The Big Pink Tickets

The Big Pink puts on a GREAT show! Loved it! The Mod club was a good venue!

Last night saw the two-headed new-gaze double-bill of madness that is London, U K's The Big Pink and Brooklyn, NYC's A Place To Bury Strangers touchdown in the YYZ at the Mod Club Theatre for some ear-splitting, tinnitus inducing, feedback drenched tomfoolery. What a double bill! It absolutely boggles the mind. I have to assume that The Big Pink, being the "proper" headliners here, amassed a ton of good favour on the recent NME shockwaves tour in the UK they were a part of. How else to explain a coup as big as the self-proclaimed "loudest band in New York" as your tour mates? Stalking the stage like the best Jim and William Reid impersonators this side of Glasgow, APTBS made their M.O. Known within the first scant bars of their set. Their mission is to hurt eardrums and palpitate hearts. Blinding white noise met over miked, spiky snare hits, driven by a scary. primal sub-bass thud that sounded more like a broken Rolland 808 than the live drummer, who, sadly, sat at his kit, which is very un-JAMC. Oliver Ackerman, his tall, lanky frame bent over his requisite Fender Jazzmaster, demonstrated why he's so uniquely qualified to play this kind of music; his day job is designing custom effects pedals for his company, Death By Audio. This was his brand of keynote address. The rest of the three piece ably kept up, drenched in strobe lights and the most dry-ice smoke and fog I've ever seen at a show, lapsing in and out of tracks while upping the volume with to unholy levels, it was a phenomenal experience, like My Bloody Valentine, the best live act I've ever seen, by the end, their was a physical reaction to all that sound. Some members of the audience wobbled on their feet a bit, to be sure. Naturally, the Big Pink had big shoes to fill, hitting the stage after APTBS were well and truly done with it, leaving the place in tatters. These former A & R men who finally decided to get off the fence and start a band of their own have been very busy this last year, a hectic touring schedule that has paid off for them with some recent notable awards in the UK music scene. To be fair, these guys are from a different school of Shoegaze revival than APTBS, more advanced pop structures and meandering pop psychedelia than a sheer wall of noise married to 2 minute Brill Building simplicity. Think early Verve, or Ride, as example. Riding a wave of success across the pond, it was clear that many in the audience were here to see what all the fuss was about, and while the band certainly delivered, they were simply no match for the barnstorming set we'd just experienced. A bit of a shame, really, since I can't really deride the set for any particular reason, beyond perhaps my own exhaustion. But judging from the people leaving the venue throughout, and the half-full house for big hit "Dominos" at the set's climax (no encores, by the way, which is a bit of a gimmick for them) was a bit disappointing to see, but then, I'm used to shoegaze bands thinning out an indifferent audience. Challenging music does that to people. All in all, a terrific show by two great new bands that look good to last the duration.

The good news: they rocked a little harder than they do on the album and ended with my favourite song (Dominoes)., The less good news: it was a relatively lackluster show. They didn't do much to engage the audience and the back lights and the smoke only served to make them seem distance and unconnected from the audience. The drummer was enveloped and impossible to see.

Great Show! ..... Good use of lighting and great intense performers ...... If you're a fan of seeing BRMC live then you'll love seeing The Big Pink live....