While not working or sleeping, I spent most of the past week hitting things up at the Toronto International Film Festival. Not the best batch of films I’ve seen at the festival, but the crapshoot is part of the fun, n’est-ce pas?

Mark Aselton / Gigantic For his directorial debut, Mark Aselton manages to wrangle together a dream cast including Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman and Ed Asner and it’s the strength of these players that manages to elevate Gigantic from being just a fair first effort to something decent. It has a somewhat vague plot relating to commitment, adoption and mattress sales and engaging individual sequences that don’t always tie into a coherent whole. The dialogue is less precious and quirky but still very much post-Wes Anderson and it’s to the credit of the two leads that Deschanel and Dano are able to turn their rather boilerplate characters – manic pixie dream girl and stoically zoned out guy, respectively – into real people. It’s not an overall success – in the post-film Q&A the director admitted that some of the more curious stuff, like Zach Galifianakis’ homicidal homeless man were in there just because – but it certainly augers well for his future works. Especially if he can keep getting ensembles like this to work with.

Vicente Amorim / Good I wish I’d know that Good was a play before it was a film because it would have explained away a number of my complaints about the adaptation. It would have explained why it was so static and monologue-ish and heavy-handed in its look at how normal citizens of 1930s Germany stood idly by or even signed up to participate in the rise of Nazism. It”s really a question that’s far too complex to ever move out of the realm of rhetoric and attempts to address it in a 90-minute film are futile and overly simplistic. While Viggo Mortensen gets top billing, his befuddled professor character is a disappointment but Jason Isaacs as his Jewish best friend fares far better. As far as acting goes – not so much in regards to plot. Trailer: Good

Guy Ritchie / RocknRolla I had initially been only moderately enthused about this as I thought the Guy Ritchie English Gangster Film genre was played out. As it turns out, it’s only the Guy Ritchie wannabes that should be avoided – the original still has the goods. Though it’s another ensemble crime/comedy caper in the vein of Snatch and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, it’s still got loads of style and wit. There’s Russian mobsters, English hard men, junkies, poofs, Stringer Bell, a femme fatale and a painting of a MacGuffin. Only the titular rock star doesn’t really seem to have any particular purpose, but he’s good for a laugh. Ritchie is obviously in his comfort zone and complaining about that is like going to a Bond film and saying, “what, another spy film?”. It is what it is. Trailer: RocknRolla

Richard Eyre / The Other Man I spent the first third of The Other Man convinced that the projector had skipped a reel. Though it was obvious that the time-jumping narrative was deliberate, I couldn’t believe that it was being executed in such a graceless manner. I mean, I can appreciate the necessity of the device to keep the viewer off balance, but when you’re doing so with scenes that are staged identically and you can’t tell if a day/month/year has elapsed or even what country the characters are in, well that’s just shoddy storytelling. And it’s a bit of a waste of what could have been an interesting story, with Neeson as a husband obsessed with finding the man he suspects his wife of having an affair with – that’s Banderas, and that’s not a spoiler because you see as much before the opening credits are done. Neither is at their best (I personally think Banderas is a better actor than he generally gets credit for) and I’m fairly certain that the moments of laugh out loud humour were wholly unintentional.

Photo via Merge Records

I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, the 2006 debut from The Broken West, was a perfect example of a band breaking no new ground whatsoever, but being so good at it that criticisms like that are irrelevant. Go On was a splendid bit of ’70s SoCal, Big Star meets Byrds power-pop revival that proudly wore its influences on its pearl-buttoned sleeves and if they’d opted to follow it up with more of the same, few would have complained.

But instead, with the just-released Now Or Heaven, they’ve managed to pull off the rare feat of displaying marked growth without giving up any of what made them noteworthy in the first place. Still abundant are the sun-kissed harmonies, jangle-riffic guitars and hooks upon hooks, but things are less overtly paisley and plaid – there’s some cloud cover over the valley now, and within those cast shadows things are more rhythmic and textured. The production is more adventurous and a greater reliance on keyboards to stir up the sonic stew and while things might be a touch more sedate this time out, the subtle but significant evolution is most welcome.

