It's been about a month since I posted anything. I had been meaning to post something after the Massive Attack concert @ the Bell Centre October 18, but alas I did not.
Unfortunately, it's a little fuzzy in my brain, but Paw has a pretty good review on her site.
The opening act, or should I say first headliner was Thievery Corporation. They have a really solid fan base which probably made up about half of the crowd. I had no knowledge of their music a priori, but I really enjoyed it. It's kind of in the same spirit of Massive Attack - trip hop, loungey and extremely chill, though they incorporate a lot of middle eastern sounding rhythms in their music as well. In addition, I find Massive Attack to be quite a bit darker (Fil and I were a little glum post concert). Either way, I liked them enough to further explore their music.
Massive Attack did not disappoint. They had a rather bare stage set up with a large screen behind them displaying various things. I love Robert del Naja (3D) and noticed that he tends to either do one of two dances 1) bending one leg and then the other repeatedly 2) dancing a bit like Thom Yorke from Radiohead - a general bouncy and random dance, sometimes with arms flailing. I like. :)
They had guests with them as well, most notably horace andy who does all the reggae sounding vocals :) Deborah Miller did most of the female vocals I think - also wonderful.
Setlist:
1) United Snakes
2) Psyche
3) Risingson
4) Girl I love you (yay for horace andy - this song is incredibly dancy live)
5) Future Proof (awesome long distortion guitar for this song)- Naja also kept walking in circles around one of the stage props. Sometimes clockwise, sometimes counter clockwise.
6) Splitting the atom (I think...not sure)
7) Mezzanine
8) Teardrop - spooky vocals and wacky lights :)
9) Angel
-------------------------- Encore
10) Inertia Creeps
11) Unfinished sympathy
12) Babel
13) Safe from harm
14) Atlas air
As you can see, there was a huge concentration of Mezzanine tracks. Well I'd say it was kind of equally distributed between heligoland and mezzanine. I love Mezzanine, so I was pleasantly surprised. But I was also kind of sad that they didn't play Paradise Circus (one of my favorite songs from the new album) and Karmacoma. Oh well, you can't get it all. Atlas Air was a great way to end. I really enjoyed that song. By the end of the concert we were all beat though and just made our way home. No pumpkin chai latte this time :P
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Next concert is Broken Social Scene! I'm so happy to be seeing them again and it will land, hopefully just after my thesis defense (concert is December 18. My defense date hasn't been set yet).
I have just under 2 weeks to complete my thesis. I'm pretty stressed about it as new things keep popping up. I do hope everything gets handed in on time as I really don't want to stay another semester! :D
While working on my thesis, I've been using grooveshark on the computer at school to listen to music. I had heard the most recent Arcade Fire album before "The Suburbs", but actually didn't really get into it. Now, I have a new found appreciation for it. My favorite tracks are Rococo, Sprawl II and half light II. This album has a distinctly different feel from Funeral and Neon Bible (though you can certainly tell it's Arcade Fire). I wouldn't say it's more cheerful...in a strange way it's less epic? I'm not really sure how to describe it.
Another potential concert is Girl Talk March 1. Who knows for sure - it's a bit too far to tell. But it certainly looks insane and fun live.
I've put a new playlist for mid-Fall feel to correspond with my mood and what I've currently been listening to :) I return now to thesis hermitage! I shall report back...I don't know when :D
