Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Frightlight Concert Review & Subsistance Concert Preview!!

I'M BACK! My computer's back from Staples and virus free, and I want to offer my deepest apologies to everyone that was hoping or expecting new posts and updates this weekend. I couldn't have predicted the virus or that Staples would be so long with fixing the computer. So before I get to the start of some long overdue news, I want to mention a few things.

First, the next few days will be VERY busy as we get caught up with news, so you'll probably wanna be visiting very frequently to get caught up. Our Twitter page proved to be a lifesaver to keep stories coming, but I don't know how many of you guys paid attention, so I plan to cover those stories in detail (and more) over the next while. The new SMS poll is one of my first orders of business once I get certain things over and done with, and I will run it for a full month as usual, but I'm not ready to post it yet. It'll be about your favourite concerts in Sault Ontario in the first half of 2010, so get speculating! The specialty logo and banner for the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival are now posted here and on Facebook, and I will leave them up until Monday to give them the full week that I give special logos, so no complaining that they're still up after the festival ends. No special feature posts have to be rushed as a result of the computer problems, so they're still on schedule. And if you have any news and updates that I don't know about or should cover, I either haven't got to them yet, or they passed me by during my computer's absence, so feel free to e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com with anything you've got!

So let's begin this post with, as I promised on Facebook, a concert review! Before anyone brings it up, I DO plan on reviewing Garden of Bedlam's headlining performance at Rotaryfest, but part of my review is being temperamental, the part that didn't allow me to take photos of their set. I'm not divulging anything about it because I want it to be a surprise, but believe me, when it works, you'll enjoy it!

It was just the second time in under three months that I went to two separate concerts in a single day, and my concert hopping first took me to Foggy Notions, for my second Frightlight concert in a week! The environment of this show was completely different from their Coch's Corner CD recording show from the week prior, as this was a family driven benefit affair to raise money for guitarist Rick White's deaf nephew Logan. The food from the potluck dinner was still out to snack on, and there were apparently door prizes at the potluck too, with a 50/50 draw being conducted during the concert as well! The crowd seemed half made up of family and half concert goers, with a surprising number of children that stuck around for the concert. Great to see them supporting the cause, but I could tell some weren't too used to such loud music. And the first band to bring the loudness was The Fury, who despite being slightly late, laid down some catchy "don't-give-it-a-genre" music! I still find it amazing that they can both make a bass sound like a guitar AND somehow make a Soulja Boy song listenable! Paul Stanghetta and Tony Briglio are both very good bassists and never make it sound like a jumbled mess of low tones, and that's welcome! Good stuff, and as I get more accustomed to their sound, I enjoy it more, even if it's not exactly metal!

Tiny Trebuchet were next, and in a sense, this was my first full view of them, not counting their short two song set at the Kiss Battle of the Bands. I have to say, they're not entirely my cup of tea, but they are good musicians! Musically, they remind me of what would happen if an indie band and a punk band were blended together, and they had a few catchy songs to boot! I'd like to see them ramp up the punk influences a bit more, but they weren't bad, just not really my thing. Following them was Inferno from Alowishes Grotesk's Traveling Tent Museum & Snake Oil Show for some entertaining sideshow stunts, and he was really good! I've always liked sideshow entertainers, and Inferno delivered some great stuff, from fire breathing to piercing himself with needles to putting his hand in a raccoon trap, and more! He used some great audience participation (some of their reactions were priceless), and you couldn't help but watch! We also got to see him pull off some very impressive fire breathing outside to cap off his set! My only complaint is he's not the best speaker, but he more than made up for it with his stunts, and I hope to see Inferno again!

Frightlight, of course, were the headliners, and they delivered another fun set of horror punk/metal for the masses at Foggy Notions! Their performance seemed both looser yet more determined than their Coch's Corner performance, in that this was a more casual setting with no album being recorded, but they were determined to bring their A-game to make sure lots of cash was raised for Logan! While most of their set was just hammering out originals like "Dead Town" and "Fright Night", there were also some covers thrown into the mix, and an amusing/cute sequence where some of the band members and attendee's daughters came on stage to try their hand at drumming! Frightlight jammed a song that had a drum track similar to what the kids played, and it was fun to see that! Don't be fooled by the horror makeup, they're regular guys with families, and this fit in with that! Musically, they still sounded good, and considering that there wasn't really anything at stake as a band or with a huge non-family audience, you can forgive them for a couple mess-ups here and there! They're still a great band to rock out with, and if you miss Fitswitch, love horror music and The Misfits, and just wanna rock out, they always deliver!

Rick White's Facebook page
announced that over $1,200 was raised for Logan, which is awesome, and I'm glad to have chipped in! Fingers crossed that he gets his hearing back, we're all pulling for him! Fun concert, if a bit different in atmosphere from most shows I hit, and I can't wait to see Frightlight again! I got a bunch of photos, so click here to check them out, or visit our Facebook page! And yes, I did get a video, so here's Frightlight playing their original song "Fright Night" from this past Saturday!



Finally for today, because there is an apparent concert tomorrow night, we have a local concert preview... well, I'm going by the last available information I have. Now back in May, I told you guys about a listed concert for Foggy Notions for July 21st (that would be tomorrow) headlined by Montreal old school hardcore band Subsistance. This is still listed on their MySpace page with a listed start time of 8:00 PM. If this concert is on, it'd likely be 19+ with a cover charge of $3-$5. Now I'm having doubts about the concert, and here's why: Foggy Notions haven't advertised it online and it hasn't appeared elsewhere in local advertising. That doesn't tend to bode well, but I'm still gonna treat the concert as if it's going on because nothing the band has stated would imply that they're not coming. Now if I hear otherwise, I'll update this, but for now, treat this as a scheduled concert... with a grain of salt. That being said, if you go to Foggy's tomorrow night and they are playing, expect lots of fast and furious old school hardcore that is VERY moshable! I really like these guys, check them out on MySpace for more! Lots of quick relentless songs with lots of aggression, you'll enjoy them, if they're here! For a video preview, here's Subsistance playing their song "Keep Up The Fight" from a Montreal show in 2007!



That's all for now, but there will be much more very soon! My next post, likely later tonight, will either be a news post with stuff I couldn't report over the weekend, or the Garden of Bedlam concert review, depending on how things roll with that. Stay tuned, this is a very busy stretch! And thanks for your patience and understanding over the past four days! You guys rule, and I still can't believe that through 3 days of no updates, our Facebook fan and Twitter follower totals GREW. Odd, but awesome! Thanks guys, I'll be back before you know it!

1 comment:

Nina Athena said...

Thank you for sharing this! It’s very helpful! Would love to see more updates from you.

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