The Broken West are currently on the road and will be at the Horseshoe next Wednesday night, September 17, along with The French Kicks. They’re the subject of features at An Aquarium Drunkard, Reveille and The Hartford Courant.

MP3: The Broken West – “Perfect Games”
MP3: The Broken West – “Auctioneer”
MySpace: The Broken West

Okkervil River’s new record Stand Ins was finally released this week, and with it came the final intallment of the covers project – this one featuring their tourmates for this upcoming Fall jaunt, including the October 12 date at the Phoenix, Crooked Fingers. There’s also an MP3 available from their forthcoming new album Forfeit/Fortune, out October 7. Pitchfork solicited a guest list from Okkervil frontman Will Sheff – usually when asked, most artists give them a laundry list. Sheff gives them a series of essays. Isthmus Q&A’s drummer Travis Nelson.

MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Phony Revolutions”
Video: Crooked Fingers – “Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979”

Daytrotter sessions up with Frightened Rabbit. They’re at Lee’s Palace on October 21, the same day their live acoustic record Liver! Lung! FR! is released.

MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Old Old Fashioned” (live)

Toronto’s FemBots return with a new album in Calling Out, out next Tuesday, and will follow up with a number of shows – there’s an in-store at Soundscapes on September 25 at 6PM, a proper gig at the Music Gallery on September 26 and looking ahead a bit, another show at the Dakota Tavern on November 7.

MP3: FemBots – “Good Days”

Edmonton double-drummered dance-rock crew Shout Out Out Out Out are at Lee’s Palace on October 30, tickets $15.

It’s a double double-shot of Montreal rock when Sam Roberts and The Stills roll into the Danforth Music Hall on November 13 and 14.

Calexico’s new record Carried To Dust was released this week and the tour dates in support have been announced. Look for them at the Phoenix on November 18 along with Bowerbirds, tickets $18.50. Caliente has an interview with Joey Burns, The Independent has a feature and Spinner is currently streaming the whole record, which is rightly being hailed as a return to form.

Stream: Calexico / Carried To Dust

Brooklynites Parts & Labour are turning out a new record in Receivers on October 21 and will be in town at Sneaky Dee’s a month later on November 21. Since their last visit last Summer in support of Mapmaker, they’ve rotated drummers yet again – which is a shame because Christopher Weingarten was an absolute beast on the kit – but they seem to have gotten even more pop which to me, anyway, isn’t a bad thing at all. Tickets $8.

MP3: Parts & Labour – “Nowhere’s Nigh”

With the December 4 show sold out, a second Neil Young and Wilco show has been announced for December 5. Having already shelled out $100 for the 4th, I will have to reluctantly let this one pass me by, marking the first local Wilco show that I will have missed in nine years. A moment, please. Paste talks to Neil and Glide to one of the US Marines featured in the CSNY documentary Living With War.

After releasing two albums in Snowflake Midnight and Strange Attractor on September 30, Mercury Rev will strike out on tour and as an added bonus, support for a few of dates including the December 9 stop at the Opera House in Toronto will be Dean & Britta. You think they’ll encore with a little “Car Wash Hair”? How could they not? The New York Times has a feature piece on the band.

Also currently spinning at Spinner – Soft Airplane from Chad Van Gaalen, in town at the Mod Club on October 4 and the cover story on this month’s BeatRoute and The New Year’s new self-title. They’re at Lee’s Palace on October 15.

Stream: Chad VanGaalen / Soft Airplane
Stream: The New Year / The New Year

The Baltimore Sun chats with Aimee Mann.

New York Times profiles TV On The Radio, whose new record Dear Science hits the street on September 23.

Howe Gelb discusses Giant Sand’s new record proVisions with Blurt.

Matthew Sweet talks to both Paste and Jambase.

The Riverfront Times has an interview with Tift Merritt.

JAM talks to Sloan’s Chris Murphy.

