The poop from Pop

Once again, big props to the organizers and volunteers of Pop Montreal, who made this year’s festival completely, uh, exhausting. Jotted down some notes on some of the shows I saw, so dig it.

Day One: Went to the first night of the Weird Punk series at Divan Orange, which easily lived up to its moniker. Showed up just before the allotted time to see Sic Alps, but the Bay-area duo had already packed up by the time I got there. Ended up, Blues Control and Pink Reason didn’t bother showing up, so Sic Alps went on early and played one and a half songs before the guitarist had a hissy fit and attempted to smash his guitar with a mic stand, missing the instrument altogether, putting a huge hole in the Divan Orange stage and breaking his own foot with his cross-eyed aim. Despite all of the doom and gloom in the room brought on by Sic Alps’ rock-star theatrics, Psychedelic Horseshit managed to plaster a grin on the bemused audience’s faces with an extra-long set that was, uh, just fine.

THE PINNACLE AT POP:
Nick Cave

Day Two: Another weird one here as the local opener for Nick Cave, Tam, tried the patience of the sold-out Metropolis crowd before ending with a piss-poor version of “Anarchy in the U.K.” She inadvertently reviewed her own show when she proclaimed, “Opening for Nick Cave is supposed to be the pinnacle, but I’m just fucking bored,” over the squelch of her guitar feedback. Eeyowza! Well, at least she gave ’em something to talk about. For audio of her version of “Anarchy” and her final baiting of the crowd before the torrential downpour of boos and jeers, go here: www.trendwhore.ca/?p=393. Nick Cave, on the other hand, pushed it to the hilt. Before the first song had even concluded, he was drenched in more sweat than Barry White on a tanning bed. Cave had the audience in the palm of his hand, stalking the stage while leading raved-up versions of “Tupelo,” “Red Right Hand,” “The Mercy Seat” and a killer version of “Deanna.” He took on double singing duty on the former duet “The Weeping Song” and absolutely killed it with a heart-stopping version of “God Is in the House.”

Day Three: Made it to the third night of Weird Punk to catch Career Suicide literally scaring the shit out of hipsters still lingering after Japanther’s set. Pure pandemonium with expert execution made this my second favourite show of Pop (Cave took the cake here). Brutal Knights followed and apologized for being “normal punk” before unleashing a blitzkrieg that was dumber than a bag of hammers—perfect. Sadly, most of the punks left and missed out on An Albatross, who were amazing as always.

Day Four: Due to fucked-up set times, I won’t even mention my shit sandwich of a metal night here.

Day Five: Wire = tired and uninspired. With an exception to “12XU,” “Pink Flag” and “Lowdown” tossed in at the tail end, it was a case of too little, too late for these legends.

NOT DOWN HERE FOR YOUR LOVE…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM