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 Recent Forum Posts
 :: [01.09.2003 13:54]
 Wayside @ The Picadilly Pub - August 30th 2003
 By mbelsito

 :: [07.08.2003 11:10]
 Wayside @ The Marine Club - August 7th 2003
 By mbelsito

 :: [05.07.2003 17:37]
 RE: RE: Wayside @ The Green Room - July 4th 2003
 By erinjones


  Wayside Forums

Wayside Discussions > Local Music Scene > The New Pornographers, Cinemera, The Organ @ The Commodore - June 13th 2003

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 Author Topic: The New Pornographers, Cinemera, The Organ @ The Commodore - June 13th 2003
mbelsito
Posts: 11
First Post: 26.02.2003 00:21
From: Vancouver, BC
The New Pornographers, Cinemera, The Organ @ The Commodore - June 13th 2003
Posted:  14.06.2003 17:26
Doors opened at 8:00pm. I met up with Ben outside The Commodore just after 
9:00pm. I noticed members of "The Radio" in a line-up trying to get tickets 
to the show. Unfortunately for them, the show appeared to be sold out.

We managed to get excellent seats on the balcony although they made us feel a 
little like "Statler and Waldolf" - the two annoying critics on the Muppets.

The show got underway at around 9:30pm with "The Organ" taking the stage. 
There has been a lot of hype surrounding this band lately and I guess I can 
see why - they play a nostalgic brand of depressing 80s new wave music that 
people who were around back then can identify with. I saw them a couple years 
back in ShinDig and at the time I thought that they still needed work but 
they have tightened up considerably since then despite a couple false starts 
during this show. One criticism I have is that all of their songs sounded the 
same. I didn't leave the show humming any of their tunes. I couldn't make out 
any of the lyrics because of the heavy effects on the vocals. Maybe this is 
not an issue on the CD. I also felt that they really needed to do more on 
stage to get the audience into it. All of them stood still and played their 
instruments. A little more movement and interaction with the audience in 
between songs would have helped. Overall, they played a decent set but really 
need to do a little more to keep my interest.

Next up was a British band called Cinerama. Their style was definitely 
different. Definitely not CFOX 99.3FM... Not really JACK-FM 96.9FM... Maybe 
somewhere in between... 98.1FM?? :) To be honest, I found their music to be 
too accessible which is normally okay with me, but the songs just didn't grab 
me. It was all very ordinary. There were a number of times when the singer 
stopped singing and the two guitarists would wail on their guitars 
continuously just strumming the same chords over and over, just making it 
louder and louder. This was cool the first time around but they did it a 
number of times in various songs. The effects put on the vocals were way too 
heavy. I should have been a sound guy. The band was interactive, talking to 
the audience and the guitarist seemed to be really into it. Overall the 
experience was a positive one but not one that would make me want to buy 
their CD.

Fearing that the balcony was in fact converting us into "Statler and 
Waldorf", we decided to head down to the dance floor for the headliner "The 
New Pornographers". We managed to make our way through the crowd near the 
front of the stage. We talked to Jer and Craig from "speedbump". They seemed 
to like "Cinerama" - especially the guitar wanking parts. Maybe it was the 
balcony. :)

"The New Pornographers" took to the stage at 11:30pm. I bought the CD last 
week and have been listening to it constantly. Very catchy stuff, especially 
after a couple listens. They pulled off an excellent performance and the 
crowd (especially the guy next to me) was really into it. The band inspired 
some hip shaking moves in the guys surrounding me. The hip checks were 
getting to me but the music more than made up for it. Their set contained a 
mixture of songs from both their first and second album. The sound got better 
as the set progressed. Carl's falsetto voice is so good. The four part 
harmonies work really well and the presence of Neko Case make the whole 
experience worthwhile. One of the best things about this band is that there 
are different vocalists which varies it up but in the end, they maintain a 
consistent recognizable sound. They played one song called "Action" which 
wasn't on one of the albums. The style was quite different than what they 
usually play which had me wondering if it was a cover or one of their own. 
The set ended at 12:40pm but the crowd brought them out for two encores. They 
ended the set with "Execution Day" which seemed a fitting end to an excellent 
night of music.

I left the show just after 1:00am with "Execution Day" in my head, humming it 
all the way home. I'm looking forward to seeing them again the next time they 
perform in town. Too bad Dan Bejar (former member of "The New Pornographers" 
who continues to write music for the band) didn't make an appearance but we 
can always live in the hope that one day he will take to the stage with the 
band again.

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PostedTitleAuthor
14/06/2003 17:26|__ The New Pornographers, Cinemera, The Organ @ The Commodore - June 13th 2003 mbelsito
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