Mid-week Madness

On Wednesday, I was at The Monarch Tavern for an early-ish show. This bar doesn't figure prominently on the music scene but lately they've been booking some fairly well-known (in the indie music sense) acts. It looks like they've beefed up the sound system and stage since I was last here.

I have mixed feelings about Dave Bidini's set. As a long-time musician (and a member of defunct 90s group Rheostatics), he's got a wealth of musical and personal experience to draw on. Notably, he had several songs about a musician's life from the nostalgic (Let's Go On Tour) to the slightly macabre (Desert Island Cannibal). Head-liner The Burning Hell wrote about about their first record purchase (Men Without Hats), Bidini chronicled the numerous life-changing concerts he's been at (I Was There). But twice he climbed onto the bar tables and sang acoustically. It was obvious that he did that to to shut down the loud bar chatter. Sorry dude, you have some good songs but if you're pissed because people who were toddlers in your hey-day don't care who you are, that's life.

The Burning Hell handled the talkers with more grace, and these were actual fans. Though they were front and centred, they also kept up a continuous stream of chit-chat and glad-handing. Lead singer Mathias Korn did scream "shut up" (silently and only to his band) once, but only because he forgot the lyrics to one song due to the distraction. It was understandable though as a typical Burning Hell song (Realists, Amateur Rapper) has an album's worth of words. But their set was too upbeat to dwell on a few early negatives. You dance, you laugh at the wry lyrics, and you sing along (such as the offbeat love song Fuck The Government, I Love You). Korn's verbiage may be the defining characteristic of this band, but the other members had immense technical chops, too. There were plenty of guitar, drum, sax and even bass solos to make a rock band jealous.