PunBB

I was in Chi-town by coincidence when Gord Downie and the Sadies rocked Lincoln Hall Saturday, May 10th to an avid mixture of Gord and Sadies fans. It was inside a small and cozy venue when I heard numerous voices sing out loudly along with Gord to the lyrics of Crater as the Sadies backed Gord Downie on a blistering punk rock/alt country journey for 90 minutes.

The Sadies recreated a wonderfully accurate live version of their collaboration with Downie on their The Conquering Sun CD. Even though I am in my early fifties now, I felt like I was at an 80's or 90's punk rock show. The ones which developed my current tastes for alternative music.

Gord bantered comically with the audience in between songs, as he sang with passion to his sparse lyrics fleshed out with The Sadies sonic wall of sound. The Good brothers bantered back and forth magically, sharing lead guitar, while Sean and Mike thundered the bass line beat. The stage was small, providing Gord with little room for movement. Gord would edge to his right to harmonize with Travis, as Dallas ripped ferocious punk rock chords. Travis was matching his brother with some howling steel fingered cords of his own.

Demand Destruction was written for and dedicated to Dr. Helen Caldicott, a rockin' activist, as Gord described her. My favorite song of the night was Generation, a cover the band did by Fucked Up. Punk rock at its best. Gord and The Sadies were awesome to see and hear as they feed off the pure energy of the song. The setlist for this show was the same as was listed in the Peterborough review. <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=17896">viewtopic.php?f=28&t=17896</a><!-- l -->

I will be in my home town tomorrow to watch another high energy show from Gord + The Sadies at the wonderfully quirky Magic Stick in Detroit.

I was also at the show at Lincoln Hall. I have really been digging the Conquering Sun project; the album has been in the rotation steady since its release.

When I saw that there were a handful of US dates, I bought tix to the Chicago show immediately. I flew in from Dallas, TX last night and took public transportation to the venue. I'd read and heard good things about the club, so my hopes were high.

I got to Lincoln Hall at about 8:30 (GD,S,&theCS were scheduled at 10:15). I asked one of the staff members if he'd caught soundcheck. "Yes", he replied. "How'd they sound?" "Great. And great. Meaning:," he went on to say, "Some bands have a soundguy who knows what he's doing, but the band doesn't have anything to say. Tonight the mix is perfect and the band sounded full and fantastic. It should be a heckuva show."

I made my way past bar in the front room of the venue and peered into the music room in the back. It was a small room, no fixed seats, with a redone urban vibe that felt just right. A great space. I was psyched. I made my way out to the streets to grab a bite before the show. Lots of great mom&pop restaurants all around.

As I entered my establishment of choice, Dallas and Travis good were walking out. Two other music lovers (who'd also come in from out of town. Driven 500 miles from Kansas City) spotted them and we all gave the Good bros. greetings and well-wishings for the upcoming gig. They were very pleasant.

Prior to the first song, Gordie was yammering nonsense to try and get some sort of monitor soundcheck going. Just before they began, he said (paraphrasing) that he couldn't hear anything. These kind of utterances became a theme for the first half of the show.

During that first half, the mix was awful. All I could hear was Dallas' guitar. He sounded great, but overpowered the bass, the drums, Travis, and even Gordie. The mix improved slowly and in slight increments until "Budget Shoes", when everything fell into place. They rocked that song, kept up the pace for Demand Destruction, and closed out the rest of the show with a ruthless rawkishness.

As the venue was only 30-40% capacity, I feel that the boys needed to draw energy from the crowd to amp the place up a notch. Unfortunately, the unintelligibility of the first third of the show slogged GDtS&tCS into a slow start. While the band recovered eventually, I feel that they could never totally recapture the crowd. It was a missed opportunity for us attendees, as we were all eager to be transfixed and transported by the band and their music. I would still call the show a "good show", but the potential for epic had been there. If only they'd gotten out of the gate better sonically...