Born Ruffians are a young folk-rock three piece from Toronto, Canada. Despite their ragamuffin name, though, they actually came across as being quite an earnest and polite young band last night. Mixing easily between their 2006 EP (well worth a listen) and their debut full-length release Red, Yellow & Blue (getting there on it), the band showed a strong familiarity with their material and a nice ability to segue smoothlessly from one song to another. Until they cottoned onto how it worked, though, this was barely giving the audience a chance to applaud!
The show opened with numbers like a drum-heavy version of Red Yellow & Blue, the yelpy Hedonistic Me, and a fine rendition of This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life. At the same time, while the songs were pretty strong in themselves, the performance itself was so far lacking that additional bit of kick that would make it sufficiently memorable the next morning.
Fortunately, just as how a late goal can dramatically bring a decent-but-scoreless stalemate to life, the band were able to close out on a solid bunch of songs beginning with Little Garcon and Kurt Vonnegut. However, it was the superb and lengthy guitar intro to Hummingbird that really stole the show. Quite where it came from, I am not sure. Nonetheless, it showed that this band certainly can work up through the gears when it wants to. They carried this newly-discovered energy then into I Need a Life, which seems like a definite crowd-pleaser in the making!
Perhaps I may never see the likeness again, but there was something last night about the way that Luke Lalonde sang that reminded me a lot of Andrew Bird. I think that it was the manner in which he closed his eyes and tilted his head to one side of the microphone. On the other hand, he never quite broke into a spot of whistling either!
By way of a few words on the main act Caribou, I was only so-so on this performance. I like last year’s album Andorra well enough, but there is little comparison between the record and the live show. The latter is dominated by two drum kits at the front of the stage, with the supporting guitarists at the back. The mix is all about the percussion, with Daniel Snaith’s vocals barely audible over the thumping sound. Normally, the rare chance to see live twin percussion is quite exciting (e.g. when the superlative Miracle Fortress visited last year or when Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds were here a fortnight ago). However, I found it really difficult to get into this performance last night. Moreover, the retro trippy visuals were doing nothing for me.
On the other hand, a good portion of the crowd seemed to be having fun! So, in the interest of balance, perhaps another reveller might like to leave an alternative review in the comments below?
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Andrew Bird, Born Ruffians, Caribou, Miracle Fortress
