Sloan "Twice Removed Tour" 2012 @ Le National

Once upon a time, there was a girl that loved Sloan so much, that she named her first and only cat after them (he turned 15 this summer!).

Once upon a time, there was a girl that loved Sloan so much, that every time she got drunk, she would belt out "Deeper Than Beauty" and "Snow Suit Sound". 

Once upon a time, there was a girl that loved Sloan so much, that she broke up with her fiancée when he didn't "get" them. (For reals.)

Once upon a time, Twice Removed, removed this girl from teenage-dom and catapulted her into adulthood. 

So when this girl heard that Sloan would be playing all of Twice Removed at Le National on November 23rd, she got a little excited (the band never played Sault Ste Marie in ‘94, or I so would've been there). She also felt a little old. Like when her parents would go into the city for dinner and a concert: Bob Dylan sings his greatest hits. She wondered what kind of set would it be. Forty minutes then goodbye? Would it be done in chronological order? Would there be epic Patrick Pentland guitar solos or Andrew Scott drum solos to draw the set out? Curious and curiouser this girl headed into Le National and was confronted by a sea of boys in plaid and girls in stripes.

Now this girl has to be honest with you, she hasn't bought a Sloan album since Navy Blues. She grew up, moved on, found something new. More honesty? She kinda felt they were stuck on that Can-Rock Guess Who sound. But she's always loved those early albums. The sludgy pop of Smeared, the soothing harmolodic sounds of Twice Removed, the jangle balladry of One Chord to Another, and the block rocking riffs of Navy Blues. As well, she really valued the way that all members wrote and sang to create a wide variety in songs and sounds. But most of all she appreciated their clever word play, as evidenced in autobiography...

I'm writing "sharp and adult" 
With my finger on the steam 
On the mirror in my bathroom 
While I'm applying shaving cream 
Which would suggest that I'm the foamer 
But how can I be the lather 
And something tells me 
It's the opposite I'd rather

Sloan got on stage, no intro, just ripping right into "Penpals". Comic nerd fun fact: the lyrics to Penpals can be found in Bryan Lee O'Malley's (of Scott Pilgrim fame) first graphic novel, Lost at Sea. Then onto "I Hate My Generation", "People of the Sky", and so on. 

The show was in chronological order and there was very little patter in between. Just lots of "Thank you!" and "Thanks for sticking with us all these years." This was their final show after doing 42 across the continent and it showed; they seemed a little tired and ready for it all to be over. This girl was surprised by how little they had changed. Chris Murphy had the same hair style; Jay Ferguson, the same jaunty cap, Patrick the same stoic pose, though somehow Andrew Scott seemed dreamier. 

The song that laid a whammy on your girl, was when Patrick sang "Loosens". Never a stand-out track before, it carried a weight and poignancy that your girl failed to notice the billion times she listened to it before. Another thing that surprised was that usually when she went to shows and knew all the words to songs, she'd mouth them but never sing. At this show, your girl sang her heart out and didn't care who heard her off key warbles at all (and since were being totally honest, I also sang along to the guitar parts, played air drums and air guitar too). 

After "Loosens", Chris charmingly pointed out that they were at the halfway point in the album, and that it was time to turn the tape over to side two. Then it was onto "Worried Now", "Shame Shame"... When it came time to play "Deeper Than Beauty", most of the band left the stage to Chris on guitar and Andrew on drums. It was an interesting break because one thing your girl noticed was that the majority of songs were played with a heavier guitar and a louder sound than usual (which I totally loved!!!).

Let see, other cool things that occurred at the show? The extended jam on "Before I Do", the constant switching of players: Andrew out from behind the drums on guitar and singing, "People of the Sky" with Chris on drums. Jay and Chris shared bass duties. Saw a dad grooving along with his 14 year old son next to him and he wasn't the only one. At the front of the stage was a father with his three kids, two boys, one girl, all between the ages of 9-13. Then Patrick whipped out the acoustic guitar to sing "I Can Feel It", he encouraged a sing-along and it was over. Chris announced, "We'll be back, talk amongst yourselves, remember University?" and this girl was ecstatic that there was to be more. 

They came back and started with "Everything You've Done Wrong", then into "Who Taught You to Live Like That?", "Keep on Thinkin'", "Unkind", "Beverly Terrace", "Shadow of Love", "She's Slowing Down Again", "Something's Wrong"," Traces", "Never Hear the End of It", "Fading into Obscurity", "Witches Wand", a super-fast version of "Good in Everyone", "The Other Man", "Take Good Care of the Poor Boy", and ended the show with a mega-rousing rendition of "Money City Maniacs". 

You could tell the band was more interested in playing the second half of the set. Patrick rocked the expletive out, Chris's onstage antics came to the forefront (rad drumstick spins!), Jay was so solid, and we got a bunch more songs sung by Andrew, yum. 

Andrew started a steady beat to begin the encore, which filled out to a furious icky thump, while the rest of the band played "Losing California". Then it was Jay's sweetly symphonic voice on "The Lines You Amend" and finally, the coup de gras, "Underwhelmed". I'm sure it's been said before, to the point that it's cliché, but this girl was completely Overwhelmed (I was so happy I pogo'd all over the place) and the night couldn't have ended on a better note. (Actually it did. I made a new friend, we went and talked to Chris and Jay, and Chris explained that one of the lines in Underwhelmed was, "She rolled her R's, her beautiful Arse." I never knew...)

It was an evening of surprise, revelation, affirmation, and excitement from a band I had written off almost 12 years ago. I was wrong. Sloan. Blew. Me. Away. They're 20 years into it with no signs of slowing down and I'm having a lot of fun catching up.