Photo via Second Motion

On the Dublin leg of my jaunt to the British Isles back in May, I had a short list of things to do. One, have a pint at the Guinness Storehouse – check. Two, pick up a copy of The Hollow Of Morning, the third album from Irish singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes, which was conveniently released the week before I arrived.

Hayes’ debut Night On My Side demonstrated her equal facility for gently acoustic folkish fare and densely electrified rockers, both perfectly framing her delicate and emotive vocals. It established her as a rising young talent and garnered a place on the Mercury Prize shortlist in 2002. The follow-up, 2005’s The Roads Don’t Love You, clearly showed her label’s intention to package her as a much more standard singer-songwriter and while it had its high points, was overly sanitized and subsequently didn’t yield the desired results and she was dropped shortly thereafter. After taking some time to regroup, she slowly began work on album number three and the finished product is a much simpler affair, sonically speaking. Drier in production and with a much more intimate atmosphere, it also feels more relaxed and natural than its predecessor – obviously benefitting from the absence of pressure to turn out a radio hit. And while it dwells mostly on the acoustic side of things, there is one moment of glorious sonic oblivion in “Out Of Our Hands”, with a guitar sound that could only come from one man – Kevin Shields.

Shields has long been cited as one of Hayes’ musical idols and the two have collaborated on recordings that have yet to see the light of day and it’s this relationship that got Gemma Hayes on the bill for the My Bloody Valentine-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties in New York State in a couple weeks. And that single appearance has slowly been expanded to a tour, including a show here in Toronto at Supermarket on September 26. I’ve seen Hayes once live at SxSW in 2006 and though it was just a brief acoustic day set, it was still as good as I’d hoped. I don’t know if this will be a similarly unplugged show or if there’s a band along for the ride, but consider this – MBV are in town the night before at Ricoh Coliseum and Shields has joined her on stage before. With that night being an off day before their Chicago show, If he’s still in town… you know where I’m going with this, do you not? And even if he doesn’t show, the fact that she’s finally coming to town after some five years of waiting – it’s good news. Yes.

Also good news is that to get a copy of her new album, you don’t need to fly to Dublin. It’s getting a North American release on September 30 courtesy of Second Motion Records and to whet your appetite, the aforementioned Kevin Shields-enhanced track “Out Of Our Hands” is available as a free download over at RCRDLBL. Get it and I’ll see you at Supermarket. There’s also older live video and audio at fan site Making Waves and some AV from her first two albums below as well a video of her performing with Shields.

MP3: Gemma Hayes – “Happy Sad”
Video: Gemma Hayes – “Back Of My Hand”
Video: Gemma Hayes – “Hanging Around”
Video: Gemma Hayes – “Let A Good Thing Go”
Video: Gemma Hayes – “Happy Sad”
Video: Gemma Hayes with Kevin Shields – “Whiskey Girl” (live)
MySpace: Gemma Hayes

Congratulations go out to Elbow on winning the Nationwide Mercury Prize for The Seldom Seen Kid, a record that I’ve learned to almost love. Before Tuesday night’s awards ceremony, Guy Garvey told The Sunday Mail what he might do if they won, and after the ceremony, he wrote a piece for The Guardian about the experience of taking the big prize. They also tell NME that they forgot to thank collaborator Richard Hawley, himself a former Mercury nominee, for his work on the record.

Video: Elbow – “Grounds For Divorce”
Video: Elbow – “One Day Like This”
Video: Elbow – “The Bones Of You”
MySpace: Elbow

Mercury losers Radiohead told Teletext Planet they’re absolutely thrilled for Elbow’s win and Gigwise they’d have been embarrassed to win. I’m sure the fact that they can probably make the £20,000 purse with just a couple tour dates helps ease the sting a bit. NPR is streaming the band’s tour-closing show in Santa Barbara from a couple weeks ago.

The Quietus talks to Brett Anderson.

The AV Club has an interview with Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce.

