From July 23-25, the Land of NOD Experiment set up shop on a farm outside of Jackson, Michigan and brought a weekend full of music, art, and hippies to an area that’s not exactly known for its free-spirited mentality and cultural happenings. Heavy rain and thunderstorms plagued Friday and Saturday and kept me from attending the festival, but Sunday brought warm weather and blue skies that set a perfect backdrop for performances through the afternoon and evening.

Ann Arbor natives The Macpodz were taking the stage when I got to the festival, and their set blew me away. I’ve seen flyers for their shows all around town but I’ve never actually seen them live before. Their instantly catchy and ridiculously funky music draws inspiration from all over the sonic spectrum – from jazz to disco to rock to dance. The quintet displayed an unexpected knack for composition and orchestration, and I was impressed with their layering of intricate melodies and rhythms. On top of that, the band members were charismatic and interacted with the crowd throughout the set. I’d highly recommend checking them out the next time they’re playing in town.

While The Macpodz were packing up their gear, a sound guy started setting up turntables on the other side of the stage, which meant that DJ Q-Bert and Kool Keith were up next. I was really stoked to see Kool Keith perform since he’s one of the most prolific MC’s in hip-hop history and he was performing as Dr. Octagon, the moniker under which he released the classic oddball album Dr. Octagonecologyst. As he and Q-Bert, a legend himself, walked on stage I could only think about how their combined reputation and brilliance were going to be lost on the mostly hippie/hipster crowd. But once their set was underway I realized that they weren’t even giving the audience a good enough performance to back up their classic status. Kool Keith sounded bored and lazy at times, and Q-Bert didn’t have any good chances to flex his muscles on the Technics. It was awesome to see the two heavyweights live and there were some memorable parts – like when they performed “Earth People” and “Blue Flowers” – but ultimately I felt a little let down.

Cool Keith

I poked around the grounds for a while, checking out the crazy art and enjoying some fantastic people watching. At last, festival-goers slowly made their way from camp sites, vendor booths, and side stages to the main stage area to wait for the festival’s last show from headliners of Montreal. The band finally came on stage as the sun was disappearing below the trees, and proceeded to deliver a gripping performance that converted this casual listener into a big fan. I didn’t care that I didn’t recognize every song because all of the band members played with enough passion and energy to make it a great show for anybody. They played rocking lead single “Coquet Coquette” from their upcoming album False Priest and it was absolutely crushing on the festival sound system. Along with the music, there were frequent theatrical outbursts where creepily masked and robed figures came on stage and acted out morbid, mildly disturbing scenes.

Of Montreal

The added entertainment made the already stellar show even better, and I’m sure everybody left the festival as satisfied as I did.

My great overall experience made me wish that Friday and Saturday would have seen better weather. A surprisingly strong, eclectic lineup paired with a cool location and onsite camping give the Land of NOD Experience a lot of potential for the future, and I’m excited to see how it grows and brings in a beefier lineup with more popular artists.

Review by: Sam Billetdaux

Photos by: Chelsea Brown

The Warped Tour is defined by its contradictions. As one of the premiere showcases for modern ska, punk, and hardcore, the festival enthusiastically embraces the consumer culture that its music generally rejects. In fact, the whole atmosphere of the tour is contradictory in feel. Half the audience offers Free Hugs via magic marker advertisements on their stomachs while the other half’s stomachs reply: “Fuck your free hugs.” This spirit of conflict and discord for discord and conflict’s sake was definitely evident at this stop of the Warped Tour at Comerica Park. But, we didn’t come to downtown Detroit to analyze the culture that pervades modern youth music—we came to rock!

(Note: They are a large number bands I could not cover—this was not due to any bias on my part—rather, my lack of navigational skills decided what bands I would end up listening to. Also, any band of the hardcore, metalcore, mathcore, deathcore, peacecore etc. variety I have labeled simply ‘hardcore’ due to my general ignorance of the genre and its subgroups.)

