For The Tunes: A Daily Music Blog: June 2013

This past Tuesday, I saw Japandroids at the Metro in Chicago. Japandroids put out my second favorite album of 2012 (the excellent Celebration Rock), and I had seen them once before, albeit for a short set, at Pitchfork 2012. I had never been to the Metro before, but this show was the perfect introduction to the venue. My friend and I ended up in the first row, which gave us an amazing vantage point for the show. Opening for Japandroids was a band from California called Crocodiles. I had only heard one song by them before this show and wasn't too keen on it, so I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when I liked every song that they played. Granted, I couldn't hear the singer too well because we were standing right in front of the bass amp, but when I could, I really liked his voice. Their lead guitarist was very skilled and overall the band sounded great. They did a great job of getting the crowd ready for Japandroids. I will definitely be checking out their albums and would see them again as well, although I'd hope for slightly better positioning.

After some last minute tuning by none other than the band themselves, it was time for everybody's favorite Canadian musical duo (sorry Chromeo, I love you guys, but not as much as Japandroids). Brian King and David Prouse took the stage to lots of applause and from the way the crowd reacted, it was easy to tell that this was going to be a great show. Before beginning with "Adrenaline Nightshift," King addressed the crowd and said that after a year and a half of virtually nonstop touring (including at least 4 shows in Chicago alone since their new album was released in June of last year), this would be their last go around for a while and tonight everybody should behave as if there were no rules. The crowd then proceeded to get rowdy, which was typical of a Japandroids concert as well as awesome. Before playing "Fire's Highway," their second song (and one of my favorites), they told the crowd that their first song was usually a warmup song and proceeded to go to a whole other level of playing extremely energetic. The crowd loved it and there were many people there who knew every word to every song, which made it an even better atmosphere. The setlist was composed of every song off of Celebration Rock and a number off of their debut, Post-Nothing. They even threw in a song off an early 7" called Art Czars, which I hadn't heard before but liked a lot. As I was not in front of any amp for Japandroids, I could hear a lot better and King and Prowse sounded excellent. The guitars and drums were loud, but the audience could still hear the singing, which both of them do. Japandroids kept the energy up throughout the entire show. They slowed it down only once, and that was for "Continuous Thunder," which is much slower than any of their other songs. The closed the show with "For the Love of Ivy," which, while on Celebration Rock, is a cover of The Gun Club. The original song is quite good, as is Japandroids' version. However, the live version was something else. They played an extended version with a little snippet of "Enter Sandman" built in. Everything was perfect for this song as a closer. King and Prowse were giving it everything that they had and the crowd was going absolutely insane (I was basically getting crushed against the stage but loved every second of it). It was a great way to end an absolutely stellar concert. Highlights from the show (I'm tempted to say the entire show here, but I'll restrain myself) were "The House that Heaven Built," "Fire's Highway," "For the Love of Ivy," and "Wet Hair."

If you like rock shows, please go do yourself a favor and see Japandroids in any setting, indoor or outdoor. You will not be disappointed, I promise. I plan on seeing them every time they play near me and cannot wait for their next album.