I was intensely excited to see Japandroids, because their song The House that Heaven Built was my very favorite song of last year. Once again, we delve into Brandon's fave genre of Canadian indie rock, and I put emphasis on the rock part. Their music never fails to get me hyped up, so I was looking very forward to a good old fashioned throw down with these guys. As an added bonus, Brandon also very much enjoys the opener, Cloud Nothings, who also seem to specialize in straightforward, fist pumping fun.
The Glasshouse is a great little venue, very close to the Fox Theater, and we have seen some very memorable shows there (Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Metric, just to name a few). However, the advertised door/show times usually seem to have no bearing on the actual set times. We often arrive close to show time only to see a handwritten sign in the window saying that the openers wouldn't be going on for another couple hours. So, we just hang out in the car and then make our way over after a nice nap or something. This time I was forward thinking and thought maybe we could call ahead and find out what the deal was for the night. Worked great.
There is a small balcony where we usually like to stand - back in the day it was sort of unfinished and would always be INSANELY hot, so we have some fond memories of finding a tiny square directly under a vent up there and huddling together to cool off during a show. Those days seem to be over, as they have slowly been remodeling that area and it's a much nicer spot now. There used to just be small cutouts in the wall through which to view the stage, but now that whole wall has been completely cut in half so it's very comfortable and unobstructed. The A/C didn't kick in for a while though, so we had some brief flashbacks to those hot nights of the past.
When Cloud Nothings took the stage, they didn't say much and just ripped into their guitar fueled set with an energy that didn't really match their laid back style. I wasn't too into it because I am one of those superficial people who prefers her music with lyrics, and for the most part they just waled away on their instruments. When they played the one song of theirs that I did know, Stay Useless, I enjoyed it very much and so did the crowd, but otherwise they didn't really thrill me too much. Brandon felt that they seemed to shed their album persona for a more neo-Nirvana-like attitude, perhaps feeling the pressure to keep up with the Japandroids' raucous reputation.
As I mentioned, the set times were actually more than accurate this time, and the polite lil Canadians of Japandroids very sweetly came out a few minutes earlier than posted, introducing themselves to us and chatting us up a bit before proceeding to melt our faces off.
These two adorable boys pulled the same sideways drum layout as Joy Formidable (is this a new thing? because I LOVE it) so we had a wonderful view of both of them. They also were able to really interact with each other, which I would think is important for a rock duo, and they seemed to be have such a great connection.
Although they mentioned several times how beat they were after Coachella, they turned in a solid performance and were ready to "leave it all on the stage" since it was the last show of their current run. We did think they wanted a bit more enthusiasm from the crowd, which was definitely rocking out but come on - it was a Monday night. Many present probably had rough weekends, and as Brandon pointed out, that probably included attending Coachella themselves. It was a valiant effort.
Before launching into their "big hit" (air quotes by the lead singer), the aforementioned The House that Heaven Built, they explained that they have made ONE video, and it's for that song, and it demonstrates how the crowds normally react when they play that song - which is to say they go apeshit. I don't think the people in attendance that night exactly lived up to that expectation, but I for one was extremely excited to hear it.
Obviously it took me a week to get this blog post finished because we are seriously tired from such busy weeks recently. This week we're taking it easy with just one show on Thursday, and it's close to home! Whew.
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