I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2015] Rheostatics

I am a huge fan of the Rheostatics, but I never saw them live before they broke up.  There was an attempt at a reunion a few years ago but it fell through (apparently do to Martin Tielli’s stage fright).

Then earlier in the spring I saw the incredible news.  The band was going to reunite for three nights at the AGO.  They were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album Music Inspired by the Group of 7 and they were going to play the entire album.  Now, I’ll admit it’s not my favorite Rheos album.  I like it fine, and there’s some good stuff on it, but it is mostly instrumental, and there’s only really 2 “songs” on it.  But who cared?  It was the Rheostatics!

And who cared if the show was in Toronto, an 8 hour drive away.  I knew the venue was small (it sold out pretty fast).  On the day of tickets sales, I arrived late to work so I could order online.  And after I secured them, I thought….now how in the hell am I going to do this?

Well, we decided to make a vacation out of it.  The show was Saturday night, the kids didn’t start school until Tuesday, so I took some days off of work and we drove up to Niagara Falls on the Wed before the show.  We toured the Falls and then drove to Toronto, where we did so much sightseeing, my legs were tired.  And then, when concert time approached, Sarah and I headed off to the AGO.

We got there early and wished that we could look around the gallery.  I really wanted to see some Go7 prints up close (they are really beautiful).  But the gallery was closed.  It was only the front room where the show was to be staged that was open.  But after a few minutes, we went in.  It was awesome to be so close to the stage (about 5 people standing in front of me, but since it was an art gallery, no one was pushing or anything).

It was even more amazing to see the guitar tech (I assume Tim Mech?) holding Martin’s amazing hand painted double neck guitar about three feet in front of me.  I wished I could have touched it just for a second.

When the lights went down we waited as the band (plus special guests) came out from who knows where and slowly came up on stage.  The applause for Martin (who has been pretty reclusive these last 8 years) was really something.

There were visuals projected on a screen behind them and on the walls all around us.  But I barely noticed as I was fixating on the band.

Dave Bidini sat at the drums, Don Kerr played cello, Tim Vesely played guitar and Martin was on his Steinberger.  Kevin Hearn (a Barenaked Lady, who helped create the original record) was on keys and guest Hugh Marsh was on violin.

Then the sample from the record that I’ve heard so many times played, and then with almost no fanfare (but some rain), they launched into the music.  And Kevin’s beautiful waltz began.  I mentioned earlier that I don’t love the Go7 record (and yet I’ve been listening more since the show and am really starting to like it more), but it was amazing to hear it live.  Perhaps I finally gave it the attention it deserved, perhaps it was being in an art gallery surrounded by the photos of the artists, or perhaps it was just seeing it live, but the album sounded amazing.

And Martin really seemed to be having a good time.  Having never seen them before, I don’t know what he was like live, but he seemed to be conducting the first few pieces.  He hung over by Hugh Marsh (whose violin was astonishing) and even smiled and laughed a few times.  It was cool watching him play his guitar during “Earth (Almost)” as he used both hands on the neck.  And then hearing the big cello come in to play the main riff was great.

When they got to “Boxcar Song,” he put on a train hat and it was all fun.  Dave switched to acoustic guitar Don switched to drums.  Tim was on upright bass, and it was like a real reunion.

Then they got to “Blue Hysteria,” the first song with words, (and unless I am way off, the song that Martin played the double neck on) and it seemed like Martin might have cracked a little.  He was sweating so much, and I think everyone in the audience was pushing for him to be okay and to hit the song out of the park.  No matter what his condition, his voice was in amazing form, hitting the high notes and all the quirky things he does so well.

And then Dave finally spoke to us.  He was affable and charming and thanked his dad for being there and thanked us for being there.  And it was great.

Then he said they’d be doing a song from Melville, which was also on the Go7 album.  And they launched into a wonderful version of “Northern Wish” (their backing harmonies were outstanding).  I love “Northern Wish” and it was amazing to hear it live.

Even though the music is beautiful and “serious,” the band still had fun on stage.  Dave held up a sign that said “Bird Calls Please” before the intro of “Boxcar.”  And later he held up one that said “Howl Like a Wolf” (why didn’t I take pictures of these? well, nearly everyone else there seems to have so it’s ok).

And the raucous noise of “Boxcars and Bombs” was spectacular (even better than on record since Hugh Marsh is a maniac on violin).  A word on Hugh Marsh.  I don’t know him very well, although he has evidently played on many albums that I own.  He plays electric violin and he was doing such amazing things with that instrument–when he started using a wah wah pedal, I was blown away.  There were even a few moments when he was doing Martin’s guitar fills.  He was really impressive.

