Local Natives – La Tulipe – 10.20.10
Alas, I arrived at a very busy La Tulipe around 9:10 (I’m extremely nimble when I want to be), and The Union Line had already ended their set. After over a year’s worth of hoping I could some day catch them live, and failing to do so after being handed the opportunity, I briefly contemplated crying, but thought better of it and got my hands on a 5$ copy of their EP instead. Yes you read right, good music is affordable. It had been a while since I had set foot in a decently sized venue, let alone a crowded one. The venue was so packed, it was hard to believe it wasn’t even 10:00 PM yet!
When the explosive, three piece, multi-instrumentalist New-Zealanders, The Ruby Suns took the stage, I didn’t know what to think anymore; there was a whole light show going on, complete with strobe lights and a disco ball. I ended up having to re-orientate myself from all the flashy lights. Last time I’d been to a show like that I believe I was at the Metropolis for a Bloc Party concert. I got used to it though, and ended up thoroughly enjoying the colourful nuances being projected onto the band and around the venue.
As for The Ruby Suns themselves, they killed it! I felt unworthy for not having paid as much attention to them until that night. The floor was filled with gawking fans as they played through a slew of songs from their latest album Fight Softly, more notably the sweet sounding “Dusty Fruit”, the enchanting “Cranberry”, as well as the very dance motivating “Cinco” and “Closet Astrologer”. Apart from being a talented multi-instrumentalist, and playing some ridiculous drum solos, Ryan McPhun has such an effortlessly smooth sounding voice and a range the size of an elephant, he infallibly left the audience in a lovely dreamlike state. During one of their occasional speech breaks, Ryan pointed out how apologetic they were for their lack of knowledge in the French department, but stated that they can at least speak proper English in New-Zealand, and their native tongue, Maori. With that said, they played the fantastically other-worldly “Tane Mahuta”, which is in fact, sung in Maori. Needless to say, The Ruby Suns played a fantastic set and did not need to speak any French to win over an already won over crowd.
Finally, when Local Natives made it up on stage, they were greeted very warmly, something I also hadn’t experienced in a long time, and thinking back on the other times that I had seen this band play, my insides just blew up with happiness for them. All but drummer Matthew Frazier, who had his drumset further back, aligned in a straight line and warmed the crowd up with “Camera Talk” from the band’s debut LP, Gorilla Manor. They then moved onto “World News”, to which the audience was already clapping and chanting along. They followed it up by their terrific Talking Heads cover called “Warning Sign”, and the heart pumping “Sticky Thread”. Within the first couple of notes of “Wide Eyes”, everyone was cheering madly. I didn’t realize how popular the song was, but it was really enthusing to see the crowd’s positive reaction to it.
As they were switching places for the next song, “Shape Shifter”, keyboardist/vocalist Kelcey Ayer pointed out how beautiful the venue was and said “I came in and I was like, woah…”. Given, you might have missed his facial depiction of what I believe is called amazement, but it just goes to show that they’ve still kept that piece of humble pie of theirs. I’m going to make a quick little parenthesis here. After the song ended, the guy that had been possibly inebriatedly enjoying the set beside me until then yelled out, “Fuck Yeah!” to which guitarist/vocalist and for the next song, keyboardist, Taylor Rice replied “I thought you were going to say ‘fuck you’ really intensely…” Kelcey elaborated and said that they just got that line for the first time last night. It is in fact, a very sad thing, and in case you were wondering, it was Toronto. Jeez guys, how rude!
Back to the music though. They had switched places yet again, this time Kelcey picked up his guitar and they played the ever so moving Daytrotter Sessions version of “Cubism Dream”, which you can listen to right here. I don’t know about you, but I find it really difficult to keep my emotions intact when listening to these guys. In any case, they followed the heartbreaking melodies with the more joyous ones of “Airplanes”. Now they had the whole of the venue moving. It was really special to see, considering I had not seen such an energetic crowd in so long. Taylor took hold of the mic again for the last song of the set, “Who Knows Who Cares”, and told the crowd that it was their oldest song, from before they started touring everywhere, back when they had just mutually decided to fully dedicate themselves to their music. Sure enough, it was a powerful ending, and I probably shed a tear, just letting that slip in, but the crowd was not going to leave without an encore. Goodness, were they ever a tenacious bunch. Again, I hadn’t been exposed to such a full-on collaborative effort for such a long time; everyone —and i mean everyone— was stomping their feet, clapping and chanting the last part of the song Local Natives had left the stage with, and sure enough, Matt Frazier ran back on stage, followed by the other four, and the next few minutes were probably the greatest of the night for many. They played an introductory build-up that lead to the five minute long “Stranger Things”, and people obviously joined in during the clapping breaks. Finally, for their very last song, the wild sounding “Sun Hands”, Kelcey thanked the audience and said that they were actually amazing, and that he meant it, considering the last shows they played in Montreal weren’t half as full. And there you have it, all of Gorilla Manor was played that night, and every fan went home fully content. An amazing show, an amazing crowd, and I don’t think anyone could have asked for any better. Great job Montrealers! – Sarv Wallaby A.
Local Natives
The Ruby Suns
The Union Line
Photography by Amelia Robitaille
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walter
