Date of show: November 12, 2010
The Meligrove Band certainly had a reason to celebrate. Having just released their fourth full-length Shimmering Lights, four years after their third album, it’s certainly been a long wait for themselves and their fans. Comprising The Meligrove Band are Darcy Rego (vocals, drums), Jason Nunes (vocals, guitar, piano), Michael Small (bass), and Brian O’Reilly (guitar, synth). The band has been around for a solid decade, yet they still play with the same enthusiasm and pep as they did when they were younger. The Meligrove Band are poppy and full of nerdy sass, but juxtapose that with heavier noise to create artful tunes worthy of your attention.
Their set consisted of new tunes from Shimmering Lights, but they made sure to play all their old favourites (“Our Love Will Make the World Go Round” is always so good live). Nunes was practically voice-less but that did not stop him from performing and singing whatever he had in him, as this was a long-awaited celebration. To deal with some of the vocal brunt the band had some guests on stage, including Cuff The Duke’s Wayne Petti, Ruby Coast’s Justice McLellan, Doctor Ew, and Allie Hughes. There were balloons and the crowd up front was having a ball. Although there was certainly a lively crowd up front, it was disappointing to see some of the crowd had started to leave partway through The Meligrove Band’s set.
Check out The Meligrove Band soon. They’ll spend most of the rest of the year in the United States, but I expect the fire from Shimmering Lights isn’t expiring any time soon.
By the time Ruby Coast started their set the venue was pretty packed, with a lot of people pushed right up against the stage. They had a whole slew of fans right up front moshing away to tunes that I never thought would generate such intensity. Frontman Justice McLellan (vocals, guitar) is full of charismatic energy, but there is also a driving force of talent backing him up. The rest of Ruby Coast is made up of Nathan Vanderwielen (guitar), Mark Robert Whiting (bass), Keith Bradford (keys), and Corey Marshall (drums). These guys are young (not to be confused with inexperienced), but it works in their favour as they are able to generate such vigour that encourages the crowd to respond. “It’s the weekend, might as well scream and shit.” Well, they most certainly screamed their hearts out on stage, but they got lively screams from the crowd in return.
Having recently released a 7”, I had the pleasure of speaking with McLellan and Vanderwielen before the show, so please check out what they had to say here.
More or Les kicked off the night and he was joined by DJ Peter Project. Although The Great Hall was actually fairly empty when he started the set, More or Les rapped with a lot of enthusiasm, particularly about subjects like brunch (my friend looked at me and said, “I’m really hungry now”), how taboo it is to pick your nose, and that you should use toilet paper and flush toilet paper. Highlights of the set include bringing up the Mighty Rhino on stage for a song, as well as “Crossbow,” which showcased Les’ ability to rap particularly fast. It was an entertaining set, particularly if you were paying attention to the amusing lyrics.
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