (assisted by whichever guitarist isn't fronting the vocals at the moment) provides backing vocals. Throw in some heavy drums, and this band creates a lush and infectious sound that really works.
I definitely suggest catching this act while they're on tour with The Weakerthans. They're apparently poised to release a full length soon, but they had plenty of EP's available at the show too.
For fans of Jet's to Brazil, Built to Spill, J Church and Oranger.
For more information and to hear songs: http://www.roytheband.com/
Constantines
My knowledge of this band was limited to lukasneville's review and a conversation I'd had with Pezking in which he basically said: Constantines? Yeah, they're really cool. We play them at the station a lot and people like them. (Pezking works the college radio in Florida.)
I was pumped to see what the buzz was about, and the band did NOT disappoint.
Imagine if Bruce Springsteen fronted a band that crossed the experimental inventiveness of Fugazi with the all out rock n' roll of Frank Black and the Catholics. Now imagine that this incredible hybrid were a Canadian five-piece recently picked up by Sub Pop records. (For distribution in the States at least.) Generally speaking, Constantines are not your run of the mill rock band.
Their set began with the ominous (and very loud) sound of an air raid siren, while the band members smiled geekily and waited for their cue to launch into their unique and wholly original attack. And launch/attack they did.
By the end of the first song, I was hooked. Brenda too was completely impressed by what we were witnessing.
I saw Weakerthans Drummer Jason Tait sit down on the stairs at the begining of the Constantines set. He was watching from the wings, and he stayed there until just about the last moment before heading back upstairs to prepare for his own set. John K. Samson dropped down for a moment at the end as well.
It's rare that I see a show where an opening act commands such a hold over a crowd. Often, a crowd merely gazes politely and waits for the headliner to take the stage. Not so last night. The crowd seemed genuinely engaged and fascinated by what was going on up there, despite this being the FIRST TIME Constantines have ever played in LA.
Constantines lead singer Steve Lambke (I think!), commenting on his first visit to Los Angeles, related a story where he went into an internet cafe and saw the woman working behind the counter pop on an aerobics video and start exercising while working!
After they finished their last song, Brenda and I both agreed that they had been a phenomenally interesting live act. I was glad to have purchased the cd before the show so that I didn't have to wait in what I was sure would be a crazy mob of new fans after the show!
For fans of Fugazi, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead, Burning Airlines, Cursive, Spoon, The Dismemberment Plan and At the Drive-In.
For more information, visit:
http://www.constantines.ca/
The Weakerthans
For those who aren't familiar with this Canadian four-piece, The Weakerthans blend the political influences of punk rock with literary and poetic influences to create a sound that's more than it's parts. It's not just emo, it's not exactly punk, and folk or alt-country would be too limiting a category for these guys. Somehow, they're able to blend all of these genre's and influences into an original style that's difficult to classify, but just as difficult to ignore.
The Weakerthans took to the stage to a pre-recorded accordion introduction and the applause of the eager fans. John K. Samson (lead singer, lead guitar and front man) was smiling as he thanked the crowd. His guitar was a beautiful shade of mint green, and it had a taped photograph of the ocean and some flattened pennies glued to it. He continued to grin as the band launched into Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call, the fourth track off their new album Reconstruction Site.
The set included just about every song off the new album, but disappointingly left out one of my faves Time's Arrow. More disappointing than that, however, was John K. Samson's noticeable lack of an acoustic guitar anywhere on the stage. He played none of my favorite acoustic-type numbers from their first album, Fallow, such as The Last Last One and Sounds Familiar. For that matter, the band didn't play ANY songs off of Fallow at all until the encore, when they broke into Diagnosis and Confessons of a Futon Revolutionist. (Although NOT the country-style version I was hoping for!)
All of this is really just a minor complaint. They played a very long set that included twenty songs, including five during the encore. I was particularly blown away with how really cool Prescience of Dawn was live. I was also glad that they played Left and Leaving and Elegy for Elsabet from their second album, Left and leaving.
While I'm not sure the experience quite reached the religious nature I'd been led to expect, I was very happy with the show and I highly recommend that fans of the band catch it when it comes through their town.
For more information, check out:
http://www.theweakerthans.org/
Set List:
*Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call
*Aside
*Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Focault in Paris, 1961)
*Pamphleteer
*This is a Firedoor Never Leave Open
*Uncorrected Proofs
*Reconstruction Site
*(Hospital Vespers)
*Plea from a Cat Named Virtue
*The Reasons
*Elegy for Elsabet
*Left and Leaving
*Watermark
*The Prescience of Dawn
*Without Mythologies
Encore
*One Great City
*Confessions of a Futon Revolutionist
*Diagnosis
*A New Name for Everything
*(Manifest)
**Not to worry, Brenda's fine! But due to a combination of the hot and crowded venue and the fact that she hadn't eaten since breakfast, she passed out in one of the bathroom stalls just before The Weakerthans hit the stage, and didn't wake up until the encore!
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Member: Ryan Stockstad
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