Pitchfork reports that Frightened Rabbit will be releasing an acoustic live album entitled Liver! Lung! FR! to coincide with their upcoming Fall tour. It’s out October 21 and presumably they’ll copies on hand that night when they’re in Toronto to play Lee’s Palace. NPR is currently offering an interview and session to stream. Update: Pitchfork now also has a track from the live record available to download.

MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Old Old Fashioned” (live)

Chart and The Calgary Herald talk to Bloc Party’s Kele Okerke about their sneak attack new album Intimacy, which is apparently still a work in progress. As NME reports, the next single from the band doesn’t actually appear on the digital version of the album that they started selling last month though I’m pleased to mention that I got an email last night that gave me, as someone who’d already purchased the album, a download of the new single for freesies. The new tune, “Talons”, is streaming on the band’s MySpace and they’ve also got a video together for it.

Video: Bloc Party – “Talons”

Goths rejoice – just in time for Hallowe’en, Sisters Of Mercy will be in town for a show at the Phoenix on October 28. Mascara not mandatory, but recommended.

The Duke Spirit will finally make up for those cancelled CMW gigs on October 29 with a show at the Phoenix. They’re touring alongside System Of A Down side-project Scars On Broadway, about whom I know nothing but I presume they’re big enough to justify a show at the Phoenix because the Duke Spirit certainly aren’t…

MP3: The Duke Spirit – “Lassoo”
Video: The Duke Spirit – “Lassoo”
Video: The Duke Spirit – “The Step & The Walk”

Kaiser Chiefs are coming back to town. Their new album Off With Their Heads is out October 13 and they’ll be at the Mod Club on November 18. Frontman Ricky Wilson tells Showbiz Spy that he’s a fan of the Mercury Awards, of which his band has lost one so far.

Video: Kaiser Chiefs – “Never Miss A Beat”

And to wrap up the running Mercury Prize meme in today’s post, This Is Fake DIY has compiled a list of their top five Mercury Prize snubs and The Manchester Evening News lists off their five Mercury high and low points over the years.

Photo by Frank Yang

I’m kind of wondering if there’s any point in writing up a review of the second day of V Fest. After all, for the forseeable future the only thing anyone’s going to want to talk about is, well, this guy. And that’s a pity, and not just because Noel Gallagher got hurt or Toronto is quickly earning a lousy reputation for inciting onstage punch-ups, but because before that incident there was a day full of some pretty good music.

But hell, I was there and I took notes and pictures so even if no one cares, here we go.

For a while on Sunday morning, it looked as though Mother Nature was going to give the Summer one last groin kick of rain with a light but steady downpour making things rather miserable. This was one British import we could do without. Thankfully, it tapered off just as the ferry reached the Islands and by the time I’d settled in for my first act of the day, the sun had actually come out and the skies were a rather marvelous shade of blue. Rather than run back and forth between stages as I’d done on the Saturday, I planned to plant my ass at the main stage for most of the Sunday with just one visit to the satellite stage. You know, maybe actually listen to some of the bands for a change.

Leading things off was The Weakerthans, ably representing the great white north in a lineup heavy on the Brits. Introducing their first three songs as about Bigfoot, Antarctic exploration and bus drivers respectively, John K Samson and crew cranked out a set that reaffirmed the Winnipeggers as national treasures of a sort and one of the finest bands the country has to offer right now. It’s always entertaining to watch the band dynamic, with Samson playing the shy boy frontman while his bandmates rock out behind him and even though I found their last record Reunion Tour a bit overly precious, they’re always a joy to watch.

Photos: The Weakerthans @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 7, 2008
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Sun In An Empty Room”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Night Windows”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Civil Twilight”
MySpace: The Weakerthans

In contrast to The Weakerthans’ more genial brand of rock, Californians Silversun Pickups showed up intent on putting on a clinic in rock’n’roll hair whipping. Truly, the rhythm section of Nikki Monninger and Christopher Guanlao had some magnificent coiffure action happening which you had to respect no matter what you thought of their grunge worshipping sound. Though I don’t especially care for their recorded works, I found them suitably entertaining in a live setting not least of all because of the aforementioned follicle factors and because they simply know how to put on a good show. Unfortunately those positives are mitigated by the fact their most of their stuff sounds very much the same and Brian Aubert’s more Corgan than Corgan vocal stylings can be a bit much to take.

