The Joel Plaskett Emergency
The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
January 27, 2005
Reviewed by Adam M. Anklewicz
Going cold into an opening act can be hard. You never know if they’ll be terrible or amazing. James McKenty and The Spades warmed up the audience in preparation for The Joel Plaskett Emergency. An energetic rock ‘n’ roll ruckus, The Spades have all the power to be a large arena band, but unfortunately their songs aren’t strong enough. Still, nobody stopped moving or dancing to the music and their attitude quickly moved to the audience.
Joel Plaskett performed his second sold out night in Toronto during this tour, having played Lee’s Palace just a week earlier. Plaskett changed up the setlist enough to make it interesting while still playing some of his biggest rockers for the crowd who didn’t attend the previous show.
Joel Plaskett was in great form and seems to show more confidence on stage than ever before. He was joined by the The Emergency, Dave Marsh (drums) and former Thrush Hermit Ian McGettigan (bass). Starting off the night with some of his heavier songs like “Red Light, “Work Out Fine” and “Mystery & Crime,” Plaskett had the crowded audience dancing and swinging... politely, we are after all in Canada.
One of the highlights was a rare song called “Please Don’t Return,” which was only available on vinyl as the b-side of “Clueless Wonder.” This was followed shortly by a solo performance of “a song by a classic Canadian band, Thrush Hermit”. The song was “Before You Leave,” one of Plaskett’s more beautiful songs.
My biggest complaint with the show was that the lighting was terrible. Backlights were stronger than the front lights which unfortunately blinded the audience. The vocals also got distorted from time to time, though there were fewer technical problems than the previous week’s show, which led to an overall better show.
With the upcoming release of Plaskett’s latest solo album, La De Da, he treated the audience to a short sample with the song, “Love This Town”. It’s a great song about small town life, which included a nice jab at Kelowna, B.C. I think the Ontario folk liked that.
Plaskett played a great show and the band was spot on. The set list leaned a little too much to the heavy songs for my liking, but at least I have a solo show to look forward to in the spring.
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The Scissor Sisters
The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California
January 31st, 2005
Reviewed by Ivan Fernandez
The first time I listened to the Scissor Sisters turned out to be a very painful experience. I was listening to a mix-tape a friend of mine made for me when their blasphemous discofied cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” came on. I almost stabbed my eardrums with a Q-tip when I realized it was actually a mix of “Comfortably Numb” with “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2.” But despite my initial hatred, there was no way I was going to turn down a VIP pass to their concert at The Wiltern in downtown Los Angeles. Though I wasn’t fond of their music, I figured their live show could prove entertaining.
The line outside the venue was a hodgepodge of kinky glam, Hollywood scene and music elite. Many in line were wrapped in pink, feathered boas.
My friends and I walked past actor Elijah Wood and made our way into the lobby where we ran into actress Leelee Sobieski. “The night is already paying off,” I thought to myself when we walked inside the stage area and opening band Willpower was leading the audience through some type of aerobics routine. We unanimously decided to sit this one out in the bar. When the stage was prepared for the headliner, we made our way back onto the stage floor.
The Scissor Sisters appeared out of darkness thanks to the help of a light show. The group broke into their first song, "Laura," without waiting for the crowd’s applause to settle down. Sparing no amount of energy, vocalists Jake Shears and Ana Matronic led their flamboyant, homosexual bandmates into the next two songs, “Better Luck” and “Lover in the Backseat.”
“It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or where you come from,” decreed Ana. “Every one of you in here tonight is a Scissor Sister!” The thumping bass line from “Tits on the Radio” boomed through the sub-woofers as bassist Babydaddy completed our indoctrination into the house of The Scissor Sisters. Jake Shears then introduced Khari, a faux-hawked hula-hoop dancer clad in tightie-whities held up by suspenders. The band continued their set with songs like “Skins” and “Rock My Spot” off their EP.
