nero reunion shows

so a couple weeks ago i went to ottawa with scottie and diane (and a crapload of nero fans spanning half the country) to relish in the nero reunion shows for 2 nights at maverick's. January 12th and 13th 2007. a lot of familiar faces from a lot of places, and the tunes we'd all been missing since the band took a hiatus after their new years 2004 show, was recipe enough for one of the best weekends of live music atmosphere i can recall.

first of all, i had a sh!t eating grin on my face all weekend, since about belleville, on the way up. i remember saying to scottie at one point that there's enough people travelling up that damn highway for these shows that they better open with 401 Theme. if not, it could potentially ruin my weekend.

thanks for not ruining my weekend, nero. ;)

but, really, think about it... so many chapters of nerodom gathered in one place.... i think chatham had a representative from just about every city, but we (team london) represented... there was team k/w, guelph, hamilton, team toronto, peterborough came to play, folks from kingston, likely quebec, and i know the maritimes were out in full force with folks from fredericton, moncton, saint john, and the island.

and then of course, there's the home team. team ottawa. we converge on them and, with loving arms, they open their doors to their couches and their floors... and oh, what a time we have...

so, you have all these people converging on one place, for 2 nights, to see these 3 guys play their music that they havent played for 2 years. that's a lot of miles, but not really. not for this. what's more is that's a lot of power in that music to get those wheels moving, i think. to bring all those people together. 2 sold out nights, there was some serious energy in that bar. like i said, many chapters of nerodom... having toured relentlessly when they were around, they developed a legion of devoted fans, and really, created some kinda community around them. starting in ottawa playing 2 gigs weekly in town, then branching out playing festivals, and eventually touring the regular circuit in ontario, and coast to coast. they seemed to touch people wherever they went, which is evidenced by the amount of travelers, and the miles logged, and even moreso evidenced by the atmosphere they have created around them... friendships formed around a love of 3 guys and the sounds they create - it's quite a feeling being in that room when nero is rocking out.

the music itself, what we were all there for, was incredible. i went up expecting them to be sharp and wanting to play good shows, not just play for the sake of playing, but i dont know if i expected them to be quite that good. really, i mean, 2 years off? they hit their changes, controlled their tempo well, and just plain tore the roof off the fuckin' place! friday night was a huge rock show with stuff like the year of... and medicated. holy sh!t, medicated. one of my favourite moments of friday was standing behind tungsten during medicated and watching him get his head blown off. that sh!t was so heavy. a half hour condor? thank you. i liked the dead flowers cover, totally un-nero, but a great tune. i really felt like dave really went after it that night, he was just eating his guitar... a big sound from the guy for sure, he seemed to really enjoy playing with a band again and rocking out.

i dont know what i can say about the saturday night... i was totally immersed in the music from start to finish, at times their sound was just like this perfect little couch for me to sink into.. i dont think i ever stopped moving, whether dancing or swaying and spacing... i loved it. opening the show with a half hour effervescence > miko mard really set the tone for the night: this was night 2, it was going to blow the roof off, it was going to be special, and it was going to leave you wanting more. going back to johnny joe and dropping a new song on us were 2 surprises that came in the first set - the new song, i especially liked as it sounded pretty "slippy" to me, which is always a welcome sound, hahaha. the drumming, to me, was reminiscient of 'airplane/primitive', and some of dave's playing was very brad barr-ish... listening to the recording i can pinpoint the moment (around the 7:30 mark) i said to andre "dude, that was soooooooooooo brad barr....", but i digress...... the 2nd set was where it was at. i think the band knew it, too. it was some of the most energetic live music atmosphere i've felt in a bar in a LONG time. my memory of the night is so vivid, i can literally still see reactions across the stage, people gettin' down, people losin' their heads, people raising their arms in disbelief at the monstrous beauty coming from the stage, the band rocking, people jumping, it was incredible. they came back from setbreak and opened with pink floyd's 'hey you' and it was on. my favourite moment of the weekend came during that song, when Jay surprised the entire bar and took the lead vocal for the 2nd verse... i do believe it was his first time singing with the band, and the reaction from the crowd was explosively appreciative... i remember i had my eyes closed, heard the voice, heard the crowd, looked up, and there was jay, grinning ear to ear in acknowledgement, singing out the last couple lines... beauty... the jam that came after, leading into centranogme was a four on the floor shitshow of a throwdown if i ever saw one. the punk locked into this wicked bass riff and just tore into us... into a run like hell, back to centranogme, into a whispy mountain wonder, and it was a good 45 minutes before they gave us a chance to breathe. unbelievable. the sounds, atmospheres, and sonic pockets they took us to were immaculate, and impeccably placed... they played the tension and release game to a T, and left us wide eyed, salivating, and demanding more... so, on came the lemondust encore and we were given one last chance to dance like it was our last chance to dance - hopefully it wont be, but i can tell you if it was, everyone in that bar gave it everything they had. what a great way to finish these 2 great nights of music.

