Sloan

Surprised to see that there isn't a review for this show yet...and it's been over a year...

Nevertheless, been out of the loop for a while, I'm afraid...checking out the new site, running out and getting the new album as an import (pricey pricey!) as soon as possible. Anyway. American Sloan fan since 1997, hailing from the greater Bangor, Maine area. After several ill-fated plans to attend Sloan shows in Canada and Boston over the years (I'm only 22 myself so often age and transportation were issues), several of my friends and I had made plans to go see the Strokes in Portland. One day one of them emailed me and said "You'll never guess who the opening act is...it's Sloan." Totally blew my mind! So while everyone was looking forward to a great show from the Strokes (which we got, but still...) I was all excited about the fact that I was finally going to see Sloan.

The State Theater is a good venue in that it is big enough to accomodate a decent crowd and plenty of energy, yet small enough to retain a degree of sweaty rock intimacy that can often times either make or break a show. My friends and I were in a pretty good location...close enough to the stage, but with more-than-adequate visibility...and that made the experience much better.

So the Realistics played their set (I liked them quite a bit and picked up both their albums over the past summer) and then Sloan came on; I kind of enjoyed the fact that I was the only one in my immediate area completely flipping out about the band onstage! Being a Sloan fan in America is often times kind of like being part of some immense secret that is just completely over most people's heads. But I totally rocked out, and sang along with every song (except one that was played that I hadn't heard...perhaps it is on the new album?), and was overall delighted with the content of the set. I would have enjoyed hearing a couple tracks that weren't played... I especially noticed the absence of 'Underwhelmed' and found it surprising, since I was under the impression that it was the standard closer for most Sloan shows...but I would have killed to have heard 'Before I Do' or another one of my more "obscure" favourites. (I *did* almost kill later, when I rather harshly kicked a teenybopper who decided to pogo in front of me while the Strokes were on, but that's irrelevant...) It was still a great set, though. My only complaint was that the sound quality was pretty sketchy...I don't know if something was going wrong with the P.A. or what, but there wasn't a whole lot of clarity as I recall. One of my friends joked that perhaps it was sabotage from the Strokes...afraid that Sloan was going to upstage them, haha.

Sound issues aside, I'd go see Sloan again. And again. And again, if humanly possible. I am currently embarrassed to discover that there was a show last month in Fredericton and I missed it. But yes. I say, "Great show! Great show!" ... but then again, I could be kind of biased.

On the other hand, though, I've been to a good amount of shows in a fairly broad spectrum, and in summary...Sloan: energetic, honest, sincere, infectious, and fun. If anyone at the State that night didn't have a good time during that set, then they must not be much of a music fan, in my opinion.

Thanks for a great show, guys! Really hope to see you again as soon as possible.