Photos: Silversun Pickups @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 7, 2008
MP3: Silversun Pickups – “Kissing Families”
Video: Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye”
Video: Silversun Pickups – “Well Thought Out Twinkles”
MySpace: Silversun Pickups

And with the North American acts out of the way, it was time for the so-called British Invasion. Leading off were Welshmen Stereophonics, whose presence on the bill in the first place amazed me in that I didn’t even think they were still around, let alone popular enough to play a North American festival. I’d had a copy of their first album Word Gets Around way back when I was buying into anything remotely connected to Britpop and when that phase ended, it didn’t survive the first cull of my music collection. So to see them here – hale, hearty and apparently with still a devout fanbase – was quite a surprise. As it turns out, their new album Pull The Pin just got a North American release yesterday and they’ve got a best-of in Decade In The Sun set for a November 18 release, so there you go. Timing dictated that I could only stick around for a few songs but within them they played “A Thousand Trees”, which I still remembered from those salad days, so I didn’t think I would be missing much else of their earnest rasp-rock.

Photos: Stereophonics @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 7, 2008
MP3: Stereophonics – “My Friends”
Video: Stereophonics – “A Thousand Trees”
MySpace: Stereophonics

Scots Sons & Daughters – though it should have just been “daughter” in the singular as regular bassist Alidh Lennon was MIA – were just getting things going on the second stage when I got there. In comparison to the mainstage bands who were all varying degrees of slick – not a complaint, per se, just an observation – Sons & Daughters came across delightfully punkish and abrasive. Led by Adele Bethel, resplendent in garish neon pink stockings, they delivered material from the glorious This Gift and further back with the intensity of a sandblaster. They knew that the audience probably didn’t buy a ticket just to see them, but they were going to make them thankful they did.

Photos: Sons & Daughters @ TD Canada Trust Stage – September 7, 2008
MP3: Sons & Daughters – “Gilt Complex” (acoustic, live on Vic Galloway)
MP3: Sons & Daughters – “Chains” (acoustic, live on Vic Galloway)
Video: Sons & Daughters – “Gilt Complex”
Video: Sons & Daughters – “Darling”
MySpace: Sons & Daughters

And back to the main stage. I’d be lying if I said my education in the works of Paul Weller extended past The Jam, so you’re damn right I was excited that the Modfather played not one but two of those classics in his set – “Town Called Malice” and “Eton Rifles”. But despite not knowing the rest of the material, it sounded instantly familiar and comfortable – after all, this is the man who laid the blueprint for so much of the music I listen to today. Backed by a crack band who delivered the only drum solo of the festival (at least as far as I’d heard), Weller put on a show that’d have put to shame acts have his age, which would have been most of them on the bill. And even drenched in sweat, as he was by show’s end, he still looked effortlessly dapper – in a henley shirt. Respect.

Photos: Paul Weller @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 7, 2008
Video: The Jam – “Town Called Malice”
MySpace: Paul Weller

Finally, Oasis. Let’s ignore, for now, the most unfortunate attack on Los Bros Gallagher and pay even less mind to those who are taking a sick schadenfreude in it all. I was one of those who’d never really been interested in the band in their heyday and was put off by the media circuses surrounding the pair, but in recent years have learned to appreciate their stuff. In fact, I’ll hold up their best songs – and over the course of their career they’ve had a lot, albeit frontloaded onto the first two records – as genuine classics that’ll stand the test of time. In fact, they already have and still sound timeless some 15 years on. Not for nothing were there 20,000-plus hollering fans, standing in the mud, waiting for possibly the most appropriate band to close out such an Anglophilic festival.

