I didn't ever officially say anything when I quit writing the SLCRs, largely because I didn't really want to admit to myself that I'd stopped. It had been over 25 years! That's a while! And I don't like quitting things. I still play Pokémon Go. I still add songs to Rock Band. Even Rock Band isn't doing that anymore.
I just got tired of it. We hit a point where we were seeing the same people over and over, along with a handful of artists (usually opening acts) I knew nothing about and didn't feel like I had any business commenting on.
Part of me wants to do a super-short recap of each show I've seen between then and now. Would that be fun? Would it let me continue to update my SLCR playlist without actually writing reviews? Am I willing to do the pain-in-the-ass work of looking up a bunch of dates for shows I barely remember?
Pierre Kwenders w/Selci & DJ Hendrika (January 27, 2023) Hawksley Workman w/Mauvey (January 28, 2023) These two were part of Winterruption, which hasn’t come back for 2024 or 2025. Hawksley was Hawksley, which is to say good and I'd seen it all before. I think it was Mauvey who was dressed like the Grimace and Kwenders who fondled himself a lot, but I could be getting that backwards.
Just think of the music journalism you've been missing out on.
Gateway Festival 2023 You know what, no, I'm not going to keep looking up dates. You can if you want. Anyhoo, we got there in time for Skye Wallace, the first time seeing a new favourite of mine. Then Odds, Library Voices, and four Sloan songs before lightning brought the evening to a premature end. Then I drove home in a thunderstorm which ranks among my least favourite things to do out of all of the things. I swore I wouldn't go back to Gateway but if you've scrolled down you already know that was a lie. My festival food was samosas and pakoras.
Sloan at Queen City Ex Sebastian Bach had to pull out of his show at the Ex and luckily, Sloan was able to step in at the last minute so we still got to see them. Lucky for us, I mean. Sebastian Bach fans were probably less impressed. They played Underwhelmed which is the important thing. Since the show took place immediately following a Rider home game and the place was flooded with fans, Chris tried singing DMX's Ruff Ryder's Anthem, and I get why he'd think that would work, but it died a death. Then he did the only sensible thing which was to go back to it like five more times for his own amusement. This was a free show but we paid for the VIP access which came with a seating area (yay) and appetizers (technically, in some ways, food). There was also a very drunk man with a vuvuzela and you already know that he decided he'd be my new friend because that's what happens whenever I leave the house which is why I don't anymore. My fair food was tiny burgers on a stick and a Nutella banana Beaver Tail. And regrettably, some of the appetizers.
Regina Folk Festival 2023 The folk festival also didn't come back in 2024 but it’s returning in some form this year. The 2023 highlights were TEKE::TEKE and Shad and Allison Russell and Socalled (my first time seeing him, which seemed impossible but was apparently the case) and taco truck tacos.
Dan Mangan w/Gabrielle Shonk at Darke Hall I thought hard about writing a review of this one because it was exactly what I needed when I needed it. Not sure how to explain that. Just a great night of music. Vibes, as the kids started and then probably quit saying. This was so so good. Gabrielle Shonk was good too and also I bought a record from her but I had to wait in line while she did tech support for a senior who wanted to join Dan Mangan's mailing list. And she (Shonk, not the senior) dishes out top-tier high fives. Does it all really.
Crash Test Dummies w/Carleton Stone at Casino Regina A Christmas show, so I actually heard some songs I hadn't heard the Dummies do live before. Off-mic, Ellen leaned over towards my table and said "hi James! Hi James's friends!" which was delightful.
The Trans-Canada Highwaymen at Casino Regina I wish I could take credit for "CanCon Voltron." Steven Page formerly from Barenaked Ladies, Chris Murphy from Sloan, Craig Northey from Odds, and Moe Berg from Pursuit of Happiness, all playing a mix of their hits as well as the Canadian hits of the 60s and 70s that are on their album. They played Underwhelmed which is the important thing. I'd been hoping for a proper tour and this was super fun, especially because I'd never seen the Pursuit of Happiness before.
The Beaches at the Calgary Stampede They're great! It was packed! I felt too old to be there! My fair food was a bacon-wrapped foot-long hotdog with macaroni and cheese, and "cheeseburger ice cream" which I ate solely to horrify others. It worked, but at what cost?
Metric at the Calgary Stampede I was supposed to see the Crash Test Dummies in the afternoon, but I had to get to the Saddledome for wrestling and the timing didn't work out. The timing didn't really work out for Metric, either, who were well underway by the time wrestling let out. Jeff and I heard parts of two songs while eating dill pickle pizza on our way out of the Stampede. One of which was half of Help I'm Alive so I put it on my playlist because I make the playlist rules.
Gateway Festival 2024 Hey look it's the Pursuit of Happiness. Cool to see them. The highlight was Novillero, a band from Winnipeg who played Saskatchewan a lot for the brief time that they were a going concern. “They” meaning Novillero. I’m not sure Saskatchewan is still a going concern. Maybe Saskatchewan and Novillero both petered out around the same time. Anyway, their album Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives is a favourite and it was great to see them again, even if it was a shorter set on the smaller stage. We also saw Library Voices and the Garrys and two Big Sugar songs before heading out. I like Big Sugar but it was late and it's a long drive. My festival food was brisket poutine.
