The Academy Is.. at The Guvernment - more photos...
photo by clint gilders - staff photographer |
by clint gilders - clubkingsnake staff
The Academy Is...
The Guvernment (Toronto, Ontario)
November 9,2007
Also:
Sherwood and
The Rocket Summer
"Girls...Girls...Girls...." comes to mind as I drive by the Guvernment looking for a parking spot. Hundreds of girls in the rain, lined up around the block, waiting for the doors to open. What are they waiting for? The latest crop of teen idols of course.
Cobra Starship and Armor For Sleep were to be among the opening acts, but it appears that Cobra Starship had some issues crossing the border into Canada. Armor For Sleep's story is more tragic. While driving to the show their trailer decided to separate from the bus and careen across the highway destroying most of their gear. Directly behind them was The Academy Is.. whose bass player witnessed the accident. Amazingly no one was hurt. Armor For Sleep aptly put it:
because we dont have this stuff today we had to cancel the toronto show...but its only that...stuff. We are all soooo unbelievably happy that the only thing mangled in this whole disaster was stuff not dudes.
Sherwood at The Guvernment - more photos...
photo by clint gilders - staff photographer |
The show must go on...... with three bands remaining the start was delayed a little but the girls got what they came for. Yes there were boys/men in attendance, but standing in the nearly vacant 19+ (drinking age in Ontario) balcony before the show I guessed that for every 30-40 females there was maybe one guy.
Starting the night was sunny California power-poppers Sherwood. Upbeat heavy rock that got the night off to a good start. I dig their
keyboard player, and would be willing to bet that he was separated-at-birth from
Tokyo Police Club's Graham Wright. Both his look and his tambourine acrobatics bring to mind TPC's Graham.
It's just as the Sherwood set ends that some of the younger/smaller girls rethink their position near the front of the stage and begin begging for help from security. Even before Sherwood began, the audience had started to push forward and to sway side to side like a single entity. Now the security in behind the barrier is working double time pulling tired sweaty fans from the crowd. I hear several sent on their way with the admonishon "don't go back in!".
Next on the stage was Bryce Avery's brand of blue eyed soul. I had caught The Rocket Summer at the
Van's Warped Tour and though his set seemed a little out of place among the screamo and metal, and his piano quit working he had a good crowd and I liked it. The Rocket Summer also did a great job at The Guvernment, and Bryce is a cat to watch in the coming years.
The Rocket Summer at The Guvernment - more photos...
photo by clint gilders - staff photographer |
The Academy Is... were the surprise of the night for me. While on CD they play power pop not a lot different from other bands, their live show pays homage to the swagger of The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Guns 'n' Roses. Classic instruments, chunky guitar tones, rock posing and a great frontman.
Sadly it was during their set that someone near the front of the crowd decided it would would be fun to launch the crowd surfers up over the barrier where the security wasn't initially prepared to catch flying teenagers. Guitarist Mike Carden took offense at this and berated several of the security personal. A very Rock 'n' Roll moment for the band, the crowd and the little girls who became projectiles. Musically the highlight of the set came toward the end. "Neighbors" from
Santi and "Checkmarks" off of
Almost Here were aptly chosen to finish off the set.