The visuals for “Lightning” were outstanding as they projected filmed lightning strikes which briefly lit up the room.  And then the show ended with Kevin Hearn’s “Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun” (Tim sang the second verse).

And then they left.

But they didn’t go far.  Sarah and I laughed because as we cheered them on, they stood mere feet from the stage regrouping.

And then Tim came out and said they would play a few Rheostatcis songs (and no matter how much I was happy just to see Go7 did I ever want them to play more).  Now it turns out that “Claire” is Sarah’s favorite song.  She agreed to come with me to this show, not knowing all that much about the band.  And she hoped that they would play “Claire.”  And when Tim said he was going t0o play his daughter’s favorite song, well, we assumed it would be “Claire.”  However….  Even though I loved our night of music, how bummed are we that we chose the one night of three that they did NOT play “Claire.”

Rather, Tim played a ukuluele version of “Henry’s Musical Beard.”  (What?).  It’s a delightful, weird little 90 second song that I have to assume has never been played live before.  So we have that going for us.

And then he busted into a great rendition of “Bad Time to Be Poor” which opened with just him and Hugh Marsh playing and then the rest of the band came out.  It was amazing to be in the room for that song (and Dave urged everyone to vote Stephen Harper out of office come October).

And then Martin played, yes, he played “Stolen Car.”  It was a tremendous moment.  It was unclear if he was overcome with emotion playing the song or what, but his performance was intense, (and made the crowd possibly a little nervous).  I thought that perhaps with Martin ailing a bit that they’d play a few more of Dave’s songs (I really hoped for “Horses” but I see they did that on Sunday as well).

They did play a super fun version of “Legal Age Life” (I’d heard this so many times from Rheostatics live recordings, that it was great to be part of the 1-12 countdown).

And then they played “Christopher” one of my top ten Rheos songs.  Martin forgot the words and chided himself mid song.  And he even ended it a bit early.  Then he launched into “Saskatchewan,” one of my top 5 songs.  And he was really intense about it.  In fact, by the end of the song, he had to just walk off, give Don Kerr a hug and end it.  The band quickly exited the stage (and I hoped that Martin was alright).

I was only bummed because I could have stayed for another hour to see what else they would play for me.  But it was an hour and 45 minutes of music that was simply amazing.

Given Martin’s stage fright I’m willing to give him a huge pass for any inconsistencies in the show.  He was erratic sure, but he was also right on for so much of the show–hitting wonderful high notes and bringing an incredible intensity to his guitar playing.  I wish that he had played some of his more amazing solos–he had to put the guitar down a number of times and I missed hearing his great fretwork.  But I was in no way disappointed.

Of course, seeing that Sunday night they played “Claire” and “Horses” (but not “King of the Past” my favorite song) AND that they played a surprise gig later that night at The Monarch Tavern, where they played “a sloppy, magnificent set of hot bar room Rheos songs.” made me wish I could have stayed for Sunday night, too.

At the Monarch, they played a few rocking songs and had tons of guests, including Mary Margaret O’Hara singing “Rock Death America” which I would have loved to see!

Sadly, real life intervened for us and at 12:30 as the Rheos were going on stage, we were still thirty minutes from home, delirious after a 12 hour drive from Toronto, with but one day off to prepare for school.  I had initially considered buying tickets for Sunday night, knowing that the final night always the best, but if I had, I’m not sure if we could have done the mini vacation that we did.  So even though I missed some Rheostatics magic, I did get to see some awesome things in Niagara Falls and Toronto.  A Fair trade off.

And how many people base a family vacation around a concert anyhow?

For more about our trip up North, you can read Sarah’s recap.

I love this photo to the left that Sarah took with that gorgeous backdrop.

Setlist:

1. “Kevin’s Waltz”
2. “Earth (Almost)”
3. “Boxcar Song (Weiners and Beans)”
4. “Landscape and Sky”
5. “Blue Hysteria”
6. “Cello for a Winter’s Day”
7. “Northern Wish”
8. “Snow”
9. “Biplanes and Bombs”
10. “Lightning”
11. “Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun (Kevin’s Waltz Reprise)”
12. “Bye, Bye”
13. encore
14.  “Henry’s Musical Beard” (Tim on ukulele)
15.  “Bad Time to be Poor”
16.  “Stolen Car”
17.  “Legal Age Life”
18.  “Christopher”
19.  “Saskatchewan”