YEASAYER GIVE A PHENOMENAL PERFORMANCE IN MONTREAL!
Self-described alternative-experimental-indie Yeasayer played into a packed house at the Club Soda venue in Montreal this week, spoiling their fans that didn’t had the chance to see them in May 2010 at le National, the venue being sold out as well!
Hush Hush took the stage at around 8:30 pm for a 40 minutes experience… Yes, I do mean experience! For those present at the show you know what I mean. I didn’t know about Hush Hush and I am sure I wasn’t the only one… And I had no idea what to expect whatsoever.
You have to envision a stage fully loaded of guitars, bass , drums and more, and this man coming on the stage, alone, leading his way to a hidden laptop, and then boom!, the music was on, Hush Hush, mic in his hand started to sing with it and dance all over the stage. Well dancing may not be the right word, let’s say exaggerating dance movement making himself look ridiculous on purpose? That was surprising for many of us but with his charisma, energy and weirdness; he was able to get most of us into it. It was really strange to see how people froze at first but at the end, they were dancing and even singing along! He started with a jacket on, then off came the jacket, and then off came the shirt to finally end with a red cape with his name on the back. Hush Hush made me think of Jon Lajoie with his do-not –take-seriously-lyrics. The minute he left the stage he went to the merch table for the rest of the evening to sell his stuff. Quite a specimen!
Twenty minutes later, it was time for Smith Westerns to take place for nearly an hour. This rock band from Chicago, Illinois, was quite a contrast after seeing Hush Hush: not as energetic as him but really talented though. Even though they don’t move that much on stage and don’t give a memorable performance on stage, they work their music well. They played among others, Be My Girl, Girl In Love and Tonight from their self-titled debut album released in 2009 and, Weekend, Dye The World and Still New from their last full length released in January 2011. They were not too chatty with the crowd either but overall it was a good show. They will be back here this summer for the 2011 Osheaga Festival.
At 10:30 pm, the big glowing screens and glowing translucent stands lighted up to let us see Yeasayer coming on stage. Within seconds, the crowd screamed and went nuts! And I have to mention that it was a really mixed crowd: people in the twenties were as much present as people in the fifties, hippies, punks, people in suits, etc! All kinds of people were there and it was great to see that Yeasayer could touch so many different kinds of people. I have rarely seen that in a venue. From the minute they started the Club Soda became a big disco dancing, and as for me having never seen them live, I didn’t expect that but the ambiance over there was unforgettable. Chris Keating lead singer, Anand Wilder guitar and keyboard and Ira Wolf Tuton on bass, couldn’t look more confident. Wearing jeans and t-shirt, Keating was switching places constantly, singing and mixing, singing up front playing with a happy face balloon that of course, ended in the crowd. Tuton also in jeans and shirt, playing bass so at ease like a bass virtuoso who was born with his instrument in hand! Keating was chatting with us and told us that the first girl he ever kissed when he was 15 years old was coming from Montreal so that made the crowd scream of happiness knowing that. They tried like most of bands speaking with us in French but the best one was Wilder. He was pretty good in fact!
The connection between the band members is clearly there. Theses guys are definitely real musicians and artists. They played nearly for an hour an a half, hits after hits like Madder Red, Tight Rope, O.N.E., Wait For Summer, 2080, Mondegreen, Grizelda, Sunrise and many more.
Listening to their albums is one thing but seeing it live is another! There are so many things going on in Yeasayer’s music that I was curious to see how they would be able to reproduce that live and the result was super amazing. Their vocals were crystal clear and they were able to do everything tight and perfect. Even the lighting from the screens gave such energy and ambiance; it was definitely a phenomenal performance. It was great to catch this band in a smaller venue before they play in bigger venues or arenas because, in my opinion, they surely will!
Find out more about Yeasayer on these websites:
http://www.yeasayer.net
http://twitter.com/yeasayer
http://www.facebook.com/yeasayer
http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer
Category: Reviews
