champion
My friend Shea got hooked up with some freebies to Kanye on Wednesday night and was gracious enough to invite me along.
We got to the Garage just as this guy was finishing up his set. I didn't really hear enough to pass judgement, but I will note that if he never gets to play a stadium again, he can at this take comfort in the fact that he got to drag along what seemed like everyone he knew onto the stage with him.
I always forget just how many singles Ludacris has released, which led to be being surprised that I recognized nearly his entire set. He mostly stuck to rocking his radio hits, and also made the wise decision to play annotated versions of the songs that he's done guest verses on. I'm going to assume that last night was the closest I'll get to ever seeing a live rendition of Ciara's "Oh." Luda was pretty energetic, but it felt like he went to "stadium hip hop show cliche" training camp before the tour started. The crowd ate it up, but some of antics were a little campy.
If the crowd were into Luda, they were absolutely mental when Kanye kicked into "Through the Wire" to start his set. He kept the banter to a minimum, and mostly let the music do the talking, and although I'm one those people who finds the "Louis Vuitton Don" more funny than obnoxious when he starts to yammer, that was still fine by me. Joined on stage by a sizable string section (that included a harp), some horns, a keyboardist, and a DJ, the instrumentation was a little more filled out than the last time I saw him (with just A-Trak working the decks at Sasquatch). On some tracks, like "Jesus Walks," the miniature symphony was pretty amazing, but on some of the other tunes, they were a bit superfluous. The pacing of the set was a bit weird to. All in all, he's not, as claimed, "the greatest show on earth," but it was pretty damn good.
In other Kanye news, Graduation is already certified double-platinum.
Paradise Island (aka Jenny Hoyston of Erase Errata) plays with Tara Jane O'Neil, Kellarissa, and Self Help at the Secret Space (next to the Emergency Room) on October 27th.
Later that night at the Emergency Room, Mutators, Vapid, Nu Sensae, and Ladies Night play Misfits covers. Consider this my formal request for a Wire cover night some time in the future. That's base purely on my adoration for Nu Sensae's snarling take on "12XU."
While we're talking covers, it's worth mentioning that Shake Appeal (featuring members of Ghost House, Sun Arise, Master Apes, and the Parallels) will be doing Stooges covers at the Cobalt on October 27th.
Check the trailer for the forthcoming Ladyhawk documentary. (thanks Pinder)
I usually try to keep it local, but I wanted to point out that VFest is coming to Calgary. This may be significant to some of you because it's scheduled for the same weekend as Sled Island, and the potential conflict is causing the organizers of the latter a bit of stress apparently. Hopefully they get it sorted out, because the Sled Island line up was about 10 times as good as VFest was out West.
Sasha Frere-Jones thinks he's smart. Carl Wilson actually is.
Thanks to everyone who commented/emailed about the 7" thing... anyone other advice is also welcome.
How was the Fool's Gold tour at Celeb's last night? I've been out to shows every other day this week, so I opted to sleep for more than four hours last night.
Labels: kanye west, ludacris, show announcements, show recaps
9 Comments:
I dunno 'bout Fools Gold, but Akron/Family was just bizarre. Two hours, interminably long jams, quasi-dance music, four new band members, etc. I did score a pretty awesome t-shirt though!
By 
, at
2:04 p.m.
i got to fools gold around 12:30.
which meant it was pretty much a-trak and kavinsky busting out all the heavy hitters... and on the celebrities sound system too! dear lord, that system is incredible.
there was about 50 million (give or take a few) stops in the beat, and a lot of breakdowns. i think i would have been a lot more into it had i been half as high as everyone else there. i'm not saying that in a bad way, i think i was just tired.
no one should ever let me write a review again.
glad i didnt go to akron... that sounds like too much jamming for my tastes.
d: did you miss kid sis? if i knew she was on early i would've gone.
OMG Ladyhawk documentary! AHHHH!!!
a-trak played tag team with mehdi and it was tremendous. not sure what 'stops in the beat' means cuz i didn't notice that, but the selections were good and not really the obvious anthems you would expect at a dj show. kid sis really rocked the crowd early on a little mini stage. catchdubs played a great warmup set too and i think deserves way more credit than he gets. kavinsky played last and it was kinda meh.
c
By , at
9:27 p.m.
Kid sister was awesome, she went on at roughly 12 i think. played six or seven songs which were sick, i was up front and loving it. The show once again suffered from "Justice Syndrome" aka people were very moshish at a dj set. Mehdi and Atrak absolutely killed, it was probably the best set I've ever experienced live. Kavinsky was pretty wasn't great, he tended to play his same arpegiated loop (i think the song is called wayfarer) and had a lot of musical buildups that didn't deliver. Also his set was plagued with technical difficulties.
akron was something to behold albeit it was too long...felt like i was in a cult worship sing-a-long.
yeah, i totally missed kid sis, i had a night full of animation fundraisers and art shows to catch first.
Ladyhawk are very egotistical.
Quinn, didn't you say that Akron was your favorite show last year?
By , at
7:02 p.m.
