Show Alert: A Tribe Called Red

Wed., Feb. 12 ~  The Shelter, Detroit

2013 Polaris Prize shortlisters and 2014 Juno nominees return to the Motor City.

CBC Radio 3 page here.  

The Pack Are Back!

Vancouver BC's The Pack a.d. return to the Motor City supporting their most recent album Unpersons and joining Toronto's Our Lady Peace on their Urban Grind Tour.

Saint Andrew's Hall
April 7, 2012
Detroit, MI
Ticket info here.

Once again, bring your earplugs. You have been warned.


Photo: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Show Alert: Sloan Double Cross Detroit

XX marks the spot for veteran alt-rockers Sloan, finally playing St. Andrews Hall on Fri., Nov. 11 after an October date was rescheduled. (Galore open at 8 p.m.; Sloan go on at 9:15.) Good things really do come to those who wait, as Jay Ferguson explains in an email to their fans:

"See, I’ve always been a big fan of the live bootleg LPs that began to appear in hip underground record stores in the 1970s and into the 1980s. So, here's our very own (legal) tribute to that tradition. Packaged in a heavy duty white jacket, it comes with hand numbered, risographed wrap around outer sleeve, photocopied insert and pressed onto luminous green marbled vinyl!"--Jay Ferguson

 

"It" = a limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies of Is That All I Get?: Live September 20th, 1993
originally recorded live to cassette in Winnipeg, MB. The bootleg doesn't officially go on sale until Nov. 14, but Sloan will have a "very limited amount" of pre-sale quantities at their Detroit show. It's also the perfect time to pick up their latest album, The Double Cross.

Show Review: Sam Roberts Band heat up Detroit

Oh, the extremes we go to for a show. Last December, four of us-- and we mean an audience of four-- shivered inside the Vernors Room of the Crofoot to watch Rah Rah. Last month, we sweated inside a sold-out St. Andrews Hall, full of fans-- both human and inexplicably, motionless mechanical ones-- where the temperature easily topped 100F (40C).













The Sam Roberts Band (Montreal) didn't need any help heating up Detroit. They do a pretty good job on their own. Roberts' affection for the city, warts and all, is obvious and the fans (the human ones) return it, more than comparable well-attended shows we've seen in the Detroit area (Hot Hot Heat, Destroyer, New Pornographers).

Why? Roberts' catchy, straight-up rock 'n' roll definitely appeals to Motor City musical sensibilities and to Canadian fans and Juno voters as well; both his 2004 release, We Were Born In A Flame, and 2009's Love At The End Of The World won Rock Album of the Year. Live, the band delivers a performance full of crowd-pleasing hits as strong and sincere as Roberts' handshake. Although in our opinion the band's latest release, Collider, is not quite on par with those Juno winners, there is still plenty to like.

Dear Zeus: We think there's plenty to like about your music too (so reminscent of a certain famous 60s band from Liverpool), and apologize for missing all but one and a half songs of your opening set. We hope our failure to pay attention to show start times doesn't leave a Permanent Scar. Love, N2DS2W.

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Show Alert: Sam Roberts Band w/ Zeus @ St. Andrews Hall

One of us has been anticipating this show for a long time. That would be Yort, who's always considered Sam Roberts her "gateway drug" to Canadian indie music, and whose very first Canadian indie show was the Sam Roberts Band with Mother Mother back in February 2009 at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit.

The Juno award winner returns this Wednesday to the same venue, with a new album-- Collider-- and another great opening band, Zeus, whose album Say Us made the Polaris Music Prize long list in 2010.

Listen:
Sam Roberts Band, "Fixed to Ruin," from Love at the End of the World
Zeus, "Kindergarten," from Say Us