Whether it was because they are still relatively unknown here or that there were better known shows (Osheaga festival in Montreal, Jesus and Mary Chain), a crowd of less than 100 were at the venue. A fair number of them were francophones. Well, those of us attending appreciated the rare opportunity to be up-close right up against the stage.
One advantage of seeing a "known" band is that even with this small tour, they had a couple of roadies and a sound engineer. The roadies helped set up their large collection of instruments, from guitars, basses, to saxophones and pots-and-pan percussions in record time. The sound guy made this the clearest, most well-balanced show I've heard at this venue. Olivia's vocals always came through strong and every instrument, no matter how small, was heard.
Olivia came on stage wearing a semi-transparent violet dress with ruffled neckwear that later came off. She was elfin and a bit otherwordly with her model features, high cheek-bones, and slender frame. Her voice was similarly soft and light. The Do's songs play to that strength and are often wistful ballads such as opener A Mess Like This or Dust It Off. But they didn't confine themselves to twee Bjork-like numbers, certainly not Dan who jumped from synth to bass to saxophone. There were rock songs including Aha and The Wicked And The Blind. Often, they would take a quiet song like Too Insistent and gave it a harder edge.
The small, but enthusiastic crowd cheered on every number. They surprised the band by singing along to a canned intro of "Do Re Mi" (Sound of Music). At one point during Slippery Slope, the front of the stage almost became a mosh pit. It was a fun night of catchy hooks, sing-a-long choruses, and songs whose lyrics had unusual turns of phrase.
Set List: A Mess Like This, Aha, Gonna Be Sick, The Bridge Is Broken, Too Insistent, Dust It Off, The Wicked and The Blind, On My Shoulders, Smash Them All, Slippery Slope, Calendar (Encore).
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