Sloan

Before I start the review, I'd just like to quicky mention how I'd always been aware of Sloan growing up in St. Catharines, Canada and I always liked them soley based on their radio hits. But I never really got into them until about a year ago. Now, I consider myself the biggest Sloan fan in the city! Unfortunately I don't have many people to share my love for this great band with because not many of my friends are keen on 90's Alternative rock.

Also, I had the wonderful oppourtunity to speak with Chris a couple of hours before the show. He didn't have much time to talk but I'm thankful of him for allowing me to ask him a couple questions. One of the questions I asked was if he could give me any advice as a starting musician with a band. He gave me some good advice and he seems like a cool guy in person. Hopefully I'll get another oppourtunity to have a conversation with him again.

Now about the show. This was my first Sloan concert (I'm only 17 and as I mentioned earlier I didn't become addicted to them until last year). I got up nice and close with the rest of the Sloan nuts. I'd estimate at least 75% (maybe more) of the people at the front were Canadians. Fans were already getting into the excitement, with some fans chanting "Sloaaaaan". Another fan scared me with a loud and fast "S-E-A-N S-A-I-D!" in reference to "I Hate My Generation". The band later played that song to that fan's pleasure. The weather was perfect outside. In fact, as the band entered the stage Chris sarcastically mentioned how the show almost didn't start because there was to be perfect weather. Chris also took the oppourtunity to display his country 50 feet behind them (artpark is directly at the Niagara River/border). The band opened with "Losing California" (one of my personal favourites). The crowd was into the show the moment they started. Everyone was singing along with big smiles on their faces and it was such a great sight. It didn't take long before they played "Underwhelmed", which I thought would be one of the final songs of the night since it's one of their biggest hits. The fans knew every single lyric from the song that came out 18 years ago.

After a great performance of "If It Feels Good Do It" (which included some fan participation), the multi-instrumental band switched instruments (something you rarely see with today's mainstream bands). Chris took over drums and Jay switched to bass while Andrew picked up a guitar and took over the vocals. As a musician myself, I was very impressed by their smooth transition in instruments and not losing touch in quality of their performance. Andrew played several of his lesser-known songs but the crowd didn't calm down. They still loudly applauded after every song.

After an impressive performance of 16 songs, Sloan came to the climax of their show with a few more of their hits. The first was their 2008 "Believe in Me". Their next was another one of my favourites, "The Rest of My Life". During the song, when Chris sang the beginning of the 2nd verse "One thing I know about the rest of my life..." the Canadians in the crowd followed proudly shouting "I KNOW THAT I'LL BE LIVING IT IN CANADA!" Chris smiled as he instructed the crowd to sing along. Although I obviously knew there would be a cult following of Canadians at the show I did not expect such a loud response. In fact, I was too shocked to even sing the line. The band then really got the crowd singing with "Everything You've Done Wrong", as the crowd sang over the trumpet part with a fun "ba ba-ba ba ba ba-da da-da da!"

The band closed the show with none other than "Money City Maniacs", in my opinion the most awsome guitar riff to play for a musician. After an extended solo and a long clap from the crowd, Sloan played the last part of the song. As the song ended Chris humourously placed a fake mustache above his lip (which fell off after a few seconds).

The band then left the stage, but the fans didn't go anywhere. Everyone was expecting an encore. I was actually surprised at how long it took them to come back. After about a minute in a half of loud cheers and an addicting "SLOOOOOOAAAN!" chant, the band finally came back on to the stage. I noticed there were a couple songs they hadn't played yet so I knew they'd be the encores. After a short performance of a requested "Flying High Again" (which the band earlier played during their Soundcheck session), the band finally played their two biggest unplayed songs; Coax Me and The Good In Everyone. Everyone sang along and enjoyed the last few minutes of the band's stage presence. Chris gave a final personal thank to the crowd, claiming "It's always great when we come here" or something like that. When it was done, the crowd cheered and chanted all the energy they had left, desperately hoping for an unlikely 2nd encore, which obviously didn't come for the disappointing few.

Overall, this was truly a sensational concert for me. During the summer I've seen some great performances from some fine Canadian acts: Our Lady Peace, Matthew Good, Big Sugar, etc. But in my opinion, none of them put on a better show than Sloan. The band certainly lived up to their reputation as the underrated Canadian rock band (in a good way, of course). Sloan didn't dissapoint me as a recently devout fan, and I can't wait to see their next performance!