Caribou/Junior Boys

As it turns out, I made some serious progress on the old statistics project and got out of here in time to get to the 400 Bar and wait for an hour and a half. It seems the bands had been held up at the border after playing in Winnipeg last night, and the Russian Futurists weren't admitted to the country.

The Junior Boys, who were admitted to the country, played a great set. Jeremy Greenspan asked at the beginning whether or not we were ready for the greatest gig ever. The audience claimed to be. I didn't really think the first song, which was new, was that great, but the other new stuff they played, in addition to "Birthday" etc., was all good. They added some tastefully atmospheric, ringing, buzzing guitar to their tried-and-true electronic sound, which worked really well. They seemed a lot more performative this time, though that might have to do with my perspective (last time I was late, this time I was early), and I knew the songs, but I think it was a very good set, better than last time, and will spur me on to future fandom as well as album and ticket purchases.

Caribou started out pretty hot and then my ears got worn out because they were pretty loud with their hugely multi-tracked songs and two drumsets and the like. I had to put in earplugs to salvage the night which kind of sucked, because they made the drums sound stupid and I couldn't really enjoy it as much. (Probably I will get some of these.) I think the music might have suffered, though, because I thought the encore was nearly as good as the opening, so maybe they really did have a lull in there. I was kind of sore because they never played "I've Lived on a Dirt Road All My Life," but it was really pretty good.