The Din's Suburban Sendoff Concert Review, Plus CD Information & More!!

Hey everyone, it's time for our review of last night's Suburban Sendoff, a.k.a. the final concert/CD release party for The Din and their new album "Suburban Dream"! Good turnout for the occasion at LopLops Lounge, albeit spread out in the popular venue, but by the end of the night, the floor was nicely packed to send The Din off! I do have some details on physical copies of the CD and an extra video from elsewhere, but let's get our review rolling!

Opening for The Din last night were local indie/hard rock/jam quartet Bizotic, who were a nice appetizer with their unique originals! Everyone played to their strengths during their well recieved set, with Brad Griffith coming more into his own on lead vocals, B.J. Swire handling the keytar with ease, and Travis St. Amour drumming nicely to the rhythm, while Louise Lamothe's trumpet playing and effects work added their own zest to songs like "Subway Delay" & "Echoes In Your Head"! If there's anything to nitpick over, it's that their six song set hasn't really been updated or extended since I first saw them live earlier in the year. They have a lot to offer, I'd be curious to hear some new originals or a longer headlining set from Bizotic! Overall though, Bizotic opened things well to kick off the Suburban Sendoff, and here's to more from them soon!

Then, it was time for local alternative/hard rock trio The Din's final concert set, and they delivered a home run for fans to go out with! Playing a packed setlist that contained every song on "Give In To The Din" & "Suburban Dream" (except "The Rose"), the guys also threw in frontman Mike Haggith's solo song "We Met As Surrogates" (well, "...At The Circus"), and in an encore bonus, a cover of The Tragically Hip's "Blow at High Dough" in memory of the late Gord Downie, which was more than welcomed! Of course, Mike is moving out west for work next week, and he did show some emotion and gratitude to fans, family, and friends while also keeping things light with amusing banter with drummer Brandan Glew, who also was on fire last night! Guitarist Tammy Hill shone as well with some excellent riffs and solos, and fans responded in kind, even via balloons and pom poms making their way onto the floor, so how's that for a way to help send Mike and The Din off?

The big surprise of the night was Mike's announcement that they were recording the show for a posthumous live album (presumably sans their Hip cover), and with that plus Shaw TV's filming of the show for an upcoming Din feature, we'll get to hear and see much more from the Suburban Sendoff down the line! This was a very entertaining show, and you couldn't have scripted a much better finale for The Din, so kudos to everyone involved! We have more on the show to come, but for now, you can check out our photos from the show at this link or via our Facebook page, and here's our videos of Bizotic playing "Dirty Time Machine" & "The Din playing "In The Moonlight"!

 

While we're on the subject, here's some extra details on the "Suburban Dream" CD that was released in a $10 limited print run last night! Of course, I bought a copy, and this is the cover artwork, which was amended for the concert poster. No word on why the band's name isn't on the cover, but it suits the title! Lots of band photos make the packaging, including a collage on the booklet's back page, and one of The Din walking away on the back cover, while the inside contains thanks from the guys to their fans and supporters (as previously seen on Facebook) & album credits. CDs also come with a business card with social media links, and the discs themselves are autographed by the band. Considering the relative rush, these are well put together, even without song lyrics! And no, the album doesn't have a bonus track.  In terms of when to expect a review of "Suburban Dream" on the SMS, I'm targeting early December, as we're not past our 6 month anti-bias buffer yet from reviewing "The Din Does Laundry", so look for our review in a little over a month!

To close our post on The Din's farewell show, here's a video from local promoters Live705's Facebook page from The Din's set! Nice to hear from Live705 again, I wonder where they've been as of late? Possibly filmed by A Dire Setback bassist Matt Quinn, this is of 71 seconds from the latter half of their newer song "Missing", and while filmed on a vertical camera angle, it's got solid audio, and you get a good look at Tammy's guitar solo in particular, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more from Live705!



That's all for both this post and The Din's active run, and while it's sad to see them go, they delivered lots of great times both in the last two years and in the acid jam days with Curt and early collaborators, and it was a great way to send them off, even with posthumous material likely to come! Best of luck to Mike, Tammy, Brandan, and other former members in the future, and hopefully we haven't heard the last from them musically, here or abroad! Thanks everyone!, and look for more news this week!