Double dose of Zeus in Toronto Friday December 3, 2010 at the Horseshoe and Saturday December 4, 2010 in London, ON at Call the Office

I've discovered I function best on overdrive and stacked busy. Given it can be quite exhausting, I think I'm at my best last minute and jam packed busy. This weekend I was completely at my peak. Last minute and spontaneous. (Shout out to you Tom)

Zeus put on easily one of my favourite shows of the year. As that special time comes around, I begin to think retrospectively. I had the absolute pleasure and good fortune of seeing Zeus both Friday and Saturday. Both times very different but equally as exciting.

The gig on Friday December 3 was at the Horseshoe in Toronto. I wasn't overly excited for this show but I was looking forward to it. Much to my surprise the show was completely sold out which means it was a complete sweat box at the Horseshoe. This is probably my fourth or fifth time seeing Zeus live - hearing all their songs put to life really give me a positive energy. On that note, their songs are incredibly positive and upbeat. Their charisma as both a band and individual players really show in their live performances. I couldn't help but feel completely drawn to them.

We saw the first show in its entirety opening up with "Marching Through Your Head" and closing with "You Gotta Tell Her." The second gig we got there a song and a half late, living spontaneously, missing the opener of what I can only assume was "Kindergarden" and the first part of the "Greater Times on the Wayside"/"River by the Garden" combination. We leapt in as fast as we could to catch "River by the Garden" in its entirety. The crowd at the London show was lively but quite a bit thinner than the Toronto show, which in actual fact I very much appreciate. There's something really lousy about a jam packed sardines show like at the Horseshoe.

My favourite bit of the first show was the band's performance of "Heavy on You." The tune is a Neil Quin song, the youngest member of the band. It's got good drive and momentum to it that keeps me on my toes when I listen to it live, even though I know exactly what's coming next in the tune. I was really happy with the crowds at both shows, they were incredibly into it, but not obnoxiously. Just really great concert etiquette

Here's an early pre-Zeus cut of the tune:

And here's what the tune actually sounds like now:

The thing I love about Zeus is their Beatles like ability to write songs that have a signature sound to the band while being able to sound together. Three of the four members played some serious musical instrument roulette switching it up between guitar, bass and the keys. It's always a pleasure to see them flip flop around between instruments. I've gotten to the point where I can feel what songs their going to play based on what instruments their sitting on.

A really great example of this is the Neil Quin tunes that are still circulating online. Many of the Neil Quin tunes that made it on the Zeus album Say Us were penned lifetimes before by Quin yet they still have a full band comfortable organic feel to them. In addition to the videos below, this is totally worth a peek.

"Kindergarden":

I'm so happy to have stumbled upon this. They played this terrific tune "Are You Going to Waste My Time, Or Be Mine" at both gigs too:

"Anybody ever work a dishwashing job? Anybody ever want to drink cold beers after that job?" Amazing:

Always playing their Genesis cover of the tune "That's All":

I'm not sure what this song's called but they played it at both shows this weekend past:

How can you not feel good listening to Zeus? They put on the best full band live show of any Toronto band I can think of at the moment.