Oasis live have a peculiar charisma – even though they don’t actually do anything besides stand there and play, it’s hard to take your eyes off them, maybe just because you don’t want to miss if perchance they DO move. I noticed it the first time I saw them open for Neil Young in 1996 and more than a decade later, they’ve still got it. Their set was stacked with hits – it was like someone put my copy of best-of comp Stop The Clocks on shuffle – and even the new stuff from the forthcoming Dig Out Your Soul sounded great. So despite being disappointed that I (again) wasn’t accredited to shoot the headliners – print outlets only – I was having a great time and was extra-pleased when they started playing one of my favourite numbers, “Morning Glory”. I think I was watching the video screen or the crowd when all of a sudden there was a “thunk” over the PA and the music stopped… and you all know what happened then.

Like many, I fully expected the gig to be over right then and there – certainly the Gallaghers of ten years ago wouldn’t have come back to finish the set, albeit an abbreviated one. That they did so and despite the obvious loss of momentum, still sound good, is a real testament to the band. It’s definitely a shame that the Weller guest spot on “Champagne Supernova” didn’t happen but understandable. There’s way too much media coverage of all this to try and round up. Instead, if you want exhaustive updates, check out live4ever.us who specialises in exactly that.

Photos: Oasis @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 7, 2008
Video: Oasis – “The Shock Of The Lightning”
MySpace: Oasis

So though the gig was salvaged and certainly a memorable one, it was an unfortunate way to finish off what had been another pretty good V Fest. As with past years, the nature of any complaints remain about the same – the sharp drop-off in name acts after the top two or three billings and the logistical issues with just the one small footbridge offering convenient access from one stage to the other – but seemed particularly amplified this time around. But I’ve pretty much accepted that this is just how it’s going to be given the scale and ambitions of the event. I seem to recall being told once that the initial contract for V Fest in Toronto was for three years, so another go-around for next year may not be a sure thing – did anyone notice that Osheaga was “presented by Virgin Mobile” this year? – I certainly hope to be back on the Islands next September, with the exact same complaints but still having a great time. And maybe I’ll get to shoot the headliners. Maybe.

Pitchfork and The Boston Globe have interviews with Paul Weller, Billboard with Stereophonics and eye and Chart have reviews of day two.

Photo by Frank Yang

Third time’s the charm? That’d have been a tough order for this year’s edition of V Fest Toronto, particularly after last year’s (IMO) outstanding experience, and considering the mild battering the lineup took in the weeks leading up to this year’s event.

But stuff like that becomes irrelevant when the event actually arrives – never mind who’s not there, it’s about who is there. Mind you, there weren’t a whole lot of artists in that latter catergory that I’d call myself a terrific fan of, but whatever. There was enough that I acknowledge as being quite popular and that I was at least curious enough to check out to see what all the hubbub’s about.

The day kicked off with a fellow billed on the schedule as Mark Robertson, who introduced himself simply as Robertson and who on several occasions exhorted the meager audience of early birds to visit him online at robertsonmark.com. But whatever you addressed him as, most I consulted were in agreement as that he wasn’t especially good. Put politely, his sort of easy-listening, jazz-soul get-sexy tunes were just out of place at this sort of festival, especially that early in the day.

Photos: Robertson @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 6, 2008
Video: Robertson – “Favourite People”
MySpace: Robertson

Much better received were the next band up on the mainstage, Los Angelenos Airborne Toxic Event. Dapperly dressed in black and boasting a decent-sized bag of rock-star moves, they offered up slick, resolutely radio-friendly alt.rock for a world where radio-friendly alt.rock isn’t a bad thing (in other words, not this world). Heavy enough for the rockers, hooky enough for the pop fiends and distinctive enough to stand out from the pack (the violinist is enough to mark them as different), they had a genuine and friendly demeanor and brought some welcome energy and wake-up to the day.

