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Review: The Most Serene Republic – Il Motore – Friday, November 13th

November 15, 2009 in Show Reviews

There is a certain charm to Montreal’s Il Motore, isn’t there? It’s on a remote stretch of Jean Talon where nary a person can be seen and the only things moving are the cars that fly by at irregular intervals. But the second you step through Il Motore’s doors it’s like stepping into a completely different world. Unlike the barren pavement outside, the tiled floor on the inside is packed with jovial and eager concert-goers, impatiently awaiting their favourite bands to wow them on stage. And this was the mood that filled the air as Charlotte Cornfield took the stage on Friday, November 13th.

The original lineup for this show was Charlotte Cornfield, followed by The Meligrove Band, who would of course be followed by The Most Serene Republic. But when two of The Meligrove band’s members were diagnosed with Swine Flu, and the band subsequently dropped out of the show, Cornfield was thrust into the spotlight as the show’s only opening act. Well she had no problem filling those shoes as she took the stage with her 5 band members (drums, stand up bass, cello and percussionist) and played some of her gentle and sweet folk rock ballads from her latest Collage Light EP and from her debut, It’s Like That Here EP. The highlight would have to be at the end of her set when she played the fast paced and poppy “The Fawn” from her first EP, perking things up a little for the next act.

By the time The Most Serene Republic took the stage the place was pretty much jam-packed with people, to which lead singer and trombone player Adrian Jewett was impressed and perhaps even surprised, considering how many less people showed up to the band’s last show in Montreal. The truth is, their latest album, …And The Ever Expanding Universe may just be their best album to date, and it was in appreciation of it that all these people showed up. But they didn’t just stick to songs from the new album. Instead they played songs from their entire history as a band. “The Men Who Live Upstairs” from their 2007 release, Population was a definite highlight, as was “Oh (God)” from their 2005 release, Underwater Cinematographer. You could really see how much they have grown as a band when they performed these older songs and somehow made them sound even better than they do on the albums. But as was expected, it was the newer songs that really got the crowd going. When Jewett broke into the first “Now’s the time…” from “Heavens To Purgatory” the crowd greeted his words with an excited round of applause.

In the end, everyone had a good time including the bands themselves. Charlotte Cornfield proved to be someone to really watch out for in the future, and The Most Serene Republic gave their fans the performance that they were looking for, even playing a song that they had only played twice in the last three years because a fan really wanted to hear it. How sweet. Here are some pictures from the show, some of which were taken by us and some taken by our ticket contest winner and singer/songrwiter Kailey Diogo.