A few months ago, a post on Lisa’s blog made me discover a very cool American band named Guster. I checked out the band’s web site and saw that Montreal was on their list of concerts. I thought I could take my time to buy tickets – after all, nobody knew this band in Montreal, right?
Wrong. When I went to the Spectrum to get tickets, I learned that the show was sold out. I was very surprised, but then I realized that Guster was actually the first act for Sam Roberts, a local Montreal band leader who is very very hot right now, at least in anglo Canada. Say the name « Sam Roberts » to francophone qu�b�cois and most of them have never heard of him, even if he’s from Montreal. That’s how bad we are at « sharing » our artists across the language barrier.
Anyway, with the help of Blork, who has good connections, we managed to get two tickets to the sold out show. We got to the Spectrum early last night and found some seats at a good table where a young couple already sat. I looked at the crowd and quickly realized that Blork and I could be the parents of most of the kids who came to see the show. I felt very, very old.
But the show was fantastic. The guys from Guster seemed surprised to see that a lot of people knew their songs and the crowd was very warm with them. They played for a little less than an hour and I hope they come back soon as the main gig. Their music is great and original, a cross between The Cure, Crowded House and the Beach Boys. Or something like that… Check out their web site. They have a lot of videos and music and they keep a road journal as well as a blog. The Internet has been a big part of Guster’s current success and the band is faithful to their Internet following.
I used my Canon A40 to shoot short videos during the show last night. To thank Lisa – who couldn’t be at the show because she lives in England and that’s kind of a long way to go for just one concert – I’ve decided to post one of my little videos. Warning: the sound is really, really bad, but Lisa should still recognize the tune.
Around 9h30pm, Sam Roberts came on, and the crowd went absolutely crazy. Roberts was very excited to play the Spectrum for the first time and to be back in front of his Montreal fans. It’s always great when musicians are excited to play in a specific place and it shows in their level of energy. The band will soon start a US tour where they will play 250 shows. They gave everything they had last night so I’m afraid they won’t survive! Everybody predicts that Roberts will be a big star soon. I agree that he has the talent and charisma to become hugely popular, even though him and his band are playing the 70s rock-and-roll band schtick a little too hard: messy long hair, booze on stage, « Are you ready to rock-and-roll? » calls, etc.
Then again, maybe it’s just me, getting older…
