Saturday, March 18, 2006

Mit-CITY Microwaving their friends, and an evening with Great Big Sea

I had two fun, show-filled nights on Wednesday and Thursday last week. On Wednesday I FINALLY made it to my first Mit-CITY show. It's a long story but basically I've known about them for years and I'm ashamed to say that it's come to my friend Emily dating the singer (Mike) to get me to go to a show. I am definitely hooked now though. The show was a lot of fun. They're a very innovative, creative duo who even when they are about to pass out with sickness still don't disappoint. They're a piano/guitar duo who mix pop/rock and folk with a sort of vaudvillian flair. Mike's strong vocal stylings and Jesse's talent on the piano combined with comedic, satirical lyrics that put them in a category with Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous make them a must-see. Besides, any band who has a six-foot microwave on stage is cool by default. Mike wrote a song about microwaving his friends and so he called up his parents and got them to build him a giant microwave for their big finish...How many parents do you know that would build their son a six-foot microwave on 2 days notice?--It didn't quite work out as they'd envisioned but it was very funny just the same=). Check out: www.mit-city.com

On Thursday we went to see Great Big Sea at the Carlu, which was AWESOME! They are touring right now to support their new traditional album The Hard and the Easy and so they're playing special shows in smaller venues. The Carlu is an old ballroom that was closed for 50 years and then restored and recently reopened. They basically set up chairs in rows in front of the stage so it was a very intimate situation. The staff was really helpful too, they brought us in early and moved the entire row down a few seats so that I could park my scooter at the end of the row and still be able to see when everyone stood up, which is definitely a rarity at a GBS show.

There was no opener so they did two sets with an intermission in between. They did a softer, more traditional set first and then the second set was a full-on rock-out with all the hits. There was absolutely no security either so we ended up just leaving our seats and going and standing right up front in the aisle. It was really fun. It was really good to see that our fave newfie boys emerged from their bus fiasco virtually unscathed. Doyle is as sexy as ever, and our nice clean-cut Toronto boy hasn't changed a bit, but Bob and Sean have crazy long hair that is horrible! What are they thinking? Especially Bob=p. They were all in such goofy moods. Sean seemed set on making Alan laugh and even Murray joined in on the antics. Did I mention that Alan made a little Toronto inside joke by exclaiming "Way to go Murray!" when he introduced Murray? It was HILARIOUS! I totally wanted to go back again the next night. Darn expensive tickets! Alan says they'll be back in July though, yay! For now I have my Alan Doyle guitar pick to keep me going until then=).

Oh yeah, my friend and I were talking about Liam Titcomb's album and then as we were leaving he popped out of the crowd. He's been at a lot of the shows I've been at recently...*hehe*. He saw me and smiled awkwardly. Way too many musicians know me now...is that a bad thing, or a good thing?

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