Day 3 was so good that I needed to give it a while to set in. Thus, I'm currently writing my review from Friday night, hungover to boot on Sunday morning when I'm really much more in the mood to be eating eggs and spooning my pillow. Do you see what I do for you people? This is the level of my commitment and professionalism!
Hahahah... yeah, that made me laugh too.
The night opened with Vancouver's Bend Sinister. It's a shame that these guys got the starting nod, because they put on a high energy set which had the handful of people in front of the stage bouncing to some fantastic tunes. I've only been following this band for a few months, but so far they've impressed and after finally seeing their live show, I can definitively say they have the complete package.
Second to invade was the act I would have paid cover for alone; Calgary's The Dudes. I had been waiting to see these guys live for 2 years, and it was unquestionably worth the wait and then some. They were as tight on stage as their album and still surprisingly frank and heartfelt even after probably touring on those songs hundreds of times. Rock on dudes... rock on.
After the Dudes, I honestly could have left, but the collective Ia(i)ns were there and wanted to stick around and hey... I'm never one to ruin a party. Jets Overhead were pretty cool, but very ambient and unoffensive. I could dig what they were doing, but as is my issue with so many bands, was hearing nothing that reached out and grabbed me. Hot Hot Heat closed the night, and I just don't like that band. Also, the singer's head looks like a watermelon on a toothpick.
In between the two was the unsurprisingly surprising Melissa Auf der Mar. After being apart of some massive bands in her life, I knew the girl would come with a boatload of rock cred, stage presence and moxy, what I didn't expect was the caliber of her songwriting. She had a great way of blending innocent, often creepy vocals with strong, earth-shattering guitars. Add to this that she has the greatest hair in the world for headbanging, and all in all... you've got yourself one entertaining set.
Now if you'll excuse me... I'm going to go re-evaluate my life choices and try to pick up the pieces of my poor, broken existence.
-Good try CMW... but this year, I had the upper hand