The defining moment arrived as guitarist Del Marquis played the opening riff to “Comfortably Numb,” or at least their version of it. Would I dance…or would I walk out? As the band played on, I remembered I was indoctrinated as a Scissor Sister. As a Scissor Sister, it was my duty to rock out. And rock out is what I did, with the help of a few hundred other Scissor Sisters in attendance. The booty-shaking continued thanks to the Nintendo-disco, Abba-esque grooves of “Filthy Gorgeous.”
The Scissor Sisters closed the first part of their set with “Return to Oz.” One wardrobe change later and the band were back for the encore, starting with “It Can’t Come Quickly Enough.” The song segued into a slow, cabaret cover of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out.”
The night came to a close with “Music Is the Victim.” However, any member of the audience would have told you that the only victim that night was their dancing shoes. Khari came out for his encore escorted by a drag queen the size of a sasquatch.
As we made our way out, we met actor Alan Cumming. It may have only been for one night but it was a great night to be a Scissor Sister.
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Steve Forbert
The Workplay Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama
February 10th, 2005
Reviewed by Zayne Reeves
"You're very quiet," chuckled Steve Forbert as he surveyed the crowd and began, appropriately enough, “I Just Work Here.” Indeed, a hush had fallen over the audience that night from the very first chords of “It's Been A Long Time,” Forbert's now standard opener. A song that was always a bittersweet look back at moments that have passed us by was sung in a weary whisper that gave it an extra edge of sadness. Never one to be maudlin, Forbert (who is 50) played around with the song's "I'm 23 now and remembering fun" line by changing it to "I'm....32 now and remembering fun," which drew a big laugh. Perhaps it was the intimacy and jazz bar cool of the venue or the fact that it was a solo acoustic show, but it seemed like Forbert was in a particularly folky and reflective mood that night.
Playing to a crowd that was mostly in his age range, Forbert mixed things nicely with his setlist by covering older classics but also giving his more recent and equally as strong material plenty of time to shine as well. “There's Everybody Else (And Then There's You)” and “Oh Yesterday” off Just Like There's Nothing To It were both given a somewhat bluesy recasting and it suited the songs very well. Standing on a board that amplified his frequent foot stomps until it practically became an instrument in itself, Forbert treated the show as a chance to revisit old memories of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa before announcing that he had someone in the audience that he wanted to sing Happy Birthday to. It turns out that his father, who turned 85 that day, was in the audience and the moment was very touching and made everyone feel like they were part of something a little more special than just another show.
After playing “Song For Katrina” and “Baby Don't,” Forbert told the audience a story about how his father was always after him to write a song about how everything is a tradeoff. He then did a funny bit of business where he sang "Everything is a trade off/A trade off/A trade off/Everything is a trade off" which was arguably the night's top crowd pleaser. After that, he kicked in a fine version of “Good Planets Are Hard To Find” off of his Rocking Horse Head album and followed it up with back-to-back stunners from 2000's Evergreen Boy (“Rose Marie” and “Something's Got A Hold On Me”).
One of the most popular things Steve Forbert has done in recent years is his cover of Ray Davies' “Starstruck,” from the This Is Where I Belong tribute album, and it has become a staple of his live act as well. Having requested (and received) enthusiastic backup vocals from the audience on more than one occasion already during the show, Forbert received the crowd's assistance once again with the "Starstruck baby/Starstruck baby" chorus and the interaction between artist and crowd for this particular song was the highlight of the show.
Playing a show on a Thursday night, Forbert joked that it was not a good idea to perform his song “Responsibility” but he went ahead anyway with another spirited performance. "Play Romeo's Tune" someone shouted out. "Naw....I always do “Romeo's Tune” at the end! Then I split, man!" was Steve's reply before, two songs later, launching into a “Good Night/Romeo's Tune” medley and then exiting the stage. Back for the encore, he launched into “What It Is Is A Dream” while begging the crowd's indulgence while he "got philosophical." Concluding the night with “You Cannot Win If You Do Not Play,” which was a perfect coda, Forbert sent everyone home happy and certain to buy a ticket to see him perform again.
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