The Automatik

Sam Roberts/Sloan
Olympic Island-Toronto, Ontario, Canada
August 7, 2004
Also featuring: Death From Above 1979, The Arcade Fire, Buck 65, Broken Social Scene, Constantines, Pilate, and The Stills

Finally, a real Sloan show. In Canada.

The ferry to Olympic (née Centre) Island was packed with hipsters and quasi-hippies, but we didn’t care. We were going to see Sam Roberts and The Mighty Sloan. Thankfully, the weather was great: overcast, but no rain and not too hot.

When Shaun and I first arrived, Broken Social Scene was already about halfway through their set, which was a real shame, as I thoroughly enjoyed the songs I heard. There was much hoo-hah about security, but the guards barely checked anyone’s backpacks. If we’d known that, we would have definitely brought our own food in. Ah well.

As we approached the stage, a giant brown dog (pit bull?) broke from his owner’s leash and was running around sniffing all the guests sitting on blankets in the grass as well as their food. Shaun, ever the hero, got the dog’s attention and held his collar, dragging him back to his grateful owner. In the process, Shaun also lost one of the two unopened water bottles we were allotted to bring on the island, but it was worth it to save the cute doggie.

We watched a bit of the Constantines’ set and then I spied Sam Roberts talking to a throng of disciples, intensely resembling a good-looking, hip Jesus. A bit later, we saw Jay Ferguson talking to some girls. Shaun tried to insist that we go speak with him, but I was terrified I’d say something stupid. Finally, I agreed, but only if Shaun spoke first and didn’t let me put my foot in my mouth. We approached and Shaun said something about seeing Jay at a Meligrove Band show (I told you that man has good taste!) and I said that I’d seen Jay in New Orleans the previous month. He seemed genuinely surprised by this and asked me to remind him again of my name. (Later, I kicked myself for being too nervous to mention that I was the gal wearing the Flashing Lights t-shirt. Duh.) He had a bunch of plastic flowers in his hand that turned out to be some leis given to him by fans. I laughed and said that at first I thought it was a corsage, and he laughed, too, and mimed wearing one rather adorably. He shook our hands and apologized that he had to go after someone interrupted our conversation.

Shaun and I went back to stand near the stage and watch more of the Constantines, but then figured we should probably get some food before the crowd got so thick that we’d be unable to get close to the stage for the later bands. Although the pizza was $4 a slice, they were big slices and it was Pizza Pizza, not some gross generic slop in a foil envelope. As we sat in the grass and ate and tried to ignore the guys playing hacky sack nearby, who should wander along on the nearby sidewalk but Chris Murphy and a mini-entourage? True to form, Chris started laughing and doing some air guitar as he approached the band tent. Does he ever stop?

Pilate was next up on stage and they were okay. They sounded a lot like Coldplay and were talented (particularly the lead singer, who had a great voice), but every song was in the same tempo, SLOW (except for one). Not that every band needs to rock 100% of the time, but at least 50% would be nice.

The Stills came out right as the clouds were clearing. Their intro music was Metallica—either “Orion” or “The Call of Ktulu;” it’s been a while since I heard either—but no one seemed to be nearly as impressed by that as I was. It was a good set. They have a cool post-New Wave/early U2 sound that I like a lot. The drummer from Broken Social Scene did drum duty on a couple of songs and the Stills drummer made the announcement that the two of them had recently become engaged and thus were sharing drumming “and other” duties now. It was quite cute. Also cute was Jay taking pictures from the sidelines with his tongue sticking out in concentration.

The crowd was getting uncomfortably dense now in anticipation of Sam Roberts. At least we had some great music to distract us: vintage Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire, “Brick House,” Stevie Wonder, The Bee Gees. Then the Sam Roberts band came on stage. From the first opening notes of “Taj Mahal,” I knew it would be a phenomenal show. And it was. He did most of the tracks from We Were Born in a Flame, a few songs that I think were older, and a Hawkwind cover which he tried to get the crowd excited about, but considering most of the girls in the front were tweens, it didn’t work.

But I digress. The man knows how to work a crowd. His voice and unstoppable charisma are astonishing live and his band is undeniably talented. I couldn’t stop smiling, and sang and clapped along (as well as I could considering my chin was practically on the shoulder of the girl in front of me) and seriously expected to see maple leaf panties flying onto the stage at any moment. Even though I’m not a Canadian, his sincere nationalistic pride made me wish that I were one.

About halfway through, a Shover/Stander combo pushed their way in front of us, being sure to fling their backstage passes around like they were cops at a crime scene. Everyone around us was thoroughly annoyed and I told a guy nearby that he could feel free to kick the taller girl if he wanted. “Oh no, that’s my friend,” he smiled, seemingly clueless as to why I was furious. “Well, she’s rude and she’s blocking my view,” I huffed. Shover/Stander proceeded to talk the entire time. Sigh.

After Sam’s blistering set, I wondered seriously if Sloan would be able to follow up. Shover/Stander and some of the other annoying people left and Shaun and I were able to get much closer to the stage. It was getting dark now. The Sam Roberts stage banner was replaced by Sloan’s neon lights and a smoke machine (who was on dry ice duty?). Andrew’s extremely fine blue drum kit was brought out. The Sloan chant started and stopped, started and stopped.

Then, Sloan was there and they were taking over, Jay and Chris both in jean jackets (and Chris with a surprisingly logo-free t-shirt), Andrew in his “Texas Suit,” and Patrick clad in his all-black “uniform.” They started with “Underwhelmed” which was an unexpected treat. I can’t recall the set list in order, but here’s what they played:

• People of the Sky
• Sensory Deprivation
• Coax Me—during this a Conga Line came out and Chris’s bum got squeezed by one of the members
• 500 Up—one of the guys from Broken Social Scene came out and tried to sing Andrew’s part and failed miserably. To make up for it, as he left, he kissed a surprised Chris Murphy on the mouth.
• Take It In—Chris dedicated this to “all [his] New York girlfriends.” I thought I’d died and gone to heaven hearing this live. Even though Chris forgot a couple of lines, it was still amazing.
• False Alarm
• Losing California
• Pen Pals
• The Lines You Amend
• Everything You’ve Done Wrong
• The Good in Everyone
• The Rest of My Life
• Ready For You
• Live On
• Money City Maniacs

Chris lost his glasses so many times that he just ended up performing without them. There were too many scissor kicks to count, but other than Chris’s half-failed full mic stand lick and subsequent cracking up, there was surprisingly little jackassing on his part (although he made up for it later on). We were encouraged to sing along to any and every song that we wanted to and frequently the band took a back stage to our collective vocal talents. Towards the end of the set, Chris sauntered behind Patrick and slapped his ass. Shaun had to fill me in, because unfortunately, someone’s head blocked my view of that gossip-worthy spectacle. Damn it all to hell. After “Money City Maniacs,” they said goodbye and goodnight, but we knew there would be more. The encore was “The Other Man” and “If It Feels Good, Do It,” both of which were superb.

It was one of the most entertaining shows I’ve ever seen. Shaun and I kept turning to each other and smiling and hugging, trying not to cry with joy that we were seeing Sloan perform such a spectacular show together and in Canada. We had to give it up for Jay for putting together a wonderful night. And as Chris pointed out, there was no crowd surfing! Could you ask for more?

On the way out, we heard The Super Friendz’ Love Energy album which put a huge smile on my face. Our feet were killing us and we were exhausted, but we were so giggling, giddy, and delirious that it didn’t matter. Thank you Sloan!