I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for this night (i.e. last Sunday) to come for months. When it finally came, it wasn’t exactly what I’d expected or hoped for but the music was just as amazing as I’d hoped it would be.
Hello helicopter, are you here to stay?
The venue was Toronto’s own Kool Haus, starting at 7 PM. It was a cold night made colder by the empty streets and vacant air, but I was warm enough in my blazer and scarf. The Kool Haus’ exterior was a neat distraction, with a sign that glowed different colours in the dark. It was not what I thought the place would look like at all.
Hello helicopter, will you be my friend?
The night started off with some band-merch browsing and Metro Station. I’m not a big fan of Metro Station (I think I might’ve also called them “Movie Scene” before… that’s how little I know of them) and so I spent most of the their stage time listening in the distance as I waited in line for some band sell-out goodies. I got my hands on a pair of shirts from Anberlin (one that I later traded back for a different one in a different size and a Mae tote for Kris).
Hello helicopter, have you heard the news?
Anyway, Anberlin was up next so very little else mattered. I immediately made my way up through the crowd (a relatively easy feat when you’re as slender and unaccompanied as I was) until I was no more than ten or so feet from where I soon saw Stephen Christian doing his thing on stage. Even though the soundcheck guys seemed to take forever to set up, Anberlin eventually made their way onto the stage. From where I was, I could almost smell the fans’ excitement. I took three vids of their songs for my and your enjoyment (for my recordings of Adelaide; Dismantle, Repair; and The Feel Good Drag, see the end of the post). Their stage time was short-lived compared with how pumped everyone was for them, but Mae was up next and… well, I wasn’t about to complain.
Hello helicopter, are you lost out there?
Mae came on stage after what seemed like an eternity of setup and I once again made my way towards my preferred positioning (up near the front, beside the amps and speakers) and decided to film Mae over what used to be PSP .iso files. I painstakingly recorded the first half of their performance before I ran out of batteries and memory on the stick. The songs I managed to take down were: Anything, On Top, Rocket, Sometimes I Can’t Make It Alone, and Suspension (again, see the end for linkage). Mae’s songs aren’t the kind that you can really jump to, but a lot of people up front were singing along, which was a concert-only kind of experience.
Hello helicopter, are you here to stay?
I actually managed to speak with a few of the guys from Mae after their performance. I got Zach (guitarist), Robert (keyboardist), and Dave (vocals, guitar) to sign my copy of the Everglow (pic at the end) and I took a picture with Dave too (see end). Here’s a cool aside: before I spoke with Zach, he was actually being prayed for by a fan, which is something I was encouraged to see for myself.
Hello helicopter, are you listening?
The final band to go up was Motion City Soundtrack. To be honest, I didn’t know whether I really liked these guys much before the concert. I did like them, but not nearly as much as I liked Mae and Anberlin. It was probably for the best, then, that they happened to have the longest set that night (or so it seemed that way, in a good way, to me). Between sets, Justin (the singer) cracked a lot of random jokes and their on-stage antics were the most comedical of the night. Perhaps with more time alotted to them, they decided screwing around would be alright (which it was as far as I’m concerned). I really enjoyed Justin’s comments between songs and stupid “fights” between and even during songs. There’s a picture I snapped of him with a creepy white mask on his face (must make some things easier though…) that he wore just because someone threw it up on stage–”Come on guys, we’ll incorporate anything–anything!–that you throw up here into our show! …Well, except doing anything naked. There are laws against that kind of thing.” This late in the night, my arm was tired and my back hurting from straining, and so I didn’t bother taking any vids (I also didn’t have any batteries left and not too much space on my last MemoryStick) of MCS, but I did snap a few (blurry) photos and enjoy the tunes thoroughly.
All in all it was a good time spent downtown to enjoy good music. I actually hadn’t lost most of the ringing in my ears until just today at around lunch (a day and a half after the last note), but it was worth the loss. I got home at around 1 o’ clock in the morning after a lonely trip home on the bus and then collapsed onto my bed shortly thereafter. I couldn’t get to sleep, however, until after almost an hour of tossing and fretting. God knows why.
As promised, here are a few links and images for your browsing (and a bit of my gloating).
YouTube: Head on over to my YouTube channel for all the vids to browse at your leisure (no point in me linking them individually right?). I split them up according to tracks, so have fun trying to piece the Mae songs back into chronological order. Else, click the thumbnails below for larger pics.
