Skip to main content

KRIS ROE (of The Ataris) brings his acoustic guitar to Toronto!


On the evening of July 5th, I had the opportunity to see Kris Roe (of The Ataris fame) play an acoustic show at The Kathedral in downtown Toronto. It was something that felt very special because a) it was an acoustic performance, b) it's been 6 years since I've last seen him perform, and c) he was basically my highschool hero. His music was quite an inspiration and spirit lifter for me when I was in highschool and part of university (1999-2003).

The show opened up with 4 local bands: Dead End Girl, The Knockouts, Future's Past, and Outspoken. None of them really stood out and at least for this particular night, it was clear that the crowd was here to see Kris Roe pick up the acoustic guitar and jam the night away.


His set was filled with just about every fan favourite song. To top it all off, the last 4 songs were performed with Outspoken for a full rock out experience. I was surprised that they did "Boys of Summer" as I've heard that he loathed it for what its done to the band. But I suppose these days after all the personal trauma he's been through, that he's a bit more forgiving, opened, and welcoming to the fact that many of their fans discovered them through this single.

His setlist included (approximate order):
-Losing Streak
-1*15*96
-Unopened Letter to the World
-I Won't Spend Another Night Alone
-Your Boyfriend Sucks
-Fast Times at Dropout High
-My Hotel Year
-I.O.U. One Galaxy
-So Long Astoria
-The Hero Dies in This One
-The Last Song I Will Ever Write About a Girl
-Broken Promise Ring
-Summerwing Was Always Our Song

And four bonus full-band songs:
-In This Diary
-random cover song
-Boys of Summer
-San Dimas Highschool Football Rules



I had the opportunity to talk to him for about 5 minutes during one of the support acts and he seemed to be in a pretty terrific mood. He was excited to be in Canada for this tour. I asked him how he felt about spending July 4th in Canada to which he said he doesn't care, "I ain' that patriotic". He also told me about the new album they've been working on. This fall they're recording a bunch of demos (some which are completed), and he hopes that the new album will be out early next year.

I'm glad he's doing these low-key acoustic shows just to get in touch with his hardcore fanbase, away from the glitz and glamour of those stadium stage shows of the past. I hope all the best for the guy and that all the personal shit that happens in life doesn't detract him from making music.

If you want to see more pictures of the show, you can find them here.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The League of Denial (2013)

The topic of concussions in sports is a dialogue that’s been growing the past number of years.  Do a search on ‘concussions’ and ‘football’ and you’ll get several thousand hits on the controversy that’s surrounded the sport.  It’s a challenging topic as the research is all relatively new, and the topic itself challenges the mentality and philosophy adopted by football loving Americans.  Now, I’m not a fan of football or NFL but when I saw this book lying at the local bookstore, my interest was piqued.  Although I’m not a fan of football, those that know me know that I’m an unabashed fan of prowrestling.  Talks about concussions are also quite a hot topic even within the prowrestling sub-culture.  Earlier this year, one of the hottest wrestlers of the current era, Daniel Bryan, retired early at the age of 34 due to a history of concussion related issues.  Interestingly, he was not permitted to return to the ring due to the disapproval by WWE’s medic...
1 comment
Read more

Finally, the Xbox 360!!

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I received an Xbox 360 for Christmas from my dad. A great present it was! I've had 3 weeks to enjoy it so I guess I can give you my impressions of it now. First the controller. In truth, I haven't felt a controller this comfortable in my gaming life before. As a child who grew up on the 8-bit generation, with just a directional pad and 2 buttons, there was quite a learning curve getting used to using two analog sticks at the same time. You might say, "Hey Lam, how bout the PS2? You have that machine, and that has analog sticks". True, but of the twenty or so games I have for that, all of them used either only 1 analog stick, or allowed the option to switch on to the directional pad. Using 2 sticks at the same time was at first just uncomfortable. This made for all sorts of trouble as I was playing Gears of War . Luckily for me, I had computer controlled teammates that watched my back. I love the Media Center capabilities...
6 comments
Read more

MAX PAYNE was oh so PAYNEFUL!!!

What a failure this was. An EPIC FAILURE~! And I'll tell you why. This movie had everything going for it which was why it made the failure seem so huge. It had star power. It had a very competent director. The visual style was there. It had a simple storyline... a storyline that was basically fuck-proof because it's so basic. The effects (when there were any) were also pretty great. So where did they go wrong? Pacing. If the first two-thirds of the film was like the last third, I think it would have been a fine film. Not great by any means, but fine. I mean, there was hardly any action in the first hour. It was all talk and build up. Every 5 minutes I was saying to myself, "okay, something cool is gonna happen now". But it never came. I think had they added 2 or 3 big action sequences during that hour, that it would have helped the film breathe and flow better. I mean, didn't they realize that the source material was an action game? Max Payne is ba...
7 comments
Read more