3:30 Arriving late to the festival, I catch ska veterans Reel Big Fish perfectly capturing the contradictory nature of the tour with their ironic lyrics to their single “Sell Out.” Flanked by horn and guitar players, frontman Aaron Barett rocks out in his characteristic Hawaiian Aloha shirt. They close the set with quite an odd medley of covers—“Enter the Sandman” from Metallica then “Take on Me” by the Swedish pop band A-Ha .

Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish

3:40 I moved quickly south alongside Woodward and heard the lead singer of The Cab informing the audience that his favorite three letter word was “SEX!” From what I could tell from my short stop at their stage the band played generally competent and interesting alternative rock, but the singer was prone to over-vocalizing his notes like an overzealous Justin Timberlake.

3:50 Next I caught the six-man hardcore group The Word Alive. The lead singer politely asked the crowd to surf and form a mosh line—they obliged.

4:05 I pushed through the crowd back to the main stage where The Dillinger Escape Plan, another hardcore group was playing. From what I could tell with my limited skill for appreciating hardcore, the guitar work was quite technical proficient in its ability to create the necessary and proper dissonance.

Ben Weinman, the founder of The Dillinger Escape Plan

4:25 On my way to catch the next band, I was walking behind a couple in their early thirties verbally debasing each other about what “pussies” the other was about not moshing hard enough. However, there wasn’t any problem with inadequate bodily participation in the set put on by Parkway Drive, an Australian hardcore band—they had the highest crowd surfing and water bottle throwing rates for any of the hardcore sets I saw.

4:45 Next, I stumbled across the Chicago pop-punk quintet AM Taxi in the middle of half of their set. They mixed modern pop hooks and old-school punk guitar drive with other allusions to the other forty years of rock music.  I caught hints of Green Day, The Clash, Sting, even a guitar riff or two seemed inspired by a John Mellencamp tune. Their live performance, which was undeservedly only attracting about 50 people compared to the 500 some of the bands had been drawing, was full of energy. They closed with a punk-inspired version of The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” fortified with extra guitar riffs from The Eagles’ “Hotel California.”

5:00 I passed the We the Kings performance.  I stayed for two songs by the radio friendly, pop-punk band from Florida: the saccharine but still catchy “Check Yes Juliet” and another less catchy but still equally saccharine song I couldn’t place.

Travis Clark, lead singer/guitarist of We Are Kings

5:10 I caught the last two songs of the rock group VersaEmerge, one of the few bands with a female lead at Warped Tour. Both songs were filled with pop hooks as well as hard driving guitars. The lead singer crowd surfed throughout almost the entirety of the last song while continuing to deliver her demanding vocals.

5:30 The San Francisco pop-punk band Fight Fair was experiencing technical difficulties when I stopped by their set. They were able to fix it and churn out some decent guitar heavy punk songs.

5:50 Shorelines End, a pop-punk outfit from Dallas, was in the middle of a fairly slow, lame song characterized by over-emotional vocals and two guitar chords when I stopped by, I stayed until the end of the song then left.

6:00 Iwrestledabearonce, yes that is one word. The rare hardcore band fronted by a female, the quintet utilizes lots of technology from the techno world to create interesting new sounds to bash together haphazardly. The lead has some kind of voice modulation software so that she can scream lower and more grizzly than any of her male leads.

6:15 I catch the older punk band [read: over 20 years of age]  Face to Face at the beginning of a good set. They are veterans of the scene and play music historically somewhere between the newer acts of Warped Tour and the first generation and second generation punk of The Clash and The Ramones.

6:55 After a good break due to heat exhaustion, I caught Alkaline Trio performing on the main stage. They played their hits and there was a good amount of crowd surfing going one.

Matt Skiba, lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio

7:45 The ever-popular Canadian punk rock band Sum 41 packed their crowd into one of the smaller stages. The performance was high energy.

Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist of Sum 41

8:15 Finally I saw the pop-rock band Anarbor. They are not from Ann Arbor. They are from Phoenix… I found this out later. Anyway, they played fairly catchy rock music although I could only take their vocals in small quantities.

That’s it for this year’s Warped Tour coverage—check back next year…we might do it again.

