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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Dum Dum Girls [2012]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Artist: Dum Dum Girls
When: August 3rd, 2012
Where: Tree stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: After catching a crazy early afternoon set by a just-breaking-out Of Monsters and Men, at small side stage packed with curious onlookers, I had to bust my butt to get to the next stage over to catch the Dum Dum Girls perform just five minutes later. (These are the joys of musical festivals but one shouldn’t really complain after the last few years we’ve had.) I thought for sure that the L.A.-based, noise rock quartet would’ve already been well into their set by the time I got there, but they were still trying to get the microphones working. Despite their polished appearances and the perceived attitudes that they convey, the band was quite gracious and understanding in the face of all the delays. Once they finally got going though, their performance was beautifully loud and fuzzed out and angst-laden. Personally, I loved it, but there were many others that didn’t appreciate it as much as I did. I started off the set pretty far back because of my late arrival, but managed to get right up near the front by its conclusion. Dum Dum Girls finished their shortened set (eight songs early by their telling) with my favourite “Bedroom eyes” and a brand new track called “Lord knows” (though at the time, I had yet to listen to the recorded track). Technical difficulties aside, I thought Dum Dum Girls’ set was brilliant and definitely would have jumped at the chance see them live again. Unfortunately, they disbanded four years later and that chance never materialized.
Point of reference song: Bedroom eyes

Categories
Live music galleries

Live music galleries: The Cure [2013]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

The Cure live at Osheaga 2013

Artist: The Cure
When: August 2nd, 2013
Where: River stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: I was doing this thing in the spring and early summer this year, posting pics from some of the great sets* I caught at Montreal’s Osheaga music festival back in 2013: a sort of ten year anniversary celebration of a great weekend spent with music and friends. However, I never got around to what was possibly my favourite set of the whole weekend, something I’ve decided to remedy before this year was up.

I had seen The Cure once before back in 2000 for their Bloodflowers tour but this time, it was ultimately more satisfying because the setlist was so wonderfully mixed. The night was cool and pleasant and Robert Smith was at the top of his game, sounding as he did in his prime, but perhaps performing with more joy than he ever had back then. It was a wondrous two hour set, playing everything any fans would ever want to hear. It seemed like it could, and would, go on forever. In fact, festival organizers had to cut the sound just near the end of “Boy’s don’t cry” after the band had gone on way past curfew.
Point of reference song: Boys don’t cry

Robert Smith from far away
Reeves Gabrels and Jasson Cooper
Roger O’Donnell
Reeves Gabrels and Robert Smith
Robert Smith closeup

*Past galleries from this festival weekend have included the following:

Categories
Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Wild Nothing [2013]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Wild Nothing @ Osheaga 2013

Artist: Wild Nothing
When: August 3rd, 2013
Where: Green stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: Ten years ago this summer, I attended Montreal’s Osheaga arts and music festival with my good friends Tim and Mark. It was an unforgettable weekend and we saw countless amazing performances over the festival’s three days. I’ve already posted photos* from some of the weekend’s sets and plan to share a few more of these in the months leading up to this year’s edition, which I will sadly not be attending. Some of these posts will have fewer photos than my normal galleries, including today’s, but this should not be taken to be indicative of the quality of the performances, but of the difficulty of obtaining quality pics while being so completely in the moment.

After a good night’s sleep and a filling brunch of Montreal smoked meat at Schwartz’s deli, my friends and I got back to the festival grounds early to catch a few bands we’d had our eyes on. Tim excused himself to the next stage over to catch Canadian country singer Corb Lund and Mark and I went to the Green stage to take in hyped up indie rockers, Wild Nothing. The shimmering guitars and washes and soft soothing vocals put me right back into the shadows of 90s shoegaze. The band blasted through their set of delicious and syrupy sweet guitar pop to get to as many of his songs as possible in their short, early set. It was a nice warmup for what would turn out to be another great day for live music.
Point of reference song: Paradise

Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing
Nathan Goodman on guitar
Jeremiah Johnson on drums
Kevin Knight, Jeff Haley, Jeremiah Johns, and Jack Tatum

*Past galleries from this festival weekend have included the following: