You and I are on the outside of almost everything

Went to see The Dears play a fantastic show Wednesday night at Richard's. They were originally scheduled to play here on Monday, but it was postponed due to the snow. This kind of put me in a tough spot as I also had a ticket to the Cat Power show scheduled on Wednesday as well. Even though I've never seen Cat Power before, and as much as I wanted to watch her perform with the Memphis Rhythm Band.....there's no way I would have missed one of my favourite bands touring for their amazing Gang Of Losers album and playing their first and probably only time at Richard's.

The Blood Lines opened the show. The four piece from Saskatoon played a set that displayed some nice harmonies and catchy pop-rock riffs in their songs.

The band was only formed this year, and have already been getting some good exposure...from opening for the Constantines, to playing at the CMJ Music Marathon, to touring with The Dears. I quite enjoyed their set musically.



Near the end of their performance, they decided to invite a girl from the audience onto the stage to dance. Unfortunately, the girl was drunk and fell off the stage backwards onto the floor on her attempt getting on. After she was helped onto the stage, she aimlessly wandered around trying to somewhat interact with each band member for the song. It was kind of interesting and funny to watch...

The Dears came on to Sinthtro, which lead straight into Ticket To Immortality. This was my 6th time seeing them perform live. The Montreal natives have gone through quite a few lineup changes since their existence, but these six current members seem to fit so well together onstage. On this night, they sounded as tight as ever.



Frontman Murray Lightburn plays with so much passion and energy, as does his wife Natalia on keyboards and vox. The new songs translated well live, especially Death Or Life We Want You, and You And I Are A Gang Of Losers.



Whites Only Party and We Can Have It featured pounding basslines courtesy of Martin Pelland. He and Valerie Jodoin-Keaton, (on keyboards, flute, and vox), are also married. With Martin positioned beside Valerie onstage, it was cute to watch the two have their little moments together during songs.



The Dears also added their own extra set of stage lights, which enhanced their performance nicely. They finished off the main set with Hate Then Love, before coming back with a soaring 13min version of Postcard From Purgatory for the encore. I Fell Deep followed, then the band said their goodbyes. With an overwhelming applause and show of appreciation from the crowd, The Dears came back and played one final song for a second encore...the name of it escapes me.



Set lasted 1hr 50mins with 2 encores. Wow.....I'm really happy with my decision to forgo the Cat Power show in favour of seeing The Dears once more. It's definitely been one of my favourite shows this year.



Notes:
-Die Die Die on the setlist = Never Destroy Us
-2nd encore song not listed on the setlist, as they've been mainly ending their shows with I Fell Deep.