Words: Eric Perkey

Photos: Chelsea Brown, SHEI Photography Editor

Photo Credit: Michigan Daily

Most people, when they receive exceptionally terrible service, suck it up and don’t leave a tip. At worst, they dine and dash. Most people, however, don’t operate regional media platforms. My revenge is a little more severe: I write attack articles.

You may remember an event of some magnitude — the “FIFA World Cup.” For the final between the Dutch and the Spanish, I, along with some friends, decided to visit Packard Pub for no reason other than it was close to where we lived. It was one of the worst decisions we ever made.

Our party arrived to Packard Pub at 1:50 — 40 minutes before the game started. At this point, the bar was very sparsely populated, and one member of our party ordered a burger. That burger arrived shortly after halftime, more than an hour and 55 minutes later. Another member of our party, quite independently, ordered potato skins within minutes of kickoff. He received them an hour and 45 minutes later, just after regulation play ended (90 minute game, plus 15 minutes at half time). The absolute lack of service was inexcusable.

Yet excuses they made. When my friends talked to a manager about the nearly 2 hour wait on each of their orders (“Dude, this is ridiculous! Why should I have to pay for this?”), he lectured us about “how this wasn’t his fault” and “how two servers didn’t show up for work today.” Obviously, he was forgetting that it is the role of management to be responsible for their subordinates, and that the inability of their staff to even show up for work reflects on poor hiring practices by the management.

The real kicker of this whole situation was when the manager yelled at us, patrons — over-the-top voice and exaggerated hand motions and all — for complaining. Imagine that, a manager having the gall to yell at patrons for complaining that their food took nearly 2 hours to arrive.

There are a whole host of other ambiance and setup related issues that would make it so I never visit there again, but I think I can pretty safely forgo those for the service issues above. Don’t let the (now) cheap pitchers fool you. You can go there for a $5 microbrew pitcher, but there’s a cost associated with your day being ruined.

It’s only July, but I think I can safely award SHEI’s “Worst Service Ever” award to Packard Pub.

-Sagar Deshpande, SHEI Editor-in-Chief

Cover Image, from QuirkClassics.com

As a die-hard Pride & Prejudice fan, I was pleasantly surprised with the 2009 Quirk Classic smash hit, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (Quirk Books, 2009)  And the fourth installment of the series, Android Karenina (Quirk Books, 2010), is in keeping with the qualities that have made the Quirk Classic series so damn popular and a good read.

Comparisons to the wondrous P&P&Z aside, Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H.Winters has all the charms of the former author’s masterpiece, published in 1877.  But the added elements of steampunk, robotic companions, and aliens prove to be the spoonful of sugar that help the Russian masterpeice go down.

“Functioning Robots are all alike; every malfunctioning robot malfunctions in its own way.”

From the all-important opening line, Winters pays homage to Tolstoy (as he should) but makes clear this story is for the 21^st century reader.  Anyone familiar with the basic plot of Anna Karenina will recognize Tolstoy in every line.  Those who have read the original work will appreciate the parallels which Winters employs throughout the novel. One example: Tolstoy critiques the 19^th century obsessions with occultism which Winters transforms into a ferverent belief in the impending arrival of “honored guests.”

But  enough spoilers.

It’s a superb blend of sub-culture fantasy and classic literature, creating a delightfully readable literary cocktail.  Whether you choose to call it a collaboration or a mash-up, Android Karenina should be on your summer reads list.

Happy Reading!

-B.C.Bodnar

Me, in front of Buddakan, during the SATC tour.

Sitting in a coffee shop in Gramercy Park after a weekend full of sex (kidding)… and the city. Before I had even moved to the city, I had pre-ordered tickets to see Sex and the City 2. As an avid Carrie Bradshaw and Sex and the City fan (I’ve seen every episode at least twice), I figured there would be nothing better than seeing the sequel in the Big Apple. And, I was right.

As if that wasn’t enough, my sister and I spent our Sunday afternoon touring all of the Sex and the City hotspots through an HBO bus tour. Despite the obnoxious Bachelorette parties, it was an amazing opportunity to see first-hand some of the famous Sex and the City spots. We drove past Big and Carrie’s penthouse, Miranda’s gym, Charlotte’s art gallery, Buddakan (the restaurant where Carrie and Big had their engagement party pre-wedding-day-debacle- see photo!), Samantha’s Meatpacking District loft, and much more. But, let’s cut to the chase. Although the four girls looked hot, Sex and the City 2 didn’t get such hot reviews.

Before I saw the film, I looked to no other than Roger Ebert, my favorite movie critic, for his review. I was not so pleased with his opening paragraph:

The characters of Sex and the City 2 are flyweight bubbleheads living in a world which rarely requires three sentences in a row. Their defining quality is consuming things. They gobble food, fashion, houses, husbands, children, vitamins and freebies. They must plan their wardrobes on the phone, so often do they appear in different basic colors, like the plugs you pound into a Playskool workbench.

GULP.

So here are my thoughts. The movie will be loved by all Sex and the City fans. But, that’s just it. You have to be a fan of the show to really enjoy the movie. Costume designer and so-called “inventor of Carrie Bradshaw,” Patricia Field, did a phenomenal job selecting the clothing for the sequel. The majority of the movie takes place in Abu Dhabi (the “new” Middle East) known for its luxury. And the costumes for the movie reflect just that. But, then again, what else would you expect with a costume budget estimated at ten million dollars? I may be biased, but NYMag’s The Cut says it best when it comes to the film’s costumes:

In the karaoke scene pictured, Carrie wears $4,000 embellished jeans by the Blonds under a $47,190 silver-and-gold Chanel lamé dress and overskirt. The spiky shoulders Samantha wears in Abu Dhabi are also by the Blonds and cost $5,000. The matching outfits Samantha and Miley Cyrus wear include $3,500 Matthews Williamson dresses and $300 Dolce Vita boots. Charlotte makes cupcakes in a vintage Valentino blouse under an Anthropologie apron. Miranda wears a $1,400 Roland Mouret dress and in another scene a five-figure 24-karat gold cuff.

The karaoke scene from Sex and the City 2 (photo credit: nymag.com)

Wow. So, the costumes are elaborate. But, is the plot? A main concern I had with the film is that for being called Sex and the City, there wasn’t much sex… and there wasn’t much city. Perhaps Prude in Abu Dhabi would have been a better title.

Although Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ Empire States of Mind kickoff the film (let’s hear it for New York), there weren’t many visuals of the city. The movie, which was mainly filmed in Morocco, was hoping to highlight style and luxury in another part of the world. And, while doing so, attempted to show how the native females in the Middle East, despite their garbs, still crave the fashion that the four girls are used to in New York City. The film was trying to show how women around the globe can bond over a similar love of shoes, Louis Vuitton pantsuits, and Manolo flats… er something.

The plot line itself is nothing to write home about. Without spoiling too much, Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw), Kristin Davis (Charlotte York), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes), and Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones) are clearly the main characters. Mr. Big, Steve, Harry, Stanford,  and Smith [why are you so hot?] have little to no parts in the movie. Carrie Bradshaw runs the show (as usual). She escapes to Abu Dhabi because she’s sick of her “bored” life with Mr. Big, though takeout with Chris Noth in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan doesn’t sound all that boring to me. Charlotte York enjoys time away from her two daughters, who have caused her a few mental breakdowns that avid Sex and the City fans are not used to seeing from refined Charlotte. Miranda is sick of her woman-hater boss and quits her job when husband Steve (gag) encourages her to do so. And, Samantha Jones experiences the side-effects of menopause, while still managing to hook up with the hottest men in the Middle East. Bottom line: all four women manage to escape to Abu Dhabi for their own various reasons.

Nearly every movie critic hated the movie. I’ve read everything from “Sucks in the City” to “thin gruel.” Truthfully, I didn’t half mind the sequel. Given, my opinion of the film could have been skewed by Bradshaw’s gold-glittered Christian Louboutins. If you accept the fact that Sex and the City never really intended to have an Academy Award winning plot line, you can sit back and enjoy Patricia Field’s costumes, the fabulous four’s always-present chemistry, and a few scenes that will have you laughing out loud. But, beware, the movie is lengthy (I was an hour late to my dinner reservation at Buddakan)!

To end on a high note. Here’s a fun fact I learned on the SATC tour this weekend. Remember the opening scene from each Sex and the City episode where Carrie Bradshaw gets splashed on while wearing the pink tutu? The given link will give you a helpful reminder. Well, you’ll notice a bus full of people (0:35 seconds). When the bus turns around the corner, however, the people are no longer in the bus (0:40 seconds). The blooper went unnoticed for six seasons.

Carrie on!

The Academy Awards, i.e. the Oscars, are the biggest awards for achievement in motion picture making in the United States and for the media to croon over everybody's dresses.

The Oscars are tonight, if you haven’t heard , and we’re live-blogging it here at SHEI (or, at least, I am).  If you’re hanging around Central Campus and are near South Quad, feel free to join a flock of people downstairs in the Basement and snark with us in person, OR click the link below to open up the window at EIGHT O’CLOCK (8PM) to join in on the conversation live online; we’ll be discussing everybody’s attire, predictions, the winners, the losers, how long it takes for the orchestra to play somebody off the stage, and more.  Get excited.

Click Here

French Roast (France, 8 minutes)
The dialogue-less film is about an uptight business man who loses his wallet and must continue ordering coffee in a Parisian cafe to avoid paying the bill. The animation looked good, and the characters developed surprisingly well for the eight minutes it ran. The makers no doubt had the motto “Don’t judge a book by its cover” in mind and created a heart-warming ending involving a fugitive, a flea-ridden homeless man and a teensy-tiny nun. This was probably the most family-friendly and classic of the films. But is it good enough for an Oscar? Eh… I’m not too sure. But it is worth the eight minutes.

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (Ireland, 6 minutes)
Granny O’Grimm terrifies her grand daughter in this hilarious short animation as she reinvents Sleeping Beauty into a rant about being old and the follies of youth. I especially enjoyed fairy-tale animation during Granny’s story as it was a nice departure from CGI (which has totally taken over the world since Pixar). The voice of Granny O’Grimm is terrific–don’t miss her eerie lullaby that plays over the credits. It was perhaps a little one-note for an Oscar but certainly had me racked up in laughter.

The Lady and the Reaper (Spain, 8 minutes)
The Grim Reaper and a stud of a doctor battle it out for an old lady who is ready to embrace death as a means of reunification with her late husband. The beginning of the animation had me recalling Up, and I thought I was in for a tear-jerking old couple romance. However, the film surprised me by being a bit controversial, as it deals with death in a light and humorous manner. The chase between the Reaper and the doctor surrounded by gushing nurses was fun like an old Tom and Jerry cartoon, but did feel a bit drawn out. I enjoyed the music choice, and the animation was pleasing and stylistically impressive.

Logorama (France, 16 minutes)
Before Logorama was shown, a disclaimer stating that this film was intended for mature audience and included violence and strong language floated on the movie screen for a good minute. Obviously, this film was the most provoking of the five nominated films. It presents an LA made up entirely of logos and company symbols in which a smoking, hate-speech spewing Ronald McDonald is chased by Michelin Man cops. An earthquake, an M&M death and an action sequence Michael Bay would approve of shake up the screen during the film. As a social commentary, I found it a little lacking and underdeveloped. The film also tends to rely too much on the amusement of watching Big Boy smoke and shout profanities. However, it’s definitely edgy and creative, and just recognizing familiar logos kept me entertained for the 16 minutes.

A Matter of Loaf and Death (30 minutes)
Oh, Wallace and Gromit. How I adore your timely puns and expressive eyebrows. While this latest episode wasn’t my favorite of the series, it has the usual Wallace and Gromit charm. The duo have become bakers who get involved with a serial baker-murderer (as in murderer of bakers, not baker who is a murderer… wait, yeah, that’s it). Much to wise Gromit’s chagrin, Wallace is also infatuated with a former bread commercial model, who seems to have him wrapped around her rather thick finger. The animation is top-notch as usual, and considering the immense Academy Awards success of the creator Nick Parker, this short animation seems to have a good chance at winning the Oscar.

Make your own predictions about who will win this Oscar. Most of these shorts can actually be found via Youtube or other websites. It’s also still playing at the Michigan Theater.

Red Curry from Marnee Thai

In terms of service, Marnee Thai was decent. They were slow to take our order, but that was partially because my friend came late, so they most likely did not know when we were ready to order. Once they took our order though, the food was quick to arrive. My friend thought they were a little slow in refilling his drink, but I thought they did a fine job. The staff was, for the most part, quite friendly and I had a pleasant conversation with our waitress about how we owned the same phone. In addition, the hanging oriental lights and the pictures hanging on the walls give it a cozy feeling. It feels more like someone’s dining room than a restaurant, which is nice to see.

Overall, I would give Marnee Thai 7.5 stars out of 10. I thought the food was very good, but not worth the money. My friend thought it was pretty good, but definitely not worth the price. The service was decent: not bad by any means, but not exceptional, and the atmosphere was great. I recommend Marnee Thai to all lovers of Thai food, but if you are not craving Thai food, you may want to spend your money elsewhere.

Kid Cudi showing off the tats and the talent.

Right off the bat, I have to say—the Michigan Theatre is a great venue for a rap concert. I walked into the Kid Cudi concert on Monday evening, slightly unsure of how I was going to like it. After all, I’m no Cudi groupie. I know a few of his main songs—Day ‘n’ Nite, Pursuit of Happiness, Soundtrack 2 My Life, Make Her Say. But, this alternative hip hop artist showed all Wolverines why he is one of the most talented, Grammy-nominated artists out there.

A Cleveland native, Kid Cudi (legally named Scott Tamon Seguro Mescudi), performed songs from his famous album Man on the Moon: The End of Day and his mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi. The crowd went wild—so much so, that the security guards spent the majority of their night pushing people out of the aisle and insisting that the concert goers put out their joints. A successful night, to say the least.

When asked what was most surprising about the concert, a Kid Cudi fan explained to me, “Kid Cudi is a very unique rapper in the sense that his raps are very personal. Unlike Flo Rida and a handful of other rappers who take beats with heavy basses, a catchy chorus, and cheesy rhymes about money and ho’s, Kid Cudi is not trying to make singles that can sell in the clubs and that will only last on the charts for a month or two. I didn’t think that his personal raps would be conductive for a high-energy concert, but he surprisingly rocked it. He really fed off the fans.”

The fans were on their feet the entire night, dancing, singing, and having a great time. I’ve been to a few concerts at the Michigan Theatre but this was, by far, the most energy I’ve seen in the place. Honestly, my margarita evening (pre-concert) lasted longer than expected and I, unfortunately, missed the opening acts: “One Be Lo” and “The Higher Concept.” But, I’ve heard from other onlookers that they helped rile up the crowd for Cudi. And DJ TJ made an appearance, spinning tracks and hosting a killer after party at Scorekeeper’s.

Cudi's newest album: Man on the Moon: The End of Day

In an era where hip-hop can be humdrum, Kid Cudi is a breath of fresh air. Young Money can make our “Beds Rock,” 50 Cent can preach about his “Babies By Me,” Drake can tell us about the “Best He’s Ever Had,” Jibbs’ “Chains Hang Low,” Pitbull goes “Krazy,” Ludacris tells us what his “Fantasy” is. The lyrics are catchy, they’re hits, they blast in clubs all over the globe, but they lack what Kid Cudi brings to the table: creativity and new sounds. Kid Cudi is honest about his life, his faults, his issues and he uses his experiences to create some of the most infectious beats the rap world has seen in years.

When asked why she was a Kid Cudi fan, one concert attendee responded, “I like Cudi because his sound is a little different from other mainstream rap artists. He doesn’t just rap about money and problems. I feel like I can relate more to him than other rappers.” And that’s just what Cudi’s goal is. In an interview with Virb.com, the Cleveland rapper said, “People like records they can relate to, even if you can’t relate to something I speak about, you’ll at least understand my mind, I won’t lose anyone. Even if they haven’t walked in my shoes, they’ll feel me for me.”

This Man on the Moon’s rocket has officially launched. The destination? All around the world. Before his January 11^th show in Ann Arbor, Kid Cudi was performing in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Currently, he’s en route back to his home away from Cleveland, New York City, where he will be until he leaves for the international part of his tour, beginning in Australia.

Bottom line: Kid Cudi’s concert at the Michigan Theatre was a hit. He made us say: Oh Ah Oh Oh Oh Ah Oh. And, we certainly weren’t wearing our poker faces.

Alexandra Foster

Inside the Fillmore...not my photo though

Some of you may have noticed we only posted one article yesterday.  There’s a good reason for that — it was 93.9 The River’s Winter Icebreaker with special guest Sam Roberts Band as well as The Hard Lessons and Sloan. Not only was it a night filled with great musical talent, the whole event took place in the glorious Fillmore Theater (formerly the State).  Sam Roberts clearly ‘made’ the show – his performance was enthusiastic and dynamic even though it was the final show of a long North American tour. But I was also impressed with the spectacle of a show offered by Michigan natives, The Hard Lessons.

The Hard Lessons

The night opened with The Hard Lessons.  The short story of the band is that the lead singers are newlyweds Augie and Korin Louise Visocchi, who met in college and formed their band five years ago.  While Augie plays guitar and Korin manages the keyboards, a host of other musicians from the area also contribute to their sound which is aptly described as a mix of “raw-guitar…slinky-dance-groove…[and] plaintive ballad.”  Last night the pair was accompanied by drummer Mike Alonso who also had to put up with quite a bit of P.D.A. from the couple.

With Korin in dangerously high heels and Augie leaving the stage at one point to wander through the crowd on the main floor, The Hard Lessons gave an energetic performance.  And when I say “performance”, I mean it.  This was by all accounts an outrageous stage show, complete with a guest appearance by Santa Claus for their new Xmas song, “Beards Scare Children Unless They’re Attached to Santa” and a slightly over-the-top flag waving finale in which the Visocchis waved a Michigan and Canadian flag as their drummer wandered casually off stage.

Perhaps The Hard Lessons were a tough act to follow – they’re talented and a fantastic live show – but I wasn’t overly impressed with the Canadian band that followed, Sloan.  They were pretty popular among much of the crowd (especially the drunken devoted fans that sat behind me) but they seemed to fall a bit flat.  Their style seemed typical of the indie/rock bands that brought them success since their founding in 1991.  My concert partner assured me that Sloan was pretty popular, especially in Canada, but I’d like to add that they also seem especially popular with a certain age group…namely, the 30-year-old jet setting crowd.  So not quite my thing, but I don’t doubt their musical abilities.

The Sam Roberts Band...lead singer is a hottie!

And finally, it was time.  The Sam Roberts Band took the stage.  Opening with “Them Kids” quickly pumped up the crowd.  The balcony at the Filmore shook as the audience danced in their seats throughout the 2 hour set, especially during crowd favorites like “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and “Detroit ’67“.  That last song, by the way, was especially exhilarating to hear performed live.  The music video is nice but doesn’t do justice to the vocal abilities of Sam Roberts.  He’s got a powerful voice that hints at old-school rock and roll depth but is also just ‘pop’ enough to be interesting.

If you’re like me, you’ve heard his music before but didn’t really notice The Sam Roberts Band.  That was a huge mistake on my part.  The whole group is extremely talented and they’re hot stuff in Canada with several Juno wins and nominations.  Roberts is a native of Quebec which no doubt inspired some of his bilingual songs but the group is legitimately enthusiastic about the city of Detroit.  It seems a perfect fit because many of their lyrics express yearning for a more glorious or idealized past.   You can hear more examples at their myspace page.

Enjoy,

-B.C.Bodnar