Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) are one of those bands that has constantly been on my playlist for years. Their music going above and beyond my expectations, with 20 minute tracks being more or less the norm, with so many rises and falls in energy, each album, even each song is a journey in itself to listen to. So it comes as no surprise that when I found out that they would be getting back together for a tour after almost 10 years of being split up, I jumped at the chance of seeing them (the last 5 shows on the tour, all being in their hometown of Montreal, sold out very quickly, I was lucky enough to get a ticket). They played at Theatre St Catherine, a neat little venue who’s modern exterior and entrance contrast highly with the interior, which looks and feels like a very old playhouse, with the leveled floors and large stage area. The only downside was that there seems to be no air conditioning in this building, so when packed to capacity, it can get very, very hot, and the temptation to peel off the layers is almost impossible to resist, even if that means taking off everything (no one did, whether that’s lucky or unlucky I’ll let you decide).

The excitement was in the air waiting for GY!BE to come on and blow us away with their intense soundscapes. No one, especially not me, could have been prepared for what happened next.

Dreamcatcher

A local two piece noise-art-rock band. I would say no offense to my following statement, but I really honestly want to offend this duo in hopes that they will stop creating this nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, noise music, when done right, can be quite beautiful and interesting (i.e.: John Cage), but this was as directionless as a 14 year old trying weed for the first time. It was a horrible 30 minutes of random noises, horribly out of tune, heavily effects ridden guitar, directionless drum patterns that appeared and disappeared from thin air at random intervals, and what I strain to call vocals (as far as the word can be stretched) over top, like those stereotypical "avant-garde" poems you see in films. The fact that this group is from Montreal shames me. As one of my friend's aptly put it, it was an "alien abduction gone wrong."

But it was all made up for.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Despite the heat, the terrible opening act and the packed, crammed conditions on the floor, this group took me to another world. The entire show started with an underlying drone, with each member of the eight-piece band coming onto the stage, one by one, slowly picking up their instrument and adding to the drone, a message from one of the four projectors at the back placing a single word at the back, seemingly a symbol for all we seem to have to cling to these days; “Hope”. From then the song swelled and thinned with such perfect timing, really making the audience feel the emotions put forth in their songs which can only truly be described as epics, each and every one (not in that “oh man that was so epic!” meme kind of way but in the actual sense that each song is a full journey with a story behind it). They played a number of songs (what the names were I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but I recognized them all) and went through them almost seamlessly for two and a half hours, stopping to play only once or twice throughout the set, and even then only for maybe two minutes tops. While the band was playing, the projectionist was working his magic, posting various clips from slides of books, to films of factories, streets, trains, tunnels, cars etc and manually superimposing them with the four different projectors, adding his own effects using a bowl and his fingers to provide interesting effects, even going so far as melting the film on screen. The band, coupled with the projections, made the night a full experience, as it hit me full force, audibly, visually and physically. I let myself go for the set, really feeling the entire experience, so much so that it is almost indescribable without having been to the show yourself.

One thing that did grate on me a bit, though, was that the show did not entirely feel like a concert. It had this whole pretentious air set forth by the band itself, for not once did they acknowledge the audience, there was no interaction. The fact that the band came in one by one at random, as though this was either a random occurrence, or an audio-visual exhibit in an art gallery. This was only really a pet peeve brought forth by all the other shows I have seen in the past, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor was a show like I have never experienced before, despite how tired, sore and sweaty I was after, it still ranks as one of the best shows I have seen. If you ever get the chance to see them, please do, you’ll not regret it.

Lakes of Canada - Broken Mirrors EP release.

So on April 30^th Lakes of Canada had their EP release show at Grumpy’s. This was a late running show with two opening acts, but it was more than worth it. Grumpy’s is a small bar on Bishop Street here in Montreal that seems to be the favored spot for Lakes of Canada to play. The stage area is just a small raised corner next to the bar, just big enough to fit all four members of the band. Whenever I walk into Grumpy’s my first thought is never “this is a venue”, rather it is something more along the lines of “I feel like I should be a bitter old man here.” However the bar staffs are all very friendly, and any time I’ve been it is both Ram and this other guy, both seem to be in their late 20s/early 30s, which helps to diffuse the illusion that the bar is an old man bar. The prices are fair to average, though when you get a mixed drink you definitely get more than your money’s worth of hard liquor.

