Date: Nov. 16, 2007
Venue: The Mod Club

Damn you early Mod Club shows!

Thinking that doors at 8pm meant that I had plenty of time, I stopped for a burger and completely missed the Wooden Stars (turns out the Mod Club likes to get things over with early so they can go ahead with their weekend club nights afterwards…). The fact that I’d seen them at the Horseshoe a few months back lessened the blow slightly, but they are a fantastic band to see live with an excellent catalogue—including their triumphant 2007 release, People Are Different. Needless to say, the Wooden Stars are on my hit list next time around (even more so than they would be already).

As for Wintersleep, they delivered a solid hour and a quarter set that left most people in the crowd salivating (especially those even more out of the loop than mysef, who happened to walk in with only a few songs left). Of course, having seen them at the Horseshoe last month, I’ve come to expect nothing less than a stellar performance from the Halifax giants, and I was not disappointed in the least.

This time out they delved into their back catalogue a little more, but the set was still largely focused on their fantastic new record, Welcome to the Night Sky (reviewed here), an album I expect will be gracing many a 2007 best-of list by year’s end.

Beginning with the tone setting crescendo of “Archeaologists,” the band wasted no time delivering their more popular numbers, with both fan-favourite “Jaws of Life” and their latest single, “Weighty Ghost,” captivating the crowd mid-set. While this might have been a risky move for a lesser act, Wintersleep have more than a few crowd-pleasers up their t-shirt sleeves and the momentum didn’t suffer a bit as the band powered through the high energy event looking as though they were having as much fun as the amicable and awe-struck audience.

As always, Paul Murphy’s stage presence and self-deprecating banter was a pleasure to behold, and he did most of the talking for the band (aside from a few thank yous dropped here and there), leaving girls near me to swoon for the soft spoken and bashfully cool front man as he defended himself against accusations that he was shy. That said, it was definitely when fully absorbed in delivering raucous renditions of jam-laden tracks like “Miasmal Smoke & the Yellow Bellied Freaks” that Wintersleep was truly at their finest. Of course, not a moment comes to mind when there was remotely anything to complain about in the first place.

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As usual, here are a few pictures of Wintersleep that I took at the show:

Wintersleep: Homepage, Myspace

The Wooden Stars: Homepage, Myspace

Digital copies of albums by both excellent bands can be procured from Zunior.