Sloan

This was the first time i had seen Sloan, and i had never heard of them before. I was quite suprised looking at their website that they had produced so many albums, and toured the globe. How old are these guys? They look early-mid 20s. About the gig, the music was catchy and the music was tight, like there was no mistakes.
When are you guys coming to Australia?

It was a great show. (I was one of the loud guys singing along.) A great response from the Seattle crowd. I had lots of fun. They played stuff from all of their albums...
The Minus 5 opened and I thought they were good.

Easily one of the best rock shows I've seen. I'd been hoping and praying for Sloan to come back to Seattle, though I'm sure they weren't in any hurry after their last few show here, and I think they were pleasantly surprised this time.

Chris (to the ecstatic crowd): "Where have you guys BEEN?!"

It was a great vibe, everyone realizing at once that they weren't the only Sloan fans in Seattle. Like some kind of spontaneous rock n' roll support group.

Thanks boys, please come back soon and often.

This was another great show. The crowd was totally into the band, and it came as a shock to the guys in Sloan, as well as myself and my 3 friends that drove down from Vancouver. Thank god that the fine people of Seattle have finally caught on to how great Sloan is. We were all very happy for the band that they had such an enthusiastic crowd. The merch table was packed after the set. I of course was looking for Peter Buck,..but he was long gone (LOL...no photo for me).

keep sloan-ing, and good luck on the rest of the tour.

nikki

Outstanding show! Every song was performed note-for-note perfect and the showmanship was both diplomatic and energetic.

We had a chance to chat with Chris before the show and he was incredibly genuine and took some time to explain the differences between the US-CDA greatest hits packages. Great band, great show, and great guys from and amazing country!

They are all in their mid 30's

Excellent turn out in Seattle the "epicenter of cool" according to Chris. They claimed to have botched a bunch of shows there but it sure as hell didn't show tonight. Resident Posie, Jon Auer was in attendance. The show fawking rocked. "I can feel it" was a plus. "Everything you've done wrong" without the horn section is always fun. Now back to Portland for the next show.

Try mid-30's :P But I am sure they would love for you to say they were early/mid 20's! I am sure they will keep on rockin' for long time coming!

"They look early-mid 20s."

I guarantee they all officially LOVE you now for saying that. ;)

My fourth time seeing Sloan was by far the most rewarding. Being from Vancouver BC, I've never seen them in such a small venue so it was a real treat. Met Chris and Andrew before the show, then met Jay and Patrick after the show. Also got to take home Andrew's drumstick. The boys moved fairly chronologically through their catalogue, providing generous doses of rock star poses, leg kicks and drumstick twirls. The Croc was packed with a good number of Canucks- I met some kids all the way from Halifax- but I think that most of the crowd were Yankees who didn't know much about Sloan. Even though Peter Buck from REM was in the opening band (Minus 5) and they did put on a pretty rocking show, Sloan totally outclassed them and anyone new to Sloan had to have gone home a fan. It's clear that Sloan is one of the few bands that realizes the simple key to great rock: 'Turn up the Good and Turn Down the Suck'.

This was my first time seeing Sloan - after being a fan for almost 10 years! The Crocodile was rather packed out from what I could see up at the stage (I was right in front of Jay and his wall of Rickenbacker magic...)
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The Minus 5 opened the show and were a very tight, very trashy rock n' roll band - well done. It was cool to see Peter Buck on bass, as I haven't seen him in person since the 'Fables of the Reconstruction' Tour back in '85.
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Sloan took the stage and played the following set (verbatim, from the setlist I got after the show)...
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Losing California<br>
Underwhelmed<br>
Sugartune<br>
Lines You Amend<br>
All Used Up (a brand new RAWK song)<br>
Coax Me<br>
Money City Maniacs<br>
------------------------<br>
Before I Do<br>
Andrew's Pick (People of the Sky)<br>
------------------------<br>
Says What She Means<br>
Everything D. Wrong<br>
Try To Make It (a brand new pop song)<br>
C'mon C'mon<br>
Suppose Close Door<br>
Rest Of My Life<br>
Good In Everyone<br>
-------------------------<br>
POTS*<br>
Other Man<br>
Feels Good Do It <br>
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*I don't understand the 'POTS' title. But this is where the lads came back for their encore, with Andrew leading a blistering version of Sensory Deprivation (a show highlight). Then, Patrick said they'd do I Can Feel It if the audience promised to help him remember the words.
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All in all, a great show. They really are (IMHO) the best rock band in the world, for the following reasons....
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1) They've kept the same lineup.<br>
2) They blend everything that happened between 1965 and 1975 (music's golden era).<br>
3) They all sing. <br>
4) They all write. <br>
5) They all write WELL.<br>
6) They all have unique personalities and songwriting skills that make each member indispensible... I honestly cannot imagine Sloan going on with anyone besides Patrick, Andrew, Jay, and Chris.<br>
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The only downsides were:
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1) The vocals were a little too buried, especially for a band known for great harmonies.<br>
2) Being in front of Jay, I missed some of the searing lead guitar work Patrick was laying down. His solos add teeth to the Sloan monster.<br>
3) I actually tend to favor Andrew's weird, complicated songs. But I don't understand why he chose to play 'Before I Do' instead of stronger material like On The Horizon or The N.S., you know? Before I Do doesn't translate well live.<p>

OK. Enough talk. I cannot wait to get my hands on the DVD, and to see my favorite North American band again.
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J.

Great show, great crowd. The Crocodile was so packed, the band's surprise was obvious. Chris made a comment about how many times they had bombed in Seattle before.
Not Friday.
The audience even did a fair job during all the standard sing-a-long parts. The only time they seemed befuddled was during the Before I Do extendo-jam.
All in all, I think the band sounded awesome. I hope that they make it to the Northwest more often in the future.
It was nice to see the band headlining in the States, even in a relatively small venue. Last tour had to buy a #%$ing Strokes ticket to see them in Portland.

"POTS" is People of the Sky...dunno why it was on the setlist twice though...

I’ve had a lot of cheap beer spilled on me while watching Sloan perform at outdoor festivals in Canada over the years, so it was a treat to see them in Seattle’s "cozy" Crocodile Café. I was curious to see how they would go over with an American audience, especially in the city that spawned the grunge sound that the band soon rejected (to the great pleasure of fans like me).

I decided to kill some time before the Minus 5’s opening set by wandering around the club and soon discovered that the spexy guy sitting alone at the merch table looking sullen was actually Patrick. Once I overcame the initial shock of seeing him face-to-face in such a humble setting, I managed to say hello and teased him a bit by pretending to pay for a red "girly tee" with Canadian dollars. He warmed up a little after that and kindly added his autograph to my Twice Removed CD, which Chris and Jay had signed the night before when the band played in Vancouver, BC. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to ask him to write more tour diary entries (which I love because he's such a good writer) because I suddenly was overcome by shyness and bolted. D'oh!

When Sloan finally took the tiny stage shortly before 11:30, the place was packed. Although the audience was more reserved than the raucous, bottle-smashing Canucks who tested the Commodore’s spring-loaded dance floor the previous night, they were definitely into it and enthusiastically shouted requests.

The evening’s pivotal moment came when Chris mocked the Seattle Weekly, which had described Sloan's music as, "Uber-annoying Canada pop, so arch and cloying and irritatingly "catchy" they make Fountains of Wayne sound like the Misfits.” Clearly this snotty, indier-than-thou attitude struck a nerve with Murph because he fired back: "That's pretty funny, but F___ YOU!... In the US, we're a "pop” band, but in Canada we're a ROCK band!... Shall we play some Gang of Four songs?... I know this place is ground zero for cool, but I expect you to sing along!” When the Seattle crowd did just that, he taunted, "That's pretty good... it's not Vancouver good, but it's good.” Judging from their blistering set which included aggressive versions of “Money City Maniacs”, “She Says What She Means”, “Losing California”, and “Sensory Deprivation”, few who were in Sloan’s line of fire that night will think of them as anything but a kick-ass rock band at the peak of their powers.

Having finally conquered the Emerald City, Chris wryly remarked, “This may be your last chance to see us in a club!”

BTW, the Minus 5 played a great set, including a few songs from Down With Wilco ("The Days Of Wine And Booze","I'm Not Bitter", "The Town That Lost It's Groove Supply") as well as a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Burned" which scratched my perpetual Neil Young itch.

My review is now up on Glorious Noise, a cool Chicago music site dedicated to people who know what rock and roll is about.

www.gloriousnoise.com

This one's for you Murph! ;)