I know, I know. Enough about the bar, I suppose I should get to the music now.

As mentioned, there were two opening acts, both of which being solo musicians, who sang a few songs together within both of their sets, which actually proved to be quite a nice surprise. The entire night had that acoustic-folksy air to it.

David Simard

David Simard played an interesting set. His music is a folksy/country style music that seems like it would be more suited to an acoustic guitar, however he played on an electric, and with a bit too much tremolo at times (though I apologize if that was just the PA at Grumpy’s). He’s got a really great, low voice (I’m not quite sure if he’s too high to be baritone or too low to be alto, so I’m just going to stick with low) and his songs really helped set the mood for the night. He’s got some really catchy tunes, however my one complaint would have to be his guitar work. I felt like his songs were a bit too repetitive, so much so that I started to predict exactly when he would do minor chord changes.

Most of his chord strumming was the same for almost every song as well, the generic pluck of the bass note followed by the rest of the chord. That being said he really is a good musician, I just feel as though he should throw in some more strumming patterns so that he can capture the audience’s attention even more so. In one song he started to use his mouth to emulate trumpet noises, this was an interesting effect, because on the one hand it made me laugh pretty hard at how random it was, however it worked very well within the song, so kudos David Simard for making me laugh as well as impressing me with your mouth-trumpeting skills.

Brie Nielson

Brie Nielson plays music that is very similar to Simard’s, only with an acoustic. I would say that between the two of them, Nielson has the better voice, while Simard is the better musician. Nielson’s guitar work left a lot to be desired, though that is understandable, seeing as how she was playing and singing by herself, mostly. At times she would call on Simard or Jake Smith from lakes of Canada to sing with her, and for one song even the bartender Ram came up and sang with her,

which made for a very interesting vibe that one would not normally get at a show. Nielson also did the mouth trumpet, afterwards saying “you can tell David Simard and I play music together.” This brought to mind the question of why they do not play together all the time.

Honestly I must say that between the two sets, my favorite songs were those where Simard and Nielson played together. They work very well together, their voices complement each other quite well, as dies their musicianship. If it were up to me, I would get them to drop their individual solo acts and just merge together to create a wonderful duet, writing all of their songs together, switching up who leads the singing between them.

Lakes of Canada

This band is always great to see live. There is never a dull moment in any parts of any of their songs. Every note, whether its sung, strummed or hit rings out with so much emotion that you feel them, the songs move you, whether it’s a feeling of love, loss, lust, nostalgia, happiness or sadness, each song makes you feel a whole range of emotions. Not only was this night a release night for their new EP “Broken Mirrors”, but it was also the first night that they played a show with their newest member: Tim Dobby.

Previously, whenever I’ve seen Lakes of Canada play they were always a trio of Jake, Conor and Chris. Before that night I would have never said that anything was missing, until now. Tim fills the band out perfectly, his very low voice fills out the four harmonies, which they pull off very precisely and works superbly, and his guitar playing is nothing short of magical. Watching his right hand move when playing is nothing short of mesmerizing. Now that I’ve heard what the band sounds like with him, remembering what they sounded like before makes me realize that they really were missing that extra little oomph. These guys don’t need anything more to their music now though, everything they do works perfectly in conjunction with their singing and their style, and I feel like these guys should go far, they’ve definitely worked hard to get these songs going, because four vocal harmonies coupled with a whole slew of instruments playing in sync with each other is no easy task.

It was also a nice touch for their last song to have Brie Nielson and David Simard come on to "help them out" with some backup singing. Their songs are catchy, they’ve got great stage presence (even though Grumpy’s stage is a tiny raised platform) and constant crowd interaction (Before playing the song "Mr. Kitty Fantastico" Jake mentioned that it was Ram's favorite song, I must say it is definitely one of my favorite songs of theirs, I would be disappointed if they hadn't played it as well) which really helps to keep them in mind. If you ever get a chance to see them, you definitely should.

