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In 16 years of seeing the band live, this was the best show I've been to. The company was a blast (a Sloan virgin I dragged along with me plus another superfan <hey, Randy!>). North Star Bar is a great little venue - neighborhood bar in front, concert space (with a sweet sort-of-balcony with a fantastic view) in back, and an impressive draft selection on their limited number of taps (I want to say I ended up with Hop Devil - yum - but I could be wrong... it's been a lot of beers since then). Beyond that, Sloan was in top form. It seems that's been the case this whole tour. We were warned before the show that Chris' voice was going, but I really only noticed during "Chester" (and I have a feeling "Catalina" had A LOT to do with those breaks).
I was thrilled to hear "Who You Talkin' To?"; hadn't seen that in a couple of years and "Fading Into Obscurity" - there was a really cool moment during that song: when it got to the quiet(er) part "... you're getting too old to be cared for..." the crowd's singing was louder than what was coming through the speakers. It was a nice little Sloan-fan-bonding time.
Two words that would have been THE highlight if not for the first part of the encore: "REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEACH OUUUUUUUT!" Seriously. Patrick sounded fantastic (through the whole concert, really), and that's such a fun song.
What ended up being the highlight: they covered the Descendents' "Catalina" with Milo Aukerman singing. Wow. It was pretty obvious how excited certain Sloans were about this, what with the happy dance after the song ended. Gregory (aka human-sized Prince) covered bass so Chris could dance and holler. It was such an awesome thing to witness.
Setlist (again, bet someone got to this way before I did):
Flying High Again
Unkind
Fading Into Obscurity
Beverly Terrace
Shadow of Love
Losing California
Who You Talkin' To?
The Life of a Working Girl
Ill-Placed Trust
She's Slowing Down Again
I've Gotta Try
Traces
People of the Sky
Follow the Leader
The Answer Was You
Everything You've Done Wrong
If I Could Change Your Mind
Penpals
Reach Out
encore:
Catalina
Chester the Molester
The Good in Everyone
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I like that Sloan's east coast visits are becoming frequent enough to see people from past shows outside (though down the street from) the venue and have them remember why they recognized you in the first place (*cough*SinkingShips*cough*).
Despite being a Monday (and don't we all hate Mondays?), a good-sized crowd turned out. I was worried when You Am I took the stage - I counted maybe 60 people. It filled up really quickly, though. You Am I put on a good show... a bit OTT, but I think that was the point. They were having a good time. About 20% of Sloan seemed to take this as a challenge, contributing to a roughly 30% increase in dancing and ducky lips.
I was really excited about this being the first show of this leg. Sure, there were a couple of problems, but nothing that wasn't overshadowed by obvious effort. Example: I thought "Midnight Mass" sounded great (okay, I kind of live for the choral breakdown in that song, so my judgment may be clouded), but mistakes were pointed out at the end. No big deal.
The lighting at this place was odd - great for the crowd, not for the performers. In other words, I shouldn't have left my camera in the car. Alas. This lighting may have led to a couple of the aforementioned mistakes.
Overall, I was really pleased with the concert and I'm really looking forward to Philadelphia.
Setlist... even though someone probably got to it before me =)
Flying High Again
Unkind (on its own!)
The Life of a Working Girl (WHAT?! I was really surprised to hear this)
Beverly Terrace
Shadow of Love (clever Sloan, putting those together o.O)
Everything You've Done Wrong (a little sad when this didn't segue into Who Taught You...)
Take Good Care of the Poor Boy (... but this was a more than suitable replacement)
Will I Belong? (so begins the NHTEOI block)
Ill-Placed Trust
I Can't Sleep
I Know You
Blackout
Traces
Follow the Leader
The Answer Was You
Believe in Me
If I Could Change Your Mind (LOVE!)
Keep on Thinkin'
It's Plain to See
Midnight Mass
Another Way I Could Do it
If it Feels Good Do it
Encore:
The Lines You Amend
Chester the Molester (!)
The Good in Everyone (it looked like MCM was on the original setlist)
A bit disappointing that there was nothing off of the first two albums, but there was a good variety.
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I am Andy Sabolas son yes really, used to play those drums when I was a kid, always wished he kept them but he got a lot of fun out of Sloan using them as he was old and couldnt play anymore he passed away in 2002 after a long musical career. Cool you wore a shirt with his name on it.
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Great show last night, here's the set list:
Flying High Again
Unkind
The Life of a Working Girl
Beverly Terrace
Shadow of Love
Everything You've Done Wrong
Take Good Care of the Poor Boy
Will I Belong?
