The Stills

Last night, a small group of us journalism students went to see Broken Social Scene guitarist Jason Collett and Montreal art-rock band The Stills play a little pub downtown named Call the Office.

It was a pretty good evening - Jason Collett's got this Tom Petty/Don Henley thing going on, plus he wears an awesome fedora. ("Ten bucks for the hat!" I shouted at one point, but I don't think he heard.) The Stills were more confident than the last time I saw them, opening for BSS at Louis' back in the City of Bridges - which makes sense as they're now the headliners. Kicking off with "Lola Stars and Stripes," the opener from their full-length Logic Will Break Your Heart, they had the crowd going in one of those cheesy guitar-laden sing-alongs ("Looooollllllaaaa! Loooooollllaaaa!") before pulling out some wicked and completely unexpected four-on-the-floor disco beats for the last chorus. "Angels and Insects" showed off the band's more ambient side, expunging the discordant guitar stabs of the album version in favor of droning bass and swirling keyboards. And first single as well as show-closer "Still In Love Song" simply rocked, during which lead singer Tim Fletcher encouraged everyone to "Do the Turtle!" and then seconds later clarified, "I don't know what that is either!"

Oh, as an amusing side note - having lost my photo ID sometime last week, the show's bouncer had to mark the backs of my hands with monstrous black 'x's, using those old-school toxic markers that have been scientifically proven to cause children to be born with three eyes and motor neuron disorders. So no demon drink for me that evening - but on the other hand, the fumes were mildly hallucinogenic. (Getting wasted "Winnipeg-style," quipped my Manitoban friend and sometimes-Exclaim! writer Rob.)

No hangover, plus no tinnitus (being the cranky old fart that I'm swiftly becoming I wore neon orange earplugs), equals a surprisingly decent night out on the town in L-dot. I give The Stills w/ Jason Collett 8.5 dancing turtles out of 10.

Now, a forty-eight hour hibernation as it's homecoming weekend. I'll leave my basement when the city returns to what passes around here for normal.

-T.