They’re playing again on Friday, May 13^th at Divan Orange, and they should be going on a little tour this summer around Canada and the US, so check their website (just click on their name at the top of this paragraph) for future dates, some free sounds, so on and so forth.

Also, if you want a copy of their EP, message me in the comments with an email or number or whatever with some contact information so that I can mail you one, or bring one to you, or you could just get up off your asses and get to their shows to buy an EP from them (really, the best option). Or download and buy it HERE

All the pictures were taken by me, I went a little trigger-happy with the camera, even in very non-ideal lighting conditions with no flash, so sue me if the quality isn't so great.

The Journey Towards the Paths of Light - The Oracles

So, given certain circumstances wherein I have temporarily lost the ability to play guitar, I have decided to start reviewing bands based on albums/random recordings and whatnot. In this post, I will be reviewing “The Journey Towards the Paths of Light” which is an EP by the progressive-metal band The Oracles.

The band’s line-up consists of Chris Nuelle on vocals and guitar, George McKenzie on guitar, James Pearce (also a member of Stone Circle) on bass, James Stewart (also a member Vader and Divine Chaos) on drums and more recently (not featured on the EP) Alan Webb (also a member of Ancient Ascendant) on keyboards. This 5 song EP is

Fading:

This opening track starts off with some mild keyboards, vocals and guitar (I’m assuming there’s an Ebow being used here) building up to a slower paced track that serves as an intro to the album, it keeps this slow pace with some mildly distorted guitars which builds up to a slightly heavier version of the same riff (chords instead of notes) all the while with the bass shining through clearly, keeping everything in line. At the 2:50 mark there is a nice and smooth changeup to a slightly faster riff, this song is clearly influenced by Opeth and Enslaved respectively (very Akerfeldt-like clean vocals, with simple yet crisp, driving guitars like Yvar). The track ends with a guttural-vocal segue into the next track

The Journey:

One can tell Nuelle was heavily influenced by Opeth and Enslaved by this track alone. His guttural vocals are definitely an intricate mix of both the bands, his lows much more like Akerfeldt’s and his mids highly reminiscent of Grutle. I must say The drumming on this track is not so impressive; it keeps a simple beat, with an almost constant double-kick pattern throughout. The guitar-work on this track is very mixed as well; when there is a pattern of palm-muted chords it has a distinct Enslaved feeling, while alternatively whenever there are individual notes that ring through, they are very distinctively Opeth-like. This song is definitely a contender for my favourite on the EP, as it is very high energy and really makes me want to move around and head-bang my way through the ages.

Towards the Paths of Light:

Right off the bat this song goes straight to the point, opting for the ever-appropriate heavy build-up starting with palm-muted notes, moving onto the same notes left to ring out. When the vocals kick in at 0:45, even though there is a drop in the energy, you can tell something big is coming. At 1:00, it has arrived. Hands down this is my favourite song on the EP if only for that riff alone (which gladly returns with slight alterations). It is Nuelle’s guitar-work like this that make this EP what it is: a wondrous work of art. By no means is this riff entirely complicated or technical, but the genius lies within its simplistic beauty. The midpoint of the song, at 2:40, is an interesting use of a drop in energy, because it previously had such energy, dropped it all, started raising it back up then completely dropped it by the 3:30 mark, when Nuelle comes back in with his clean vocals, which are not at their strongest at this point on the EP (a bit like Akercocke at times, though still infinitely better than Jason Mendonca’s clean vocals) but they pick back up again after another crushing riff at the 5 minute mark. The closing of this song really gets me pumped, when Nuelle’s vocals kick back in you can really feel the urge to sing along to this little British boy’s crooning.

