Sloan

Now that was a rock show! Great sound, excellent lighting, and a smoke machine… all these things helped to set the mood for a terrific Sloan show. But the true test of whether Sloan (or at least Chris Murphy) is “on” is Chris standing centre stage, guitar pick in his mouth, both arms outstretched encouraging the crowd to cheer. And cheer they did. Right from the beginning with the first three songs off of “The Double Cross”, the crowd was cheering and engaged. At least that’s what I saw from my vantage point near the back. The Commodore, which holds about 1000 people, looked full from where I stood. It’s true, the set list hadn’t changed much from the night before, but the atmosphere was completely different. This appeared to be a crowd of Sloan fans, people who had come intentionally to see Sloan perform, rather than wander in on a whim. Did the crowd sing along perfectly to all the songs, who knows? But the dance floor was full of people swaying, jumping, and clapping along. I brought a friend along who claimed to not know Sloan, yet she nodded and smiled with familiarity during “Money City Maniacs” and “The Other Man”. It was great to convert another person to the awesome that is Sloan. (“The drummer is hot!” she whisper yelled into my ear. “Well he’s working really hard. Oh, okay, I see what you mean… yeah, I think he gets that a lot.”) We did get one rare gem with “What’s There To Decide?” a haunting song sung by Jay from “Smeared”. The rest of the set was a mix of new songs and singles from the other albums. They switched it up as always, with Andrew playing his two new songs as well as “Sinking Ships”.

The new songs have a familiar, yet new feeling to them, and I love the way they blend together and recall one another. People, in general, didn’t sit down for “The Double Cross” songs, but kept swaying, jumping, and clapping.

I was fortunate to be one of the CBC Radio 3 contest winners, so my husband and I “meeted and greeted” the band before the show. They were all polite and friendly, and we chatted briefly. They all signed a copy of “The Double Cross” and then we got a couple of pictures taken together. Having been a Sloan fan for 15 years (!) now, I was grateful to have that opportunity. Thank you! Also, I wanted to give a special shout out to the best merch guy and Sloan wrangler around – Jay Coyle. Good people surround themselves with good people… and you seem like good people. ;-)

Thanks, Sloan, for another memorable show! Please come back soon!