i just really thought these were 2 incredible shows musically that also felt like a lot more personally - there arent many bands that do that, and for a while there we'd lost one. nero means so much to so many people, it was good to have 'em back even if just for a weekend.

so with that, thanks for a great weekend boys, and here's to another one down the road!

night one:

ero
Friday, January 12, 2007
Mavericks, Ottawa, ON

Set I
-----
401 Theme
Tonto's Underwater Paradise
The Year Of...
Downside Up > Basheeba > Downside Up

Set II
------
Chocolate Monkey Machine
Medicated
Dead Flowers[1]
Condor

Encore
------
Breakline

get it on the archive here.


night two:

nero
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Mavericks, Ottawa, ON

Set I
-----
Effervescence >
Miko Mard
Johnny Joe
Everlasting Beautiful Night
Darius

Set II
------
Hey You[1] >
Centragnome >
Run Like Hell[1] >
Centragnome >
Whispy Mountain Wonder
Zedonk

Encore
------
Lemondust

get it on the archive here.

good morning, 2007

well, it looks like i slept in a little, but here i am. wide awake in 2007... or something like that. so far, it's been a good start to the year, if even a little lazy... errr... umm... or a lot lazy.

i rang in the new year with a nice little year-ending musical roadtrip (fitting), first down to plattsburgh, ny / burlington, vt to meet up with some friends and catch apollo sunshine opening up for grace potter and the nocturnals at higher ground in burlington on the 30th - apollo sunshine were pretty good, though their set was marred by sound problems and the blowing a bass amp. phyllis was definitely the highlight of the show, and it seemed to be the tune where they got to let off the most steam, hahah. grace potter and the nocturnals started out great... when it was just grace potter singing a sweet gospel/blues type number, acapella, and playing a bit of organ for the first 4 minutes or so... once the nocturnals kicked in, though, it was lights out. i didnt enjoy that band anymore than i would have enjoyed any of the other thousands of bands playing watered down white blues funk. there was no identity there, just a lot of predictability, a lot of cheese, and a lot of things i've already heard a thousand times before. too bad, cuz that lady's got some pipes! i dont think we gave them more than half a dozen songs before we hit the road.

on the 31st, i trekked from plattsburgh up to ottawa for a 3rd straight new years, and for the 2nd time to celebrate it with the burt neilson band. i had a great time at the show, and actually thought it was pretty good overall, 2nd set especially. the first set had a bit of a different feel to it, im not sure if it was the room energy, or what, but the bar didnt feel all that energized, even though i thought the band was playing well. 2nd set was a different story. a total monster, highlighted for me by the No Quarter cover, coming by surprise at the end of holes. the band certainly did their part to change the atmosphere in the 2nd set, coming out with a rage on and not really ever letting up throughout the long set right on through the near 20 minute chevron encore. well done, boys!

the afterparty was a great time, though it seemed to fly right by. always seems to be the way up there: never enough time to spend with everyone you want to. still a great way to ring in the new year, though - im glad i went!

after sleeping the day away on the 1st i made it back to london in record time (5hrs. 5mins!), and basically went back to bed for 2 weeks, waking only to bowl and for the occassional video game.

decompressing, destressing and trying to learn how to relax again. i started the yar unemployed, and not having a store to manage and a dozen people to be responsible for has taken some getting used to... that lack of responsibility... lack of a place to be in the morning.. a bus to catch, etc... it's weird. but i cant say i dont enjoy it. it's my time, and now that im starting to wake up, i think that 2007 is gonna be just fine.

and if last weekend's nero reunion shows were any indication, i think im right. could the year have started any better? more on that later....