Ill Placed Trust
I Can't Sleep
I Know You
Blackout
Traces
Follow the Leader
The Answer Was You
Believe in Me
If I Could Change Your Mind
Keep On Thinking
It's Plain to See
Midnight Mass
Another Way I Could Do It
If it Feels Good Do It
Encore
The Lines You Amend
Chester the Molester
The Good In Everyone
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If they say one dog year equals seven human years, imagine how many human years you could equate to one year of rock'n'roll time. Genres come into fashion and flame out seemingly just as quickly; music scenes spring up like dandelions and multiply overnight until the tastemakers-the-be anoint the next new hot sound. It's pretty easy to see how so many bands and artists end up becoming dust and debris, grist to the music industry's mill.
So having the Canadian pop/rock quartet Sloan celebrating their 20th year of existence is no mean feat. Factor in their enduring popularity and their unique band chemistry (juggling 4 members with just as many active and prolific songwriters) and you can forgive the boys for puffling out their collective chests at entering their 3rd decade. They call their 10th and most recent album The Double Cross, a roman numeric reference to the big 20 (XX) that also served as a modest backdrop to their tour.
Perhaps the most eye-opening thing about Sloan is that age is not hampering their recorded output: while most other acts trotting out LPs to the double digit count tend to be graded on a sliding scale of diminishing returns, The Double Cross is every bit as exciting and vibrant as the LPs released in their commerical heyday. So beginning the show with the first trio of songs from it, in the exact same order, more or less segueing together just like on the album, may have seen like overplaying their hands. Instead, the giddy rush of Chris Murphy's Follow The Leader followed by Jay Ferguson's brisk and wistful The Answer Was You and concluded with Patrick Pentland's sturdy fiff-rawker Unkind sounded right in place next to acknowledged Sloan classics like Losing California and Gimme That. The band's confidence in their new release was such that all but one of the albums' dozen tracks was performed to the 400 Bar crowd. (Laying So Low was the orphaned track, FYI.) The body of the show consisted of Jay, Chris and Patrick swapping lead vocals, with a stretch around the middle where Chris surrendered his bass to Jay and moved back to the drumkit while regular drummer Andrew Scott grabbed a guitar and sang four of his songs in a row.
It was my first time seeing the band live and it was fascinating to see the band's interpersonal dynamics on stage. Chris is the de facto MC and class clown. Patrick strong and steady on stage left, commanding attention when singing lead and adding to the vocal blend when needed. Jay content to let others take the visual attention, even when singing lead. Andrew calm and collected up front and a quiet dynamo behind the kit, pulling off his propulsive fills with a charming nonchalance. (While not a member on record, Gregory MacDonald's contribution of keyboard, percussion and harmony vocals enriched many of the songs, allowing the core four to concentrate on their guitar parts.)
Obviously, a band with over 150 songs to their credit isn't going to be able to touch all their musical bases, but the band was able to achieve democracy both in terms of covering their impressive catalogue and the authors therein. They were able to get at least one song from every album in the rotation except one (Smeared being the neglected one) and in a 90 minute, 25 song show, each band mate got at least four lead vocals. While the band didn't shy away from the singles like Coax Me and a 10-minute set closing Money City Maniacs, there was also a decent sampling of deep album cuts like Witches Wand and The Marquee and the Moon. Sloan could have arguably played another 90 minutes and still not hit all the crowd faves, but that's the hazard of having a long and successful career -- there are a lot of current acts that would kill for a problem like that.
Dearly Beloved were the unannounced warm-up act, and while their garage-tested uptempo rock wasn't quite a perfect fit for the headliners, the crowd seemed to enjoy their boisterous enthuiasm regardless. Rob Higgins is a natural frontman whose bass playing is second to none, and the back-and-forth he/she vocals with Niva Chow had a lot of punk rock spark. The rest of the band were no slouches either, and Dearly Beloved made the most of their half-hour.
SLOAN'S SETLIST
Follow The Leader/The Answer Was You/Unkind
The Marquee and the Moon
The End of the Race
Burn for It
Shadow Of Love
Everything You've Done Wrong/Who Taught You to Live Like That
Gimme That
She's Slowing Down Again
Something's Wrong/Traces
Sinking Ships
Green Gardens, Cold Montreal
I've Gotta Know
Your Daddy Will Do
Witches Wand
It's Plain To See
Coax Me
Beverly Terrace
Losing California
ENCORE
The Lines You Amend
The Other Man/Money City Maniacs
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Could someone post the set list for this show please?
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