[Stickboy]

Just wanted to see if any of the hipbase crowd was attending either of the Sam Roberts shows in Calgary or Edmonton on November 4th and 7th respectively.

Also wanted to see if anyone is planning on attending any of his upcoming shows in BC, SK or out East. Love to hear how the shows go.

Anyone attending Calgary or Edmonton, post and let me know if you want to meet up.

Jesse (aka Stickboy, Pig On Tour)

[TLB]

Hey Jesse
I'm going to try to see him here in Vancouver. It depends on a couple of things but if it isn't sold out yet, I'll try to catch it and report back.
Tony

[TLB]

Well Jesse, I checked out Sam Roberts at the Commodore Ballroom last night with a fellow Hipster from back east who is also heading to Victoria for two unannounced Sam gigs over the next couple days.

The opening band was from Halifax and I believe their name was Mary Mayes or something-Mayes (both words start with M). They were ok but the singer looks alot like Sam, their drummer looks alot like Sam's drummer, they use tons of Les Pauls like Sam, and they sound alot like Sam. Otherwise, they put on a good opening show.

The venue was absolutely packed for Sam and he got thunderous cheers from the crowd all night. Sam played all four of his radio hits (DWAE & WHATGPG rocked hard!) and a few songs from his IVL-opener setlists like Taj Mahal, Shine and Socialism. He really likes a good loud crowd to perform to and commented more than once on how he gets his loudest ovations in Vancouver, which was nice to see. Last year on the IVL tour, Victoria was a tough crowd for Sam to get going, but Vancouver's was much better three nights later.

Tons and tons of energy all night from Sam, who was sporting a "Mary Jane" t-shirt with an upside-down pot leaf. He was pretty excited for this "big-kids" gig after an all-ages show the night before at the Vogue Theatre. Sam's band is really tight and it looks like they learned some lessons watching The Boys last year on the IVL tour. The crowd was eating out of the palm of his hand all night and he definitely played off of it. A big crowd moment happened when a girl up on her boyfriend's shoulders in the second row pulled out a joint, lit it, then motioned Sam over and handed it to him. He floated around the stage for a minute, puffing away, before returning the joint to the girl and continuing with the music.

The setlist ran for 100 minutes and when I found this out before the show, I was very surprised they lasted that long considering the standard Hip show is about the same. After now having seen the show, I'm still surprised. He played his radio hits during the main set, getting all of them out of the way within the first 60 minutes, which left me wondering what else he had in his catalogue to finish the show on a strong note. After Brother Down I knew there were still 40 minutes left and braced for a long, slow end to the show but to Sam's credit he kept the energy going and the crowd loved it. It would have been much nicer to see a solid 60-70 minute set from Sam instead of a somewhat drawn-out 100 minute set (IMO, I don't think he has the catalogue yet to do it - maybe in a few years).

All in all, I'm glad I got to see Sam again since the last time was on the IVL tour (he's played here a few times since but I haven't been able to attend). Definitely not a disapointing show in any regard, actually a great deal for the $25 or $30 they charge. Fans will leave happy, just some might think they could've left a little earlier.

[livehip]

nice to see a hometown boy doing big in the rest of Canada...

[the_wheat_king]

seeing Sam on Nov. 22 in Hamilton....

The persons' name you're thinking of is Matt Mays. He and his band did a NXNE show at my school (Mohawk) in Hamilton along with "Boy" and "Tangiers?" I thought Mays was the best of the three (bought his CD too).