The Dawn:

Porcupine Tree… Porcupine Tree, Porcupine Tree, Porcupine Tree. I don’t care what you say; this song starts off sounding like Porcupine Tree with heavier guitars. Stewart’s drumming really picks up in this track, not quite as technical and all over the place as Gavin Harrison, but enough to make sure that you know he’s there, and knows what he’s doing. At the 2:00 minute mark it definitely changes, no longer sounds anything like Porcupine Tree, much more like, once again, Opeth. The solo at 2:58 really feels genuine, you can feel the emotion in the bends, and it does not go the path that so many solos do: pointless wankery. This is a good example of the guitarist letting the solo lead him along, even though it is short, it is more powerful and satisfying than any solo I have heard any guitarist in the same vein as Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) has done, for he takes it and runs as fast as he can, never stopping to savour any of it, or seeing where it could go. The ending of this track hits its peak, and then drops completely, save for a small amount of keys ringing through to the final track.

Faded:

Starting with a yell (not quite as impressive as Tom Araya of Slayer in “Angel of Death”), this track drives the album home quite nicely. The vocals are very much Opeth like once again, complete with a slight voice crack. In fact this entire track is very reminiscent of Opeth in their glory days (My Arms, Your Hearse. Still Life.); it is filled with crushing riff after crushing riff with a good mix of clean and guttural vocals. The most brutal, death-metal like part on this entire EP lasts but ten seconds, between 3:50 – 4:00, and it is one of the few riffs that really makes me want to get up and throw down in a mosh pit (which I never do). The song then plays out to a very light, “Weakness”-like keyboard progression.

My final thoughts on this EP are that it is truly a work of art. The way every song flows smoothly into one another, every riff, the way it has been masterfully mixed and mastered, everything about it rings true to what progressive-metal should be. This is definitely a band to keep an eye out for; you can order the EP HERE. Hopefully, after Stewart finishes touring with Vader, The Oracles can come around and do a world tour so that I can see them live here in Canada and so that the world can hear these tunes.

TV on the Radio and Lissy Trullie

NOTICE:

I have just been informed that at the show, TV on the Radio was not playing with Gerard Smith, they had a stand in for the last few shows, as he was battling lung cancer and just recently passed away. You can read more information on this Here

So yesterday, on a whim, I went to the TV on the Radio show and I still feel pumped with it fresh in my mind. So I figured I should just get off my lazy ass and write my review. Firstly, I feel that I should mention that before seeing them, this was not a band I was super into nor did I really know anything about them aside from the fact that I had heard and enjoyed a couple of their songs here and there. It was really a random decision to go, my friend Mike (from Relic) was going and asked if I wanted to come, I said sure and bought my ticket like a week before the show, and his sister decided last minute to come with us as well. For some reason we decided to get to the venue early, and hang around with a super empty floor, which was actually a pretty good blessing, because throughout the show we were dead center, right at the fence.

Lissy Trullie

This was an interesting band; they were alright though not entirely my preferred style of music. They were very much an indie rock band and you could see the influences of a whole bunch of different bands (mainly 80s style) here and there, such as The Church (from the Donnie Darko soundtrack), and The Smiths (especially in the use of guitar effects & noises). While they did not hold my attention 100%, their upbeat songs were undeniably catchy and much better than their slower, more melodramatic songs. This group of four from New York were not too shabby, though Lissy, the frontman singer guitarist, was obviously nervous and should have slowed down her talking a bit; I had to search Google to find out what the band name was, as she said it once, very quietly and quickly. I don’t know how far they’ll make it, but if you’re into a lot of indie rock (I’m super picky about it) you should definitely give them a listen. (Though after listening to their recorded tracks, their live shows are much better and differentiate a fair amount in the use of tones, effects etc).

TV on the Radio

These guys really blew my mind. Being dead center was glorious for these guys because the crowd was not too rough (I’m used to the metal crowds), so I didn’t have to hold myself back from the bouncing crowd too much, though my back is sore from a shorter girl constantly punching my back when jumping around during the second half of the show. They opened their set with “Young Liars,” a good track to start with, as it builds up and starts to bring the audience into the groove.

