The Shins at the Kool Haus; Saturday March 17, 2007

The Shins at the Kool Haus; Saturday March 17, 2007. 8/10

I wasn't at all fond of the openers. They did the whole guitar drums duo like the White Stripes, however very much unlike the White Stripes they had recorded sounds to contribute to their own--very Britney Spears-esq. Not so fond of that. The band was called Viva Voice (yet another husband wife duo) with a male drummer and a female guitarist, which was a pleasant change. Their set consisted of way too many guitar solos and terrible lyrics. The first song and last song included the lyrics: "We don't fuck around", that's a good thing because they are married. Their vocals were alright, nothing special at that. I was expecting much better openers, sometihng along the lines of the openers from their last show in Toronto---The Brunettes an amazing Australian twee styled band. (Download: "Loopy Love")The Shins on the other hand were outstanding! I had such a great time even though it was a sold out show and the Kool Haus was packed beyond belief. They opened the show up with three new tracks, well technically four i suppose, basically the first bit of the album. The first song being "Sleeping Lessons" a dreamlike song which primarily uses the synthesizers until the acousitc guitar mimics the same riff at about the two minute point which i think makes the song worth listening to. This song sounds like a blend of the synth-electronic sound you hear from "Oh! Inverted World" but maintains the dancelike feel of "Chutes to Narrow". I really don't like the track "Australia", however they mimiced most of the sounds they said in many interviews they were wry about playing in a live show. James Mercer was in top form, his vocals are perfect and the band is great too. What amazed me when i was flipping through the lyrics was that James Mercer actually writes ALL of the songs himself in complete--that means music too! The Shins are great because they are not a band that will only push their new album (ahem, Bright Eyes). The have three albums released to date and majority of the show was comprised of older tracks that were obviously the ones that made it to being big. Few to mention: "Caring is Creepy", "Girl Inform Me", "New Slang"and my personal favourites of the live show: "Know Your Onion!", "Saint Simon" and "So Says I"Despite the awful venue, the terrible amount of people, crappy merch and not-so-good openers the show was great i had a good time.I always find their live show entertaining and fun, something you can really dance around to, which is always fun to do.

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March 19, 2007