ra ra riot & tokyo police club, 1/26/2008

This bite-your-fingers-off-it's-so-effing-cold weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing not one, but two shows in Toronto! Woohoo! I'd heard Tokyo Police Club was playing a free show on the 26th, and found out soon after that my new loves Ra Ra Riot were playing that night as well, in a venue just down the street. How did I get come across such useful information, you might ask? Well Steve, I have a little friend I like to call last.fm. If you're a music lover, you two should definitely get acquainted.

Alright, all ridiculous personifications of web 2.0 sites aside, I have a few things to say about the shows themselves. We'll start with Tokyo Police Club. It's nice that it was a free show and all, but what I didn't know was that the event would be televised as part of Toronto's Winter City festival. I also didn't know that they would be announced by an annoying blonde anchorwoman and an MTV VJ wannabe. Slight bonus: Me and the fantastic kid I was with started booing the announcers. It caught on pretty quick and after chiding our rudeness, the teevee newsladies cleared the stage for Tokyo Police Club.

I've spent so much time setting up the show because, honestly...that was the most interesting part of it. Freezing my tits off in Nathan Philips Square and watching 13-year-old boys pass a bowl around, to the complete horror of whitebread 14-year-old girls standing next to them...yeah, it was pretty entertaining, albeit pregnant with the possibility of frostbite. Then TPC started playing, and I may as well have stayed in my nice warm hotel room blasting the album. They did play one new song, and may have played others, but we were too cold to find out. Summary: Let down.

Ra Ra Riot, on the other hand - totally fucking fantastic. Aside from being talented musicians, those kids really know how to perform. They're so animated, and each band member brings their own unique charisma to the stage. My journalistic stylings really can't do the experience justice, but I will try. The bassist looked like a dark-haired Napoleon Dynamite and frequently did scissor kicks and various other jumps while playing. The gal on violin played her instrument like ballet dancing, while the cellist honestly (and tastefully) played like she wanted to make love to the damn thing. Wesley Miles, on vocals, has got some serious dance moves. And even the drummer tucked away in the back pulled audience eyes with his earnest grin. I'm not forgetting their guitar player - wait, I sort of am. He rocked the fuck out, whatever he was doing. That's for sure.

In conclusion, everyone needs to check out Ra Ra Riot. Post-haste. Also, global warming is not making Toronto any f*cking warmer.