The Constantines: Dry as the autumn leaves?

i was slightly sloshed when i typed my last posting, so i've decided to re-review the Constantines gig, this time in greater detail and more accuracy.

First off, the greatest opening act i've seen is still Travis, when they supported Oasis @ the Gardens few years ago. The 2 Koreas were NOT as good (despite what i said), but good enough that i'd see them again if the opportunity comes! Keep in mind I have a drunken post-concert habit of giving a band far more praise than they deserve. I guess you can call me a hype machine. Should I write for the NME?! haha..

In my 5 years of concert-going, this was my first experience at a "dry show" - an early alcohol-free all ages gig. It made me realize a couple things:
1) Toronto Indie kids are very polite when sober, most of them only clapping between songs. There was occasionally an odd few seconds of silence too.
2) Snobby-looking musicians can also be shy and polite. The singer/guitarist of Wintersleep looked uncomfortable onstage when communicating (or attempting to communicate) with the audience.

Anyways, we walked into Lee's Palace on a nice mild November afternoon, just as the 2 Koreas walked onstage. The guitarist and bassist were nerdy-looking guys gazing down at their shoes, while the singer danced around like a fat Robert Plant. The keyboardist, apparently, is a regular on MuchMoreMusic and an occasional member of Lullabye Ark, another Toronto Indie band who shares rehersal space with the Cons. However i didn't recognize him. *shrug* All in all they played a good set, rocking through some fun up-tempo garage songs.... including one song which, according to the singer, "is about drinking, which you can't to today." At least somebody felt my pain.

The next band, Wintersleep, came all the way from Halifax. As mentioned before, the singer/guitarist looked alienated (or intimidated?) by the sober Toronto crowd, but it didn't stop him and his band from totally rocking out. We were impressed by the long outros in the first couple songs, one of them having a sick drum solo! Trust me, you have absolutely no clue of how thunder really sounds until you've heard their drummer! He's amazing!

Then finally, there were The Constantines: Steve (guitarist) and Dallas (bassist) in sleeveless shirts; Bryan (singer/guitarist) in a trendy striped club shirt (hopefully not bought from The Gap, hahaha); the short-fat-balding drummer with even less hair than before; and the keyboarist sitting quietly in the corner as usual. This would be my 3rd time seeing these guys this year, believe it or not! Cuz why not?.. the cost of seeing them is low ($15 this time).

However, the returns have been diminishing each time. (Sounding like an economist now!) When I saw them last spring @ The Phoenix, they completely blew me away! Seriously, it was one of the best sets i've ever seen by any band! They were a bit overshadowed last summer @ The Horseshoe by Oneida's amazing set, but still managed to put on a great show. Now here we are in the autumn, the excitement of their live shows drying as fast as the leaves! Please don't get me wrong... i enjoyed the show and still think highly of The Constantines, but there was something missing this time. Can't blame the audience, because for many of us it's difficult to be enthusiastic without alcohol. This I completely understand (being a semi-shy person myself), but I think the band let it rub off on them too much. The set was relatively short and not as lively as usual. The highlight of the set was one of their new songs which had Steve taking over lead vocals and Bryan playing the sax. Nice to see them try new things! But of course it didn't help that most people were content with standing still with arms crossed, relaxed and sober on an early Satruday evening. I guess something like this is good occasionally, but next time i'll stick with the usual liscenced late show!

BTW, later in the evening they did played a liscenced show which apparently was a lot better than the early show. But i had other plans that night. (read post below)