A rainy friday night in Peg city.

I arrived at Le rendez Vous around 7:15. The venue is pretty large probably holds around 1500. The show wasn't sold out but the place was still pretty packed. The crowd was a good mix with everyone from 14 year old boys and girls to 30-somethings. The first band of the night was the wheat monkeys - a rock band that played a good set. There set definitely got better with every song. They played for around 20 mins, playing mostly alternative, punk and some ska and reggae tinged songs. They were fun to watch, they sounded good and their melodies were spot on. Next came Hope to Die, a Canadian hardcore band. I had not heard these guys before, and seeing the guitarist in his SOIA shirt made me wonder how well they would be received by the goldfinger fans. Well, they broke into a fast punk-hardcore set with the lead singer sounding at times like the guy from raised fist and at others like the dude from snapcase. They got the pit going fast. Their energy was excellent. They played with real heart and their enthusiasm was obvious and reflected in the crowd's appreciation of the band. I thought it was cool of goldfinger to bring this band on tour because it gives them a chance to play to a different, larger audience and also lets the kids have a taste of hardcore and perhaps a chance to get into it more. Hope to Die also promoted Winnipeg bands Figure Four, Comeback Kid and Rogue Nation saying that we were lucky to have such great bands in the scene. They are right.

Next came Story Of The Year. Now by this time I was really enjoying myself, this was turning into one of the best shows I'd seen in a while. SOTY continued the good time. These guys are going to be big. Maybe even MTV big. They sound similar in parts to Finch and The Used. They rocked hard, I definitely recommend going to see them if you get the chance. Their singer had a cool scream and a good melodic singing voice. The band jumped all over the stage. There energy was awesome. They played a tight set, all the songs were enjoyable, catchy and heavy. They got the crowd going and definitely won over many new fans. They release their debut on August 26th. They will also be at Warped this summer.

Now for the headliners. After such great opening bands it was going to take something special to top the night off. Well Goldfinger had it under control. They took a little while to take the stage which was a bit annoying but the wait was worth it. They came on, Darrin in a thong only. They started with Question which is a good fast punk song from Hangups. John leaped into the crowd and surfed around for the fist song which was cool. Then they went straight into Counting the Days, Spokesman and Here in your Bedroom. Covering ground of all their CD's. This was a cool way to start, playing some old, some new and some in between.

They also played (in no particular order):

My girlfriend's shower sucks
Miles Away
Mable(for which they invited the crowd on stage to sing)
Superman
Chris Cayton
San Simeon
Open your eyes
FTN
Wayne Gretzky(with Darrin taking lead)
Tell me

They finihed with an encore. Darrin did his eat a twinkie out of my ass trick before the band finished with 99 red balloons.

Honestly, although they played 15 songs, I wanted more. These guys have so many good songs. I would have liked some more ska songs of Hangups. They could have played another 15 great songs. But overall they put on a great show. Great opening bands, and they sounded good. John Feldmann is a cool guy. At 36 he still knows how to get the crowd moving.