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Sam Roberts Band

Marcus — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:28:13 +0000

Yeah, twice in three days I made it over to The Troubadour. The previous post gushed plenty about Roberts’s amazing stage presence, but the photos I took are pretty and they need to go up. For a tiny club, the lighting was beautiful.

The band started off the set with Love at the End of the World, and never let up until the end of the encore. I wish bands would stop doing automatic encores. Why not just tell the audience they’re going offstage for a tiny break, but they’ll be back in a minute to play one or two more? Let’s drop the charade. Or, as Bad Religion does, say good night and have the roadies run out and immediately break down the setup, letting everyone know it’s over.

Sam doffed his denim jacket after a few songs and played the rest of the night in a white t-shirt (Springsteen parallel again). How does a Canadian musician stay so tan?

And then Matt Mays came out to sit in on one song.

If these guys are playing anywhere near you, go see them. The music is fun, heartfelt, and just a general good time.

Sam Roberts at The Troubadour

Marcus — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:17:12 +0000

And ZOMG was he good. No time to post a full review, but I’ll get back to it. He’s like a Canadian Bruce Springsteen on stage, working the audience with confidence and the easygoing manner that comes with an endless touring schedule. He kept us all enthralled and moving throughout the set and drenched the place with his boundless energy. It’s such a pleasure to go see musicians who love their songs and believe in their lyrics.

Bishop Allen at The Troubadour

Marcus — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:50:31 +0000

Monday night! The sound at The Troubadour is terrible, but it’s such an intimate venue, I’ll put up with it to see a band I really like. There aren’t any bad spots unless you’re short. Even standing at the back wall, you’re only yards from the stage. I rather like the stage left side.

They ran through a few new songs, several hits, which many in the crowd knew, and sang along to. Darbie Nowatka, part of the touring band, made her way up front to sing a couple, while Chris Rudder played the uke and Justin Rice manned the marimba.

Justin and Chris carried the set well, with enthusiasm and presence. A good trick, since the music can be so cute it can tend toward the twee. But I haven’t been to see another band whose output is so consistently fun since They Might Be Giants played Vroman’s in Pasadena. Good, fun show, even though I forgot my earplugs and had to used half a receipt I had in the car.

Ra Ra Riot – Dying Is Fine (live)

Marcus — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:28:58 +0000

More bands should do this. Maybe we could keep the barrier between celebrity and anonymous person lowered if we could walk down the street, stand next to Kate Winslet, and listen to Beck bang out a few tunes on his acoustic.

Ra Ra Riot – Dying is fine – A Take Away Show posted by La Blogotheque.

The original video is also worth watching.