Queens of the Stone Age was in town lastnight with openers Biffy Clyro and The Black Angels. They played the newly named Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Front row balcony, dead front centre seats are pretty good in the Sony Centre. Perfect view and quite nice for recording. Opening up the show was Biffy Clyro. Dont know much if anything about them, but they played and sounded ok. Not sure i totally dig their music but a few songs played lastnight were pretty good. I was still setting up the gear so i didnt record their set. Their set lasted for about 30 minutes and then there was a 20 minute break. The Black Angels took the stage at 7:50pm to a surprisingly small crowd. I guess i had figured there would be more people in the venue by now, but that wasnt the case. Anyways, i really like their music and enjoyed their set as usual. Although they sounded great, i would prefer to see them in a smaller club venue for some reason. They’ve been touring non-stop for almost 2 years now, with this being their 4 stop in Toronto.

Qotsa took the stage promptly at 9pm to a thunderous applause. Their stage setup and light show was very cool. They had five overhead lights which looked like some kind of chandelier with LED’s. Around the back of the stage were three or four blue strobe lights and on each side of the stage were two yellow ones. All put together they made for a great addition to the music. The band played for just over 95 minutes performing songs from all five albums. Thanks to the bands for allowing their fans to record their live shows.

The Black Angels Setlist:
01 Young Men Dead
02 The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven
03 Black Grease
04 Empire
05 Better Off Alone
06 The First Vietnamese War
07 You In Color

Download: tba2007-10-15.mc930.flac16.zip
Archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/tba2007-10-15.mc930.flac16

Queens of the Stone Age Setlist:
01 Burn The Witch
02 Misfit Love
03 Run, Pig, Run
04 River In The Road
05 In The Fade
06 Little Sister
07 Turnin’ On The Screw
08 Into The Hollow
09 The Sky Is Fallin’
10 Do It Again
11 3’s & 7’s
12 If Only
13 A Song For The Deaf
14 Sick, Sick, Sick
15 You Cant Quit Me Baby
16 Better Living Through Chemisty
17 The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
18 Go With The Flow

ENCORE:
19 Avon
20 A Song For The Dead

Download: qotsa2007-10-15.mc930.flac16.zip

Band Info:
http://www.biffyclyro.com
http://www.myspace.com/biffyclyro
http://www.theblackangels.com
http://www.myspace.com/theblackangels
http://www.archive.org/details/TheBlackAngels
http://www.qotsa.com
http://www.myspace.com/queensofthestoneage

I was able to get a ticket for the soldout Beirut show late Monday night. Big thanks to Derek M. for that. Im really glad I was able to see this show as it was easily one of the top 5 shows ive seen this year. I got to the around 6:45pm and was inside about 20 minutes later. The lineup moved fairly quick, i thought. There was no assigned seating, so i went up to the balcony and picked out a seat where i could tape my mics and vertbar to the ledge. Not sure if i would have been allowed to bring in my mic stand or not, i didnt try or ask. Anyways, i was setting up while Alaska In Winter was playing. He was pretty good. A one piece from New Mexico. He played for about 30 minutes and then Colleen took the stage. Another one piece act who’s songs are made up by her starting with one instrument, looping it, and then plays another instrument. Not my thing really, so i was somewhat excited when her first two words were “thanks, see you” at the 30 minute mark.

Beirut took the stage around 9:05pm and their main set went on for about 55 minutes. I guess at first the ushers were trying to keep people in their seats, but that all changed near the end of the main set when a crowd formed at the lip of the stage, much to the delight of the band. Then, between songs, most of that crowd made their way up onto the stage to encircle the band and dance while the band played the last song of the set. A very short encore break later, and Beirut were back on stage to a very loud applause. They performed two more songs and left once again. Some stage lights came on and a few stagehands were, i think, about to take down some microphones when the band came back out for a second encore. They performed one final song to end what was a great night of music.

This was my first time at The Music Hall and i have to say that its a pretty good venue. The sound was great all night as well as the crowd. One of the better Toronto crowds ive seen. The recording turned out pretty good too. There is some chatter during a song or two as well as some loud claps between songs. Other than that, it should be a good listen.

Beirut setlist:
01 Nantes
02 Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
03 Scenic World
04 Forks And Knives (La Fete)
05 A Sunday Smile
06 Cherbourg
07 Elephant Gun
08 Cliquot (Owen Pallett on vocals)
09 In The Mausoleum
10 Carousels
11 Cocek
12 After The Curtain
13 Brandenburg
14 (encore break)

Encore I:
15 Closing Song
16 Postcards From Italy
17 Gulag Orkestar
18 (encore break)

Encore II:
19 The Penalty

Download from here: beirut2007-10-02.mc930.flac16.zip
or
the Live Music Archive: beirut2007-10-02.mc930.flac16

Beirut links:
http://www.beirutband.com
http://www.myspace.com/beruit
http://www.archive.org/details/Beirut

The Toronto stop on the Great Lake Swimmers‘ current tour brought them to the Phoenix this past Saturday. An early and seated show. Two criteria I find myself enjoying more with concerts. If only they could do this more often. Anyways, doors opened at 6pm with Chad VanGaalen taking the stage promptly at 6.45pm. Although people were still filling the seats, he was warmly welcomed by those of us who got there on time. Chad VanGaalen played for roughly 40 minutes with Great Lake Swimmers taking the stage around 15 minutes later, around 8:40pm. Their set included songs from all three albums. For a couple songs Tony played solo, and on a few others he and Julie Fader did together. Their main set went on for rougly 60 minutes with the last song transitioning into “Two Step” by Low. It sounded great and wish they had done the whole song. After that there was a two song encore that ended the night promptly at 9pm.

As for the show itself, well, I thought the sound in the Phoenix was great all night. Kudos to Andy Maggoffin for that. Their was also some very nice lighting used throughout the show. Also, the show was being filmed by a crew using 7 cameras around the venue. I heard its going to be for a future live dvd release. I really hope that comes to be because the show was great. I was really hoping to hear “Dont Cry No Tears” again, but I wasnt so lucky this time. Maybe next time.

Im still working on figuring out the songs Chad played as im not that familiar with his catalogue. This will change. I may post the whole recording of his set once i get them all figured out. As for the GLS recording, I wont be posting that since it was also recorded for a live dvd release. And as always, big thanks to the artists for allowing us to record as well as the Phoenix for a no-hassle entry with our gear.

Chad VanGaalen’s setlist:
01 Mini TV’s
02 After The Afterlife
03 Sing Me 2 Sleep
04
05
06 The Willow Song (new song with fan given title)
07
08
09
10
11 Blood Machine
12

Great Lake Swimmers setlist:
01 Moving Shaking
02 Various Stages
03 Put There By The Land
04 I Am Part Of A Large Family
05 Changing Colours
06 Moving Pictures Silent Films
07 A Song For The Angels
08 This Is Not Like Home
09 Where In The World Are You
10 Your Rocky Spine
11 Bodies And Minds
12 I Could Be Nothing
13 Catcher Song
14 There Is A Light > Two Step (Low)

ENCORE:
15 I Became Awake
16 Imaginary Bars

Chad VanGaalen info:
http://www.flemisheye.com
http://www.myspace.com/chadvangaalen

Great Lake Swimmers info:
http://www.greatlakeswimmers.com
http://www.myspace.com/greatlakeswimmers
http://www.weewerk.com

PS. Anyone out there have an extra ticket to The National’s show on Monday? Please email me.