They played through a relatively short set, most likely due to the fact that the singer, Tunde Adebimpe, mentioned that his voice was “broken” (most likely sick). Regardless of that, one could not tell that he was sick or had a broken voice (as far as I could tell, no real screw-ups), because the entire night went off without a hitch, leaving the crowd more than pleased, but not overly tired (they ended a bit before 11:00). They played for a little under an hour and a half, playing four tracks from their new album “Nine Types of Light” which was released April 12th 2011. The two guitarists: Kyp Malone and Dave Sitek, along with Tunde, kept the crowd full of energy throughout, with such great stage presence that I have only otherwise seen with The Mars Volta, with Tunde dancing around the stage, Kyp hopping all around and Dave all over the place, sometimes with a wind-chime attached to the head of his guitar (which I have not seen before). Another noteworthy member is Gerard for his catchy-as-all-hell bass lines, keeping everything groovy and funky, once in a while putting his bass down to play some keys (though Sitek at times would be playing 2-3 instruments at once; bells, guitar and keys). There was no real crowd/band interaction, but that was fine, because when a band gets the crowd moving around this much there’s no real need for that, aside from the obligatory compliments to our wonderful city of course. To any of you interested, the set was:

I managed to grab a set list after the show, as did Mike.

I’ve been listening to their tracks all day today and they have songs for all occasions, though everything feels very upbeat and happy, I always feel like bobbing along, I’ve been in a good mood all day thanks to these guys. This is definitely a band to check out live if you ever get the chance, very happy, very bouncy, and very good.


-All pictures in this post were taken by Mike and his fancypants iPhone-

A bit late

So I’m now officially done school for the summer, I might as well get back to writing here.

The last show I went to was the Protest the Hero show with TesseracT, Veridian Cityscape and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.

There was another band, but I can’t remember their name and was not impressed enough to care, no offense if anyone knows/likes them. Their sound was terrible, as was their music. If you want to be taken seriously, don’t “hardcore dance” on stage with a keytar.

Veridian Cityscape

I actually bought my second ticket to the show from one of this band’s vocalists, Cody. A very impressive, high energy band that’s great for some heavy times. Not entirely a run-of-the-mill metalcore band, as they have some interesting ideas in their music, but still a brutal metalcoreband. Definitely worth a listen if you like the style, or if you’re in the mood for some energetic and heavy stuff.

TesseracT

I don’t really know what else to say other than I love this band. I first saw them with Devin Townsend last year and they blew me away then, even moreso now that I’ve had a chance to really get to know their music. These guys are really talented all around, with crazy riffs that leave your jaw on the floor. Really nice guys as well, very down to earth, as they were just sitting behind the merchandise area before and after their set, selling their wares and talking to the fans. If you ever get a chance to see these guys: do it. You won’t regret it. These guys really need to go out and do a headlining tour of their own, they deserve it.

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

Honestly, I was not overly impressed with this band either. Their lead guitarist looks like a surfer douche from the 70s. He came out wearing aviators and a wife-beater. Musically these guys are not too shabby, with an interesting southern-rock/metal quality to it, they do keep you interested. That being said, the singer detracts entirely from it and almost kills it entirely. If they got rid of their singer and added someone decent I would definitely keep listening to this band. Being as they are now, I can’t listen to a song for very long without having to turn it off out of annoyance.

Protest the Hero

I’ve liked this band for a while, their album Kezia ranking quite high for a while. Though I was fairly unimpressed overall with the quality of their show. It appeared as though they came out completely wasted, as they were stumbling a bit, and were making a fair amount of sloppy errors while playing the songs (at least I hope the sloppiness was because of drinking, otherwise their albums are nothing but lies). The sound was also very unbalanced, as majority of the time I could hear vocals and drums, but no bass or guitar. The singer came out with a wig on his head, making him look like Zach Galifianakis from The Hangover. Though they did play some great songs that rang out clearly, such as Bloodmeat and Heretics & Killers.

I guess that’s all I really have to say about that show… As a whole it was not the greatest I’ve been to, but seeing TesseracT was more than worth it, as well as the novelty of seeing Protest the Hero, a band I’ve listened to for ages.

