Mad Caddies / Choke / Pulley

live in Toronto (2004)

ilikebandssuchasopivy

Saint Patrick's day is a holiday unlike any other, reserved for absurd
drunkenness, and a general sense of tomfoolery. Yes, tomfoolery, and the spirit of the day was definitely present at the Opera House for the concert that was..going to happen. The Mad Caddies, Choke, Pulley, Closet Monster, and Irish Car Bomb. Was it good? Well keep reading fool!

Sorry.

Anyways, the night started off with the aforementioned Irish Car Bomb tearing through a short set but from what I remember they were pretty good, nothing earth shattering, nothing that's going to make you turn to the guy beside you who you do not know and say "Hey, wow!". But good none the less.

After that, was Closet Monster. Now let me preface this by saying, we are about to enter a magical land called the Opinion Zone, and please remember this
principle for the rest of this review. My critiques of the next few bands will be
based on their objective stage performance, and my opinion of them, so if you don't like it don't get your panties in a bunch, just listen. I don't like this band. They seemed to have a good enough stage presence and I'm sure if you're a fan you would've
enjoyed their performance but to me they were just another group of
pop-political-punk-posers trying to get their 'message' across through their
music. Wasn't working for me.

If you've been following along, you'll know that next to hit the stage was Pulley. Now, by reading the articles and reviews on this site I've learned that Pulley is a favourite around here, and again, they did have a good stage presence and seemed to be having a great time. I just don't get it though, their lyrics are uninspired their songs sound the same, and the singer looks like he's forty-five (that's irrelevant I know, but I thought I'd point that out). Let me reiterate though, if you like Pulley you would've liked their performance, they're just not for me.

During the set up time I made my way to the front of the stage in anticipation of the Mad Caddies, but before that majestic occurrence took place a group of scruffy looking musicians, they call themselves Choke, began their performance. They rocked. I was a bit surprised by the singing voice of the lead singer as the voice didn't really match the face but that didn't stop the rockin'. They played
for about a half hour to an amazing crowd response and in my opinion (this is that opinion thing I was talking about) they were the best opener.

Opener Shmopener though, eh? Who cares! Now it's time for the Mad Caddies, or rather it was then time for the Mad Caddies, since it was past tense. Er..
sorry. Almost right away the lead singer told everyone that the show was being
recorded for a live album! I exclaimed my joy by yelling, Wow! It was a moment. These guys have an amazing energy live, the lead singer who may or may not have been drunk, danced and pranced in such an awkward but enjoyable way, and the horn section was so tight that their whole set just blurred together into one long skankeriffic session of ska. Say that thirty times fast. Do it. Since I was at the front, after more than halfway through their set I got a bit tired of getting kicked in the head by crowd surfers, so I made my way
upstairs to the bar area and got myself a water. Oh that's right, I'm underage.
As I was walking around, I slipped on the precipitation-soaked stairs and
scraped my arm up real nice. That wasn't fun, but I digress. I can't remember exactly which songs they played, but all the good ones were there: Road Rash, Monkeys, Drinking for 11, Contraband? etc.. This band just has such a great presence live that makes them even more enjoyable then on CD, watching the live singer dance around is worth the ticket price alone, and I mean that in a totally hetero way.. notgay.

After the show we filed out politely to the street, watched some drunken Saint Paddy's Day fights, talked to random people, and rode the trusty Toronto Transit System to our respective homes, and then you know, slept and stuff.