Tuesday, October 22, 2013
With Catherine wanting to return to Halifax after a great experience at Halifax Pop Explosion in 2011 and me having never been to the East Coast, we decided to make the festival happen this year. While we weren’t stuffing our faces with seafood and taking in the beautiful sights of the city’s waterfront, we were out enjoying the laid back atmosphere of the festival. If you’ve never made it out, we’d highly recommend adding it to your list of “Must Attend” festivals.
We started our HPX with the Arts & Crafts showcase at Reflections Cabaret. By chance, we arrived early enough to check out some of the comedy routines that kicked the night off early, laughing away to jokes from the likes of comedians Jon Mick, Kyle Hickey and Brian Posehn!
North Lakes (9:30PM)
Hailing from Prince Edward Island, North Lakes got the showcase going. Similar in vibe to fellow Islanders, Paper Lions and The Danks, the band brought some grungy garage rock to the crowd of early festival-goers. Amidst the distortion were delightful hints of keys and the summery pop charm the island is also known for.
Relying heavily on material from 2012’s Grand Prix, including set stand-out, “Crumbling Dice,” their set also offered up a selection of new songs. While lead singer Nathan Gill wasn’t my favourite vocalist, the band’s energy reeled me right in and effectively got our feet moving early on in the night.
SoHo Ghetto (10:30PM)
Taking the place of Toronto’s Still Life Still in the showcase line-up was local band SoHo Ghetto. The band’s extended, almost 80s synthtastic intro provided us a preview of what to expect from their set: nothing short of a big production. With some East Coast flair to the lilt in his voice, frontman Marc Antoine’s (vocals, acoustic guitar) folky vocals were paired with harmonic backing vocals and a big sound from the rest of the six-piece. Danceable melodies such as the jig-like anthem “Arrows & Vines” had the hometown crowd right into it. Their joyous lightness allowed the audience to dance away the quells of the work/school-day.
It was hard not to get swept up by the enthusiasm of the band and the exaggerated, dramatic mannerisms of Antoine; when not on guitar, he could typically be seen dancing away with his hands in the air. As the finale to their set, he even stood atop an instrument case during their last song, thrusting the mic stand up in the air.
The Darcys (11:30PM)
Perhaps the greatest highlight of the night came from Toronto band, The Darcys. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing this band more than a few times over the years, and the depth of their live performance continues to astound and amaze. The sonic richness of the band’s highly moody third record Warring, released in September, is astonishingly electric live. Your heart raced with the frantic desperation that possessed and nearly overwhelmed the four-piece on songs like “Pretty Girls” and “Itchy Blood.” Layering the intimacy of paired falsetto-like vocals from Jason Couse (guitar, keys) and Michael le Riche (guitar, synths), with at times gritty guitars, the band managed to also infuse synths into their most recent art-rock material without crumbling into the electronica realm so many bands have moved towards lately. Beyond their technical proficiency, the tip-toed shuffling dance moves on Couse were quite impressive as well.
Couse unfortunately broke a guitar string towards the end of their version of Steely Dan’s “Peg,” which seemed to visually upset him. Their set ended soon after, coming to a close with older track “Shaking Down the Old Bones.” Beginning shrouded in mystery, the song exploded into a fervour of kinetic energy, remaining a highlight of the set.
Zeus (12:30AM)
The only band that could really follow The Darcys’ performance without falling flat and being a disappointment was Toronto’s vintage rock gods, Zeus. The venue was packed with boisterous fans at this point who were more than willing to fall at the band’s feet as they propelled us into the hazy 60’s rock revival they’ve become known for. While the band is still touring in support of 2012’s Busting Visions, they also managed to fit in a new song “I Miss My Friends” as well as include favourites such as “Kindergarten” and “River by the Garden” from 2010’s Say Us. Having seen the band numerous times, still one of my favourite aspects of their live shows is watching the mastery of multi-instrumentalists Mike O’Brien, Carlin Nicholson and Neil Quin as the three take turns on lead vocals, each of their unique voices lending a different sound to their setlist.
Responding to the thunderous applause that followed set closer “Are You Gonna Waste My Time”, the band soon returned for an encore to cap off a great first night! | CD
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