In any case, there will be more shows coming up, especially looking forward to seeing the Deftones with Dillinger Escape Plan.

More to come!

I know I keep leaving, then coming back, then leaving, but things have gotten really busy with me lately and I have not had much time to write here, what with school, work and now two bands I am working with. So here is just a little post about the two bands, as well as a heads up to some awesome shows I will be heading to in the coming months!

So first off, here’s some info about the two bands I am currently involved in.

Deterdjent

http://www.facebook.com/DeterdjentBand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GazZN3S9LXI

This is a very heavy, progressive metal style band, in the vein of Periphery, Meshuggah and Tesseract (as mentioned in a previous post!), and their “Djent” style. I am in this band as guitarist with Joe Wazana (Guitar) and Amr Elsaid (Drums). Filled with crunchy, badass riffs (on Agile 8-string guitars) and crazy technical polyrhythmic drumming, we’re sure to appease both the music nerd and metal head within you. We’ve only got one song up at the moment “Transcend” but we will have more awesome tracks up soon, along with an EP in the summer, as well as some shows, so keep an eye out for some Djenty goodness.

Relic

http://www.facebook.com/RelicMusic

This band is very different from Deterdjent in many ways. First off it is an indie-styled rock band, with sort of an “anything goes” mentality to it, where one song can be a catchy, upbeat rock tune, the next will be a nice, mellow post-rock song. In this I play bass, with Mike Fitch (guitars, keys, and vocals), Reuben War (guitars, keys, and vocals), Matthew Coelho (vocals, guitars, and synthesizer) and Corey Craigmyle (Drums). This band has an EP out, and hopefully soon some more tracks, and we will definitely be playing shows, to keep the catchiness going, and the indie kids will love us, then hate us (cause once you go past 82 fans, you’re too mainstream for the true indie fan!)

So those are the two bands I’m in, check them out, like them on Facebook, listen to the songs, enjoy!

Some upcoming shows that I will definitely be reviewing:

Protest the Hero – March 25^th (At Le National)

Lakes of Canada – April 30^th (At Grumpy’s) Everyone go see them!

Deftones – May 4^th (At Metropolis)

There will be more, I just can’t think of them right now, and I’m too lazy to check the web.

-N

Devin Townsend & Rammstein

So I meant to write a post a while ago, November 2nd to be exact, about the Devin Townsend Project show I went to, but I got sidetracked and became super busy with schoolwork and family stuff and whatnot, so here's a double post about two different shows:

Show #1: November 2nd, 2010:

Myself and my two friends, John and Zach, went to see the Devin Townsend Project at Cafe Campus. It took us a little while to find out exactly where it was sadly, even with my android phone with google maps, and we were becoming a bit impatient and worried, as we had purchased Meet & Greet tickets. When we finally found the place, things were running a bit late, and we had to wait a little while before actually getting in. Once we were all let in finally, we were led to a little space at the back of the venue, where Devin was just standing there, playing some ambient guitar on his acoustic, saying hi and shaking peoples' hands, joking around and just being an all-around nice guy.

It was a great experience, as I have loved Devin's works since Strapping Young Lad, and have enjoyed every album he has released since. It was great hearing him play some acoustic songs, and talk about how important it is to be true to yourself, and make any music you want to make, be what you want to be etc. He even said himself that he's very hippie these days, and that you should not buy into the whole rock star image, as it almost inevitably leads down a path of self destruction through drugs, alcohol and whatnot, mentioning that he still has to go home, as touring takes its toll, pay the bills, take care of his kid, shovel the driveway etc. It is always great to learn that one of your musical heroes (at least to me, being a musician) just wants to be treated like a regular guy, and does not want to be this rock star god persona that so many people are, being jerks to their fans. It's also great that he's Canadian as well.

Afterwards, John, Zach and I went to the Bell Province down the street to grab some food and wait for the show to start. We got in just as the first opening act was finishing their set, but they really only played around 3-4 songs from what I heard, not getting much time or sound in.

