Last week, I learned that the Age of Electric will be coming to the Saskatoon Event Centre on July 28. According to the poster, this will be their first show in Saskatchewan in 18 years.
This seems unlikely.
Unless maybe impostors played in Regina on Friday? On one hand, I can think of better people to impersonate. But then this show sold out in a hurry, so maybe I actually can't. If you want to move tickets, you can do worse than the triumphant return of semi-hometown heroes after nearly two decades.
I didn't see that last Saskatchewan show 18 years ago, but I did see Age of Electric once before. It was September 4, 1997 - or, to use me-specific dating, SLCR #21. I have mentioned before that I am glad that I've been writing these reviews because they contain all kinds of memories even after my own flawed human meat brain lets them go. Almost 19 years later, it's a show I barely remember and Zuckerbaby was the opener AND I only paid $8 for my ticket with my student ID, so surely Mika is reading this and cursing the fact that I went to this show and didn't even appreciate it like she would have. At least I had a good time, or so the review says. I'd share it with you, but it is really not my finest work. Even by my usual "doesn't actually review concerts" and "doesn't know anything about music" standards. If I ever get around to compiling these things into a book, that one might need to be accidentally left out.
On the way to the show, I got Mika to walk me through the history of the Age of Electric and at least some of the members' other bands. It gets complicated and I never really understood it. A graphic might have helped. Basically, AoE (look at me using the shorthand like a cool guy) are comprised of the Dahle brothers from Regina and the Kearns brothers from Lanigan. Kurt Dahle was the drummer for New Pornographers and Ryan Dahle is in Mounties. Together, they were both in Limblifter. Todd and John Kearns were also in Static in Stereo. This is not everything, but it might be enough to get by. Or it might be very wrong.
Also, the Kearns brothers look like rock n' roll degenerates. The Dahle brothers look like they should be building a soapbox derby racer or something. Maybe launching model rockets in the park? It's not hard to pick out who's related, is my point.
We got to the Exchange about a half-hour after the doors opened and the place was already packed. We got some ciders and found ourselves a decent place to stand. That review from 1997 is full of drunken shenanigans (not mine, but still). This one has us nursing one drink each while playing iPhone Yahtzee with each other to kill time before the show. This is what getting old is. It's iPhone Yahtzee. And complaining about the heat in the place. Even in rain-inappropriate shorts, I was sweltering.
The openers were a local band, Almost Alien (not, to Mika's chagrin, Hep Alien). They made me feel like I was in even more of a time warp, as they were the kind of band you'd have seen opening at Louis' back in the day. And of all the venues I regularly go to, the Exchange does come the closest to simulating the Louis' dank. It's not a perfect replica - you can't get anything deep fried, the layout of the Exchange generally makes sense, and I'm not convinced that anyone in Almost Alien was alive as of the last time I saw Age of Electric, but whatever. You get my point. These guys had an enjoyable 90s pop-punk sound that fit the evening. Having said that, it was interesting to me that what I liked was pretty different from back when I was (counts on fingers) 21. They had one song about bad roommates which had the lyrics (and I'm paraphrasing here) "fuck those fucking assholes / fuck those fucking fucks" and at 21, I'd have thought that was hilarious and rushed to buy their new EP (oh yeah, this was the launch party for their new EP). At 39, I rolled my eyes at that bit and mostly didn't listen to the rest of the lyrics, paying much more attention to the music.
This is the part where I'd say it was a "brief intermission" but it wasn't that brief and we were dying of heatstroke. Eventually Mika bought us bottled waters and they were delightful.
The Age of Electric eventually took the stage to a heroes' welcome. This was loud and great - the band hadn't lost a step and the crowd was into everything - even the new stuff. They played at least three new songs - Elephant in the Room, Kids Break Bones, and Kings (or "Keys," maybe?). Of these, I thought Kids Break Bones was the best; however, I strongly encourage you to not Google it in hopes of finding a recording. There might be one out there. That is not what I found.
As for everything else, Mika said "they played ALL the singles." I will take her word for it. I was as unprepared for this show as I was for that one in 1997. I knew Ugly once it got to the chorus. And of course I knew Remote Control (and of course it was the last song of the night), but as Todd Kearns said, "If you don't know this song, why the fuck are you here?"
There were some funny moments over the course of the night. At one point, a girl up in the front row demanded to tell her Age of Electric story. This went on for a while. Todd eventually gave her the mic. This did not speed things up any. I do not really know what her story was - I think she was at a 7-Eleven in Lloydminster and the band stopped there? Looking around the crowd, all you could see is people asking each other what was happening. I think someone was actually doing the Steve Austin "WHAT?" at one point.
But the best comedy of the night came when Todd led a singalong. Not of one of their songs (or is it?!), but Experience Regina, a video from the "Tourism Board of Saskatchewan" (possibly not a thing?). Jeff and I had been joking about the video earlier in the week, so when Todd sang this - completely out of nowhere - I about died. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Mika has spent most of the time since the show with this song in her head. Just the subject line of this review will be enough to set it off again.
The most amazing part of this was walking back to the car, I mentioned the video and she said "...there's a video?"
I am talking too much about fake tourism videos and not this show. This show was great, even for those of us who had 19 years to prepare and completely failed to do so. The band tore it up and I'll gladly go see them again when I'm 57.
I'm not sure I'd go see Age of Electric – I really only remember Remote Control and I found it suffered from CanCon overplaying syndrome, especially on MuchMusic ("Young Canadian rawk band with attractive members and alternavideo? We're going to play the shit out of that!!"). But Limblifter's "Tin Foil" remains a favorite from that era and Kurt Dahl's drumming is an absolutely key part of the New Pornographers for me.
Originally posted by tarnishI'm not sure I'd go see Age of Electric – I really only remember Remote Control and I found it suffered from CanCon overplaying syndrome, especially on MuchMusic ("Young Canadian rawk band with attractive members and alternavideo? We're going to play the shit out of that!!"). But Limblifter's "Tin Foil" remains a favorite from that era and Kurt Dahl's drumming is an absolutely key part of the New Pornographers for me.
I really only remembered Remote Control too, but it was still a really good show. Plus they played it last, so you won't miss anything if you leave when they start into it.
We're going to see Limblifter at the end of July at a festival with Sloan, Corb Lund, and others - will report back.
Thread ahead: SLCR #248: City and Colour (June 12, 2016) Next thread: Amazon.com MP3 Download Top 100 Bestsellers -- June 12, 2016 Previous thread: iTunes Top Downloads -- June 12, 2016
LW TW Artist Song Album Peak #Weeks - ^ 1 Muse "Supermassive Black Hole" Black Holes And Revelations 1 1 3 ^ 2 Snow Patrol "Hands Open" Eyes Open 1 7 1 v 3 We Are Scientists "It's A Hit" With Love And Squalor 1 3 4 > 4 Th...
Thread rated: 9.09
#