Hawksley Workman at Casino Regina This guy again! Good show. More talkative with fewer repeat stories. One new song.
Corb Lund at Casino Regina Best show I've ever attended with a friend's mother-in-law.
Mo Kenney w/Marissa Burwell at the Artesian The platonic ideal of the nice night out that I have very little to say about. Mo remains great.
You're caught up! That was easy. Dunno why I haven't been doing that for the past two years.
So why this now? In the absence of the SLCRs, I threw around some ideas for new writing projects. One is my new (well, year-old) blog, actuallynever.com. It is me writing about things that I have Actually Never done/seen/heard/read/eaten/experienced before. There are something like 10 entries in the past year so it maybe hasn't been as inspiring as I would have hoped, but the concept still has potential. And Pulp, they've been around a long time, and I've Actually Never seen them before.
(Unless you meant "so why this now" in the sense of "why are you sending this out close to four months and technically the year after the concert?" Because I’ve set expectations over the years and I want to make this feel as authentic as possible.)
Anyway. Some months prior, Pulp announced their first Canadian show in 13 years. You may remember that back in 2019, Thrush Hermit was doing a reunion show in Toronto and I asked Mika if she wanted to do something stupid and she said yes. Same thing here. Better this time, actually, because Pulp didn’t book a show in Saskatoon as soon as we finished buying our plane tickets.
They did book a second Toronto show, which was nice because I completely failed to get tickets for the first one. So technically we saw their second Canadian concert in 13 years. The specificity makes it so much less interesting.
The trip was a short one. A few days, largely uneventful. We went out and did a few things - tried a couple restaurants, went to the ROM and the Eaton Centre, watched the Hamburglar from afar - but mostly kept it pretty chill. Especially on the day of the concert, since we’re now old and needed to be out late and stand for hours like chumps surrounded by other chumps.
The show was held at History, a newish club co-owned by Drake. Apparently, in a past life, it used to be an off-track betting place? Before we got to town, I had been told it was quite nice but inconveniently located, far from the subway or any other place you might also want to go to. Can confirm all that. I considered figuring out the bus system (by which I mean outsourcing that task to Mika) but instead we just took cabs.
We got there in plenty of time for me to get and finish some form of canned grapefruity cocktail as we stood around before the opener. The show was sold out, the floor was packed, and people all seemed very excited. I felt a little out of place as the guy who only really knew their biggest hits.
The openers were Escape-ism, a two-piece that describes themselves as a “found-sound-dream-drama” in their Bandcamp bio. Had I not seen them, I’d think “that sounds like they’re a lot.” Having seen them… yeah. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to take them very seriously or not at all. Like, they were kinda funny? Or the singer was, anyway. Very performative. It felt like he was acting like a rockstar instead of being one, if that makes sense. I dunno. After about ten minutes I felt like I got all I was going to get out of them and was ready for the main event. Maybe I’d have been more receptive on another night. Or maybe not. Some googling other people’s opinions seems to show other fans were divided between “they’re satirical” and “they’re awful.” Not sure about the former, certainly wouldn’t go as far as the latter.
So yeah, like I said, Pulp was the kind of thing where I only knew a handful of their biggest songs and whatever Mika had played around me. Not the target audience. And yet. Fantastic? Yes. This was great. I didn’t know the first song, but the second was Disco 2000 and that was when everyone really went bonkers and the show took off for me. From there, it really didn’t matter if I knew the songs or not, it was a blast.
But really, me liking the show was a bonus. We went because Mika was the big fan and she also thought it was fantastic. We spent some time the other night discussing our favourite concerts and for her, this was right up there, on the short list in consideration for the top spot.
I feel like I haven’t actually said a lot about the concert. Should I pad this out with the setlist? Yes, I think this Pulp review needs some actual Pulp-centric content. I Spy Disco 2000 O.U. (Gone, Gone) Something Changed Pink Glove Weeds Weeds II (The Origin of the Species) F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. Sorted for E's & Wizz This Is Hardcore Do You Remember the First Time? Babies Sunrise
Encore: Like a Friend Underwear Common People
Other encore: Spike Island Razzmatazz Glory Days
We got pretty much everything I knew, which like I said, wasn’t a ton. Mika seemed happy with the setlist. There was also one new song - apparently there’s an album coming this soon.
This list may not mean much to you. When I would say we were going to see Pulp, a handful of people were very excited and most people said “who?” And fair enough; if you know only one of those songs, it’s almost certainly Common People and it turns 30 this year. If you don’t know that song, that won’t make you feel old. But you know me, and I turn 50 next year. You’re welcome.
I totally forgot that I hadn't posted this! I'll do next week's right now to make up for it. THE TOP SELLERS 1. Contra (The W at Amazon) Vampire Weekend (XL Recordings) 2. Y Not Ringo Starr (Hip-O Records) 3. Sherlock Holmes:
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