home again

belle and sebastian marquee
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

We're home. Safely.

It was cold in Montreal. Bitterly so. Windy, bone chillingly cold.

I was happy to hear though, that we just being wimpy Ontarians and that they'd been having a relatively mild winter until the past week and a bit or so.

The show last night at the Metropolis in Montreal was terrific. Awesome even, much better than when we saw Belle & Sebastian in New York.

The New Pornographers were great too. They primarily stuck to songs from Twin Cinema, which was fine by me. Unfortunately, there were some sound issues during their set. Mark always jokes that for an opening band, the sound guy keeps the button "that makes you sound good" locked up until the headliner comes on. In all seriousness, it was almost as if, when they first started, the PA was too small for the room and the sound guy was trying to find a balance between what sounded okay and what would be way too loud.

Another thing I noticed about this particular crowd, at least in the part of the club where we stood, was how rude everyone was. I'm not sure if this a typical Montreal thing or just this show but people never shut the hell up. Talk, talk, talk...all through the New Pornographers set. It was actually distracting at times. We also noticed that many of the people there didn't seem to know why they were there in the first place. They seem to have little or no interest in either band (not to mention no familiarity with the music) and rather pranced around a bit, "seeing and being seen." It was odd. On the other hand, there was no smoking in the venue so, I guess if the trade off for not smelling like an ashtray and not being able to breathe was putting up with some chatty kids, that's fair.

The really great thing about the show, that I appreciated, was the punctuality of it all. Belle and Sebastian took the stage around 9:30 p.m., just as scheduled. It was refreshing because I have to tell you, one of the things I dislike about Kingston or Toronto shows is how late they start.

Anyway, they sounded terrific. Everyone in the band seemed really into the show, really happy and genuinely excited to be there. I don't know if this just how they normally are on a tour or if this is a "second day of the tour" euphoria but I for one, appreciated it greatly.

From what I can remember, here is what they played (in no particular order):

The State I am In
Another Sunny Day
Seeing Other People
To Be Myself Completely
The Blues are Still Blue
Piazza, New York Catcher
String Bean Jean
Dog on Wheels
Mayfly
Sukie In The Graveyard
Electronic Renaissance
Funny Little Frog
White Collar Boy
I'm a Cuckoo
Judy And The Dream Of Horses
Your Cover's Blown (YAY!!!)
Jonathan David

I know I've missed a couple but that's what I recall just now. I was really thrilled that they did Your Cover's Blown because I just love that song.



One sort of amusing but really sad thing I overheard last night:

girl standing to my left to her male friend, "is that guy out front, like, the main guy?"

male friend to girl standing to my left, "um, yeah."


I'll write more about the rest of the trip later. Particularly about the flat tire we got on Saint Laurent Boulevard at 11:41 p.m., after the show. For now, I'm just happy to be home!!