I’m at a loss to post a major after-show write-up for Beck’s concert last night. First & foremost - I’m leery of ever attending a gig at the Ricoh Coliseum ever again. SIgh. It’s sad enough going to a show in a hockey arena - sadder still when the place is 2/3rds full. If the Flaming Lips can play the Phoenix…why can’t they book Beck there again? Was this just a very, very poorly promoted show? (It flew under my radar for quite awhile & the lack of adverts/announcements didn’t prompt me to pick up tickets until Saturday…)
There were ticket broker dudes selling seats for $20 & less outside the venue - wtf? I felt less sorry for my sucker-ass purchase than I did for the Beckster himself. How the mighty have fallen - or been poorly managed for the CDN leg of their tour. Damn. I remember lining up at midnight at the HMV on Yonge Street - with a mass of Beck-crazed youngin’s - to scam free tickets to his Sexxx Laws tour stop at the Phoenix in 1999. Even his gig at the Ryerson Theatre sold out in a week-ish & fit well with the great acoustics & soft-seater campus hall.
To continue my nit-pickery…the whole puppet schitck got kind of lame halfway through. I mean, I get it - if you’re looking at a video screen at a concert, you might as well be watching a puppet show - cool. deep. whatever. but meh. The Flaming Lips cover of ‘Do You Realize’ was great - especially since it was solo. I especially liked the Sea Change parts of the show with just Beck & his acoustic guitar….& the ‘Clap Hands’ hootennany with the mass communal percussion breakdown was thisclose to Ozomatli audience-participation-perfection.
Overall - a sold ‘B’ - but I was really expecting much more out of the gig’s atmosphere…& I think that I’d rather blame the Richoh & promoter than let any negative notes fall on Beck’s scrawny shoulders…
Surprised to see a ton of CanCon online today checking the Tuesday reviews - Malajube had a fantastic endorsement (Tho I can’t look at their album title & NOT think about visiting the Alabama state legislature & having the octogenerian tour guide repeatedly yell “Check out the ceiling there, Canada, the painters are trying to trick you…that’s why they call it a trompe d’oeil!
)& a somewhat patronizing, but gentle encouraging nudge to Born Ruffians.
I was super-surprised to see Born Ruffians more than hold their own on a blazing early afternoon set the Sunday of V-Fest…The Toronto date for their CD Release is oddly @ Neu+ral in Kensington Market - but what the hey, it’s $5…& worth the trip…
If you’re on or around UofT campus tomorrow night - pop by Hart House for a book launch w/ Sir Martin Gilbert for his newest Churchill release…
& speaking of books…& back to music…this Friday is a vital day to visit the Toronto Public Library @ Yonge & Bloor - It’s the first (maybe last?) day you can pick up tickets for a free gig at the Reference Libary on Saturday, November 18th…Until you open your own swanky indie salon, when else can you check out Elliott Brood & Great Lake Swimmers & The Old Soul in the company of books’n'mags & readers?!
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