Today I Caught the Plague:

http://www.myspace.com/todayicaughttheplague

This band was an interesting metal/hardcore style band hailing from Ottawa, Ontario. Musically they are fairly technical, in a similar vein as Protest the Hero, however I was not a big fan of the vocals, for I could not understand a word he said when screaming, and the first words of the first song sounded like he was screaming: "YABABABA BABABAAOOOWWW!"Which does not sit well with me, personally. Though he did look a lot like Guile from the Street Fighter series of videogames.

Tesseract:

http://www.myspace.com/tesseract

These guys are a great band from England, playing some awesome Progressive style metal. Immediately when the band started playing I got a huge Meshuggah vibe from them, and was immediately skeptical, as I've heard several bands that try to be exactly like their influences but just come off as terrible, because it is not their own music. However, they stray quite a bit from Meshuggah's sound, with more melodic moments, but keeping with seemingly sporadic rhythms chugging through, with some amazing breakdowns here and there. Very nice people as well, as I had a small chat with them at one point after their set, waiting for Devin to come on. Definitely check these guys out and buy their EP, or a tshirt, or both.

Devin Townsend Project:

http://www.myspace.com/devintownsenddtb

Devin Townsend is one of my heroes, as I said before, and his show was just another reason why. After meeting the man, with his calm friendly nature, it was like there was an almost completely different man on stage, in a blazer, acting crazy on stage, with his high screams, low growls and almost operatic singing. He played a number of songs both heavy and not so heavy from all his albums with the Devin Townsend Project, before mentioning that he was going to play his obligatory "last song," go offstage with the band for five minutes, then come back on for an encore (as a side note, I loved the fact that he mentioned this, as it is very true, there really is no point for a band to say its their last song anymore, everyone knows they're going to come back for an encore, it seems they just want to stroke their egos via the crowd cheering). It was great to hear the first encore song, as it was one of his older songs, "Earth Day." It was all in all a great show in a small venue. If you ever get the chance to see Devin Townsend, you definitely should, he really is a big joker.

Show #2: December 9th, 2010:

So here's a bit of back story to this. Originally, I saw Rammstein in Quebec City this summer, and was not entirely bummed out when I found out they sold out their Montreal (my hometown, a three hour drive away from Quebec City) show in under an hour. However, three days before the show, my friend Tomas asked me if I wanted to go see them, as he had an extra ticket. I immediately jumped at the occasion, and proceeded to listen to Rammstein until the day of the show. They played at the Bell Center, which is an alright venue, the sound really is hit or miss, luckily the sound was brilliant that night.

Combichrist:

http://www.myspace.com/combichrist

This was an odd band, the singer looking like something out of a video game wearing all black with some white body paint, and a false metallic spinal chord at his back, blowing white powder here and there. These guys were good, though not exactly a group I would go out of my way to see, rather listen to at home, or in a bar. They have a nice sound of industrial/electro metal, sort of like a heavier Nine Inch Nails at times, though their singer could use some tips from Trent Reznor, in my opinion. Their stage presence was good, but the lights they used were a bit much, their strobe lights were much too strong and overbearing, as I had to look away at times before they gave me a massive headache.

Rammstein:

http://www.myspace.com/rammstein

Honestly, I don't know where to begin. This is a band I have been listening to since I was 14, and have wanted to see live since then. I got my first chance to see them in Quebec City, which in and of itself was an amazing show with Apocalyptica. Make no mistake, I loved seeing them live, but this show at the Bell Center was much, much better for a number of reasons. One of them being, even though I was not on the floor, the amount of people blocking my view was significantly less so, as the crowd at Quebec City was apparently around 120,000 people, whereas the Bell Center capacity is something around 13,000, and when standing at an elevated level I could see so much more than I could when mostly spending my time looking at the giant screens in Quebec. The sound was much clearer, and the pyrotechnics just that much more amazing, with a slight difference in sets, the final song of the encore was Engel, in which Till came out in angel wings, spouting fire and exploding at points in the song. It is also always intense watching them bust out the face-mounted flame throwers. I really can't say much more than it was intense and amazing. See them, if you can.