Photos: The Airborne Toxic Event @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 6, 2008
MP3: The Airborne Toxic Event – “Sometime Around Midnight”
MP3: The Airborne Toxic Event – “Wishing Well”
Video: The Airborne Toxic Event – “Sometime Around Midnight”
MySpace: Airborne Toxic Event

Over at the second stage was probably the oddest addition to the lineup – recently reunited DC glam-punkers Shudder To Think. Odd because their audience, those who’d probably have loved to have the veterans return to Toronto, weren’t the ones who were likely to shell out to come to the festival. But here they were with a small but enthusiastic audience and they delivered a set that could really only have come from a band that had been at this as long as they have. With singer Craig Wedren declaring, “we bring the sun!” – and yes, the day’s persistent cloud cover did finally break as they got started – they definitely hearkened back to they college rock heyday of the ’90s when they were tagged as one of the next big things, but still sounded absolutely vital. Definitely an addition to my list of bands to check out in more detail, even if they haven’t released an album in over a decade.

Photos: Shudder To Think @ TD Canada Trust Music Stage – September 6, 2008
Video: Shudder To Think – “Red House”
Video: Shudder To Think – “Nine Fingers”
MySpace: Shudder To Think

Festival sets frequently run late and rarely do they start early – so when I was walking back to the main stage and heard the sound of distant thunder without there being a storm cloud in sight, I knew that Constantines had taken the stage. And I ran. I had my first live Cons experience at a tiny little club back in May and while I was told by long-time fans that that show was good but not nearly their best, I was still wholly impressed by their sheer intensity. This time around, I discovered that they were capable of delivering infinitely scaleable rock – the bigger the stage, the bigger their delivery. While fests like this tend to focus more on the import acts, the Cons served as a reminder that sometimes the homegrown acts can bring the goods just as well. Respect.

Photos: Constantines @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 6, 2008
MP3: Constantines – “Hard Feelings”
Video: Constantines – “Our Age”
Video: Constantines – “Hard Feelings”
MySpace: Constantines

After taking in some of the Constantines set, it was another mad dash across the island to the second stage for Spiritualized’s set. It turned out that dashing wasn’t necessary – hell, a crawl would have gotten me there in time. Anyone who chose 4:15 in their pool for when the schedule was come off the rails was a winner. It took some time to get Jason Pierce and company set up so by the time they started, they were some 20 minutes behind. But for myself, it was a welcome opportunity to catch my breath and soak in some glorious space-rock. In contrast to the Acoustic Mainline show I saw last November, the Spaceman was once again plugged in and fully loud, but some of the lessons in nuance learned on that tour and in making Songs In A & E were not lost. While there was still plenty of stretching out, songs old and new were delivered in more focused form and it may be that the current Spiritualized aesthetic is their best one yet.

Photos: Spiritualized @ TD Canada Trust Music Stage – September 6, 2008
Video: Spiritualized – “Soul On Fire”
Video: Spiritualized – “You Lie You Cheat”
MySpace: Spiritualized

One thing about the V lineup across the whole weekend was that it was a seriously testosterone-skewed roster. Yes, some of the bands had a female presence but by and large, it was a real dude-fest. One exception that I slipped away from Spiritualized to see was a local girl who performs as Lights and who moved from writing songs in her bedroom to performing at fests like this thanks to one of her songs appearing in an Old Navy commercial. Beyond her more obvious appeal – there’ll never cease being a market for cute girls with keytars – she delivered some genuinely sweet and PG-wholesome synth pop, the sort that there’ll also never cease being a market for. After a few minutes and with my blood sugar levels suitably elevated, it was back to Spiritualized and the drone.

Photos: Lights @ Oh Henry! Stage – September 6, 2008

Apparently quite massive back in the UK but rather unknown to me, Scottish ragamuffins The Fratellis had gathered a pretty sizeable audience who, because they were punctual and the band were not, got a faceful of sonic Spiritualized squall rather than scrappy pop-rock. This pleased me. Moreso than the actual band, to be truthful. While their sound was certainly familiar it wasn’t especially distinctive and I was struck far more by their complete lack of pigment more than their tunes. Even for Scots, these boys were PALE. And for a band that trades in high-energy hookism, they were disappointingly sedate onstage. But that didn’t seem to put off their screaming fans, who ate up every mildly catchy but mostly unremarkable note.

