Sigh

This week, The Grid profiled queer feminist cover band Vag Halen. They also listed a few others including Sheezer and Dwayne Gretzky. Included in this group: Horsey Craze, a Neil Young cover band. Coincidentally, Horsey Craze was playing at the Silver Dollar Friday night. As I have seen the previous 3, I decided to also check this band out.

Cut Flowers opened the night to a still sparse crowd. They did a short set of songs with a bluesy mixed with a dirty garage band feel. Singer Andre Ethier (who also joined Craze for Revolution Blues) had an early Bob Dylan drawl. Next was The Highest Order, yet another project for One Hundred Dollars' Simone Schmidt. This band kept a bit of her alt-country touches, but added more psychedelic guitar. Simone sometimes stalk the stage like a preacher, raising one hand toward heaven, and punctuating her lyrics with a pointed finger. She also came back to sing Winterlong with the head-liner.

It might have started as a thin crowd at the Dollar, but when 12:30 rolled around, it was as packed as I've ever seen at this venue. A lot of Neil Young fans? No doubt. But certainly also because Horsey Craze is composed of members of on-hiatus band The Constantines. Bry Webb mentioned later on, "This is a special night for me and my wife. We don't get out much anymore in Guelph." But this was no suburban dads vanity project, they brought the full power of their decade-long musical experience. As Neil Young's songs lent itself well to jams, Horsey Craze did not limit themselves to note-for-note cover. Witness a very extended take on "Walk Like A Giant". Casual fans may only know "Powder Finger" and "Cinnamon Girl", but every song was eye-opening and full of live energy.

Bry Webb and Will Kidman, who traded his keyboard for a guitar of reverb and feedback, exchanged smiles all night. So whatever reason that made him leave The Constantines was not on the table tonight. The good vibes extended to everyone in the crowd, too. So much so, that even after a towering Shots, full of machine-gun drums and flailing guitar, to end the set, they wanted more: two encores' worth. When Horsey Craze led a final sing-a-long of Cortez The Killer, it was past 2 am.