I spent my whole night at the Great Hall at NXNE.
It was one of the most talked about shows since it was the Weird Canada/Flemish Eye showcase.
There were two three acts that I was excited to see.
One I wasn’t familiar and the other I saw the night before.
All I can say that this showcase had it’s ups and downs.
The first act was Halifax’s Duzheknew.
I haven’t seen this band live in awhile.
This was the only time I could see them since they couldn’t be able to play a show in Ottawa.
They were amazing live with their indie garage pop rock Halifax sound.
It was nice to see some members of Braids rock out to their music.
Nice that Adam gave a shout out to me (embarrassing myself).
Wish they come to Ottawa for a show.
Next was Jennifer Castle.
To be honest, I wasn’t really liking this set.
With all the buzz she has been getting, it wasn’t what I would expect from her music.
I thought she be more like Chad VanGaalen. It was more of a folk-country sound.
Being at the brink of exhaustion didn’t help at all since I was standing and almost falling asleep.
She wasn’t great to photograph since she had her eyes closed during the whole set.
She had a band backing her up and didn’t know that one of them plays in One Hundred Dollar.
At least she had a good fanbase, but it wasn’t my liking.
Next was Braids, who I saw the night before.
All I can that it wasn’t their strongest set.
Found out that Rapheal the lead singer of Braids had food poisoning from a BBQ they went. (Take note when attending BBQs now at Festivals!)
Five minutes before getting ready she wasn’t feeling but she held it up and did a good job.
It seemed from their set they played the songs that everyone was familiar.
They started out with Lemonade, Plath Heart, Glass Deers and three new songs.
Still a great set despite Raph’s food poison.
Before Chad’s set, the people of Weird Canada and Flemish Eye came on stage to show off the trophy for CBC Radio 3’s Searchlight contest for the “Best Canadian Website”.
Congrats to them!!
Chad VanGaalen was up after Braids.
I haven’t seen him play in about two years since the release of Soft Airplane in 2008.
Now with the new album Diaper Island.
I was kind of excited to hear them live.
I was happy to hear Do Not Fear and Peace On The Rise.
Amazing to hear Sara live.
The only downside to the set was that Chad’s “custom” made guitar kept crapping out on him.
The majority of the set was all Diaper Island.
I think he sang one old one which was Bones of Man.
It was a great set but during times it was getting hazy for me since I was getting abit tired.
Sad he didn’t play Willow Tree or Shave My Pussy.
Lastly it was Grimes.
Man I was blown away with that set.
Her music was filled with dancey, dream pop sounds.
It was like being on something without taking it.
All she had was some equipment on the table and she had Daniel (ex-Spiral Beach) play drums for the first time.
Looked like alot stayed after Chad ended and surely people who were there had an awesome time.
It was my favorite set despite being really tired and exhausted during the 1am time.
If she hadn’t been on then this whole showcase would have been a disaster.
After the show I saw alot of bands/musicians attending this showcase.
From the likes of Evening Hymns, Timber Timbre (AHHHHH!), Armen, The Darcys and many more.
Here are the rest of the photos
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