3 posts tagged “toronto”

wow, the line-up for Virgin Fest looks pretty sweet this summer ... friggin Baltimore is getting all the good bands.  Heres the line-up for Toronto:

September 8 2007

Bjork
Interpol
Paolo Nutini
Amy Winehouse

September 9 2007

Smashing Pumpkins
The Killers
Tokyo Police Club
Jamie T

and here's the line-up for Baltimore

Saturday, Aug 4

Beastie Boys
Cheap Trick
Felix Da Housecat
The Fratellis
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Incubus
LCD Soundsystem
Modest Mouse
Peter Bjorn and John
The Police
TV on the Radio

Sunday Aug 5

311
Chris Cornell
The Crystal Method [DJ set]
Interpol
The Smashing Pumpkins
Velvet Revolver
Wu Tang Clan
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I'm not sure how much tickets are going for, but even if they're in the $100 - $150 I'd say thats worth it.  My step dad is taking my mom to see Rush in July, the cheapest tickets are $160, and you only get to see 1 band!

today is ANZAC day, which is basically the Australian version of Memorial Day or Veterans Day.  ANZAC is Australia & New Zealand Army Corps, and ANZAC day is the date when the ANZACs landed at Gallopli in Turkey during WW1. It's usually a day to remember all Australian veterans, not just WW1.There aren't any Australian soldiers left from WW1, I think theres only 1 Canadian left (the Canadian Army fought at Gallipoli too). 

I usually call my dad on ANZAC day, his dad fought in WWII, I was thinking about it last night, but by this morning it had slipped my mind.  I was in downtown Toronto around 10 this morning with Jamie, when we walked past Town Hall, and I immediately spotted an Australian flag flying, I had to check it out.  There were about 30 people there, a few in uniform (they were in the Navy I think), I could tell the others were Australians (I can always spot an Aussie).  I felt pretty crap about forgetting it was Anzac day, but I wondered over to see what they were doing.   This young guy asked Jamie & I if we were Australian & we started chatting.  They'd just had a service, there were over a 100 people there, and were about to head down to the Flying Emu, an Australian pub in Toronto. 

I think next year I'll go the ANZAC service downtown, one day I want to go to Gallipoli, my brother Tenn has been there on ANZAC day & says its amazing.  Australia Day and ANZAC day are the two days when I get most homesick.

wow, best show ever.   I got to see my two favorite Australian bands on the one bill.  the Living End were on first, I didn't realize what a big following they had in Toronto (I kindof assumed 95% of the crowd were there to see silverchair).  This is their 3rd time playing in Toronto in 12 months.  I think these guys must spend 10 months a year touring, their live perfomance is pretty faithful to how they sound on their cds.  I was glad they played a lot of the songs from their first CD, I like their newer stuff too but theres something about 'Prisoner of Society' that reminds me of when I was in grade 4  & pretended to be an anarchist.  i'd forgotten how much i liked 'wake up'. at one time that was the highest played song on my itunes. they played a couple of songs I hadn't heard before, I'm not sure if they were new songs, or covers, but they sounded pretty damn good.  but it was their classics - Who's Gonna Save Us, Second Solution, West End Riot - I think everytime they started a new song I jumped up & yelled 'FUCK YEH!'. Hopefully they'll come out with a new cd soon, and they'll be back in Toronto again in 2007.

during intermission Jamie & I got chatting to two aussie backpackers.  they had been backpackign around Canada & the USA for the last year & were supposed to go back to Australia last month, but decided to extend their stay an extra month when they found out silverchair/the living end were playing.  Jamie & I were telling them about the big day out & the hottest 100,  there were a lot of australians at the kool house (maybe 20%?), I have a knack for spotting who the Australians are in a crowd. I have to say though Canadians, and Toronto especially love the chair.  I've seen silverchair four times, in four different countries (Auckland, Melbourne, Seattle, and now Toronto).   considering diorama came out 4 years ago, it is pretty amazing that their T.O. concert sold out in just a few days. during the show Daniel said they had recorded their new CD in Toronto, how cool is that?

the crowd were chanting 'sil-ver-chair', I think they were expecting the guys to come out with one of their heavier rock numbers, their first song was ... without you.  eh, wouldn't have been my pick, but the fans obviously loved diorama.  Tune in the Brine, and Luv Your Life sounded a bit weird to me ... I like those songs, but at a live show I would have rather seen the chairs heavier songs.  in fact most of the songs were from diorama.  Emotion Sickness sounded amazing, my highlight was Greatest View.   There weren't any songs from frog stomp not suprisingly, but they did play the Door & Freak.  Jamie tried in vain to stop me from singing along to Freak.  there were a new few songs, Straight Lines was easily my favorite,  I am definitely looking forward to the new cd, Young Modern.  

they are very different bands but I would have to loved to see the Living End come back on & see the two bands do a few songs together (imagine silverchair + the living end covering some ACDC or Midnight Oil?).  but thats not how it ended up, Freak was the last song. 

well I got my dose of Aussie rock for now, I know my mates in Brisbane were spewing when I told them about the show.  I hope silverchairs new cd does well, I don't think diorama did as well as their earlier stuff, but what bands are still selling CDs these days?  one thing going for silverchair, they don' have any problems selling out shows.