Photos: The Fratellis @ TD Canada Trust Music Stage – September 6, 2008
Video: The Fratellis – “Look Out Sunshine”
MySpace: The Fratellis

There was no hurrying back to the mainstage for Against Me! and dinner because the footbridge which served as the main point of ingress/egress between stages as a solid wall of humanity. So from that distance, I was hearing the Floridian punkers’ for the first time and in comparison to the Brit-heavy lineup, they sort of stood out like a sore thumb – like their bus got lost en route to the Warped Tour and latched onto this one instead. I was able to get a better listen when I finally made it to the stage a couple songs into their set and enumerated their qualities. On the plus side, they were impeccably tight, had ferocious stage presence and used a Rickenbacker for a degree of rock that it was never intended for. On the negative side, their socially conscious lyrics were delivered with all the subtlety of a large concrete mallet at a whack-a-mole game. They may as well have been screaming, “STAY IN SCHOOL!”. But on the other hand, I’m not their audience. And another for the pro column – they had a pretty nifty tiger backdrop.

Photos: Against Me! @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 6, 2008
Video: Against Me! – “Thrash Unreal”
Video: Against Me! – “New Wave”
MySpace: Against Me!

By this point I knew, as I’d expected, that I hadn’t been approved to shoot Foo Fighters so the main stage’s penultimate act – Bloc Party – were my de facto headliners for the day. And I was fine with that. Every time I’ve seen Bloc Party live has been a festival setting and it’s one they really excel at – Kele Okerke’s banter and gregariousness might come off overly cheesy in a smaller setting but when addressing thousands in a field interspersed with big cascading guitar lines and earnest rock anthems, it works. Somewhat surprisingly, though they’ve a new album to promote in Intimacy, they stuck to A Weekend In The City and Silent Alarm for at least the first portion of the set, or as long as I stuck around. And that’s fine – while parts of the new record are growing on me, I still find it to not measure up to either of the previous efforts for quality. Things were slowed a bit by some technical difficulties but when they did get to playing, numbers like “Hunting For Witches”, “So Here We Are” and “This Modern Love” had me giddy and realizing that I liked these guys more than I’d thought I did. Foo whatever, for me these guys were where it was at.

Photos: Bloc Party @ Virgin Mobile Stage – September 6, 2008
Video: Bloc Party – “Mercury”
Video: Bloc Party – “Flux”
MySpace: Bloc Party

So while I could have happily (and exhaustedly) ended my day there, the fact that the second stage had fallen exponentially further behind schedule with each set meant that I could still catch the closing set from another popular British act whose appeal eluded me, The Kooks. The absolutely packed house (as much as you can pack an outdoor stage with no physical boundaries) was getting antsy about the late start but seemed mostly at peace that they wouldn’t be seeing much of the Foo Fighters, if at all. Kooks fans absolutely love The Kooks, if the roar that arose when the band finally trotted onstage is any measure. And like The Fratellis, with whom they share a penchant for the definite article and curly haired frontmen, after spending some time giving them a listen, I don’t get the appeal. Certainly they weren’t bad, but I didn’t find anything remarkable in what they were doing. Maybe it’s an age thing. They did, however, know how to work a crowd – singer Luke Pritchard is no kind of introvert – and when you’ve got thousands of people jumping up and down, singing along, you just have to accept that at that moment at least, it’s not them it’s you. So I hopped the ferry and headed back to the mainland.

Photos: The Kooks @ TD Canada Trust Music Stage – September 6, 2008
MP3: The Kooks – “No Longer”
MP3: The Kooks – “Always Where I Need To Be” (live)
Video: The Kooks – “Always Where I Need To Be”
Video: The Kooks – “Sway”
MySpace: The Kooks

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Detroit News and The Skinny have conversations with Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce. eye has a review of day one. And photographically, I’ve also got crowd shots and whatnot up on my Flickr.

So that was the Saturday. Anything interesting happen on the Sunday? Nah.