Sunday, October 04, 2009

The lineup

I was contemplating the possibility of going off to see Japandroids last night, and I'm sure they put on a stellar set at Mavericks, but in the end I decided to go to Babylon. Most of the reason was that the two other bands on the Japandroids bill didn't move me, whereas I knew that The White Wires, Uranium Comeback and Sonic Avenues would both rock mightily ... and so they did!

Last time they were in town, playing with Magic Christian, The Sonic Avenues played a really tight set of powerpop but were forced to keep things short. This time around,they kept things short as well ... and I still haven't heard their version of River Deep, Mountain High, darn it!

Sonic Avenues at Babylon
Sonic Avenues, Babylon, October 3, 2009

Ken from Mother's Children and The beach Blankets and Ilona were on hand to spin the hits between sets.

DJ KJ and Ilona
DJs Kenny and Ilona, Babylon, October 3, 2009

Uranium Comeback killed it, as they did back at the Gaga Weekend. I had faint hopes that their sudden breakneck schedule - sets only three months apart! - was an indication we might see more of them, but it turns out bassist Seiji is off to Japan, so I guess not.

Uranium Comeback at Babylon
Uranium Comeback, Babylon, October 3, 2009

The White Wires set almost didn't happen: While Ian Manhire was skateboarding on Gilmour someone ran a red light and almost slammed into him. Anyway, he survived and will now stop sinnin' and drinkin' and tread the straight and narrow path, amen! Or not, as the case may be. The trio played a punchy set, but on the last song on the setlist things started to go astray. A chunk of the audience rushed on stage to provide some vocal assistance and in the ensuing microphone-mangling and singer-squashing some of the nuances of Girly Girly Girly were lost. Their encore was kind of fun, though Luke did say something along the lines of "Let's pretend this part never happened" so we won't mention it.

White Wires at Babylon
The White Wires, Babylon, October 3, 2009

They had their new Trouble In Mind single (which comes with a download for the record-player impaired) with them, and played a slew of newer material. They also had their LP, now reissued on Douchemaster, for sale.

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