There's nothing quite like seeing a hometown band in their home town. 800 Quebecoise (plus a few steenkin American visitors) packed the Montreal Spectrum tonight, and the place rocked hard. I really don't know what to make of this band that's a mix of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Smiths, and Ladytron...strange but true. I don't mean it's always a good thing...it mostly is but it seemed I could always guess what the next cord would be even in a song I didn't know. A littel derivative perhaps. Their look sure wasn't though - two gorgeous keyboardists on the wings, the guitars on the flanks, a black indie soul brother on the mic and a furious drummer in the back...ultra heavy synth pads meet uber hefty guitar solos.
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Above all, boy did they have energy. Kinda in a similar blues/rock/indie mold of the Zutons or Gomez. Their opener, a long drawn-out "Sinthtro" going straight into "Ticket to Immortality", charged so so fucking hard, I didn't know how they could top it. The answer was...they really couldn't. You just can't finish every single song with a ludicrously over-the-top wall of guitar, no matter how enjoyable. Their flaw - they go to the guitar god well a few too many times - the final 1/3 of the set just kept hitting that ceiling they already set. Great stuff though - give their latest album a listen whether you lean more synth or rock.
