Date: November 08, 2008
Venue: Lee’s Palace

33 songs! That was the final tally (as I counted) at the end of The Bicycles CD release show at Lee’s Palace last weekend.

Celebrating the unveiling of their excellent sophomore effort, Oh No, It’s Love, the Toronto band was in vivacious form as they entertained the near capacity crowd. The epic event was dubbed The Last Schmaltz II, as it featured an array of special guests that included $100. Sandro Perri, Hooded Fang, Laura Barrett, Sebastien Grainger, and half of Sloan many others.

Sure, most of The Bicycles songs are pretty short, but that doesn’t detract from nearly 2 hours of tunes. The only breaks came by way of an exercise breakdown and a brief performance by a comedy duo (which is also on the album).  Add to that the fact that opener Young Rival set the tone very high with their excellent set and it was an entertaining affair from start to finish.

Having seen The Bicycles at Sappyfest in the summer I thought I knew what to expect, but nothing could have prepared me for the euphoric and uplifting evening that was The Last Schmaltz. What can I say, if it wasn’t already ridiculously evident, these guys are awesome.

—

Here’s a clip of The Bicycles opening the night with “Won’t She Be Surprised” as filmed for Zunior.tv:

The Bicycles - Won’t She Be Surprised

Hear more at the band’s Myspace page and stay tuned to Zunior.tv for more clips from the show (including songs by both Sandro Perri and Sloan). In the meantime you can grab a copy of Oh No, It’s Love here.