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New Deal New Year's Eve


zimmerman

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What can I tell you?

First off, I was really excited to see a band like the New Deal for New year's Eve, mostly because the event took place in my home town, which definitely has a supreme level of convenience to it. However the night turned out to be more than I expected! shocked.gif" border="0

The venue was the Guvernment. Now I haven't been there in a long time, but it's definitely not the same place I remembered it to be where back in the day I used to see bands like Primus, Fugazi and Slayer rip shit up. The Guvernment was a breeding ground for Le Chateau Mannequins, which really tweaked me out at times to the point I wanted to rip off all my clothes and explode on the dance floor. mad.gif" border="0

Also, the music the DJ's were pounding in our ears was most deafening! There was no chance in hell anyone could partake in an intelligent conversation (then again tripping off fungi hampers that too). Within the entire venue there was no escaping the insanity. I would of done anything for a pair of headphones and a copy of Workingman's Dead during the DJ romp.

Yet the New Deal turned everything around. About 15 minutes before midnight the band took the stage and all I remember was going through one sick climax after another. It was NUTS; the band just kept on dropping these sick tension and release bombs to no end that just kept everyone dancing in phull phorce. grin.gif" border="0 Another highlight were the lights, especially the laser beams that swept through the crowd as if I was at a Floyd show. cool.gif" border="0

Overall it was a strange night indeed! The music was awesome, but everything else felt like I took a quantum leap to the biblical dayz of Sodom and Gomorrah. wink.gif" border="0

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First of all it's sad to see that some of you had a bad time getting in to the complex. There was a lot of talk inside about the problems in lines, but I think we lucked out. As the four of us were walking down Queens Quay to the back line at the Guvernment a door swung open and a nice security guard let us in with no search or anything.It was actually one of the easiest entrances to anywhere I have been in Toronto. We actually had more security checking into the hotel.....

Having fully planned on heading out East for nero/ GTB, we were unsure of our plans until Saturday and booked both the hotel (a really cheap deal at the Westin Harbor within walking distance) and tickets two days before New years.

The venue was exactly as we had expected, full of New years partyers- not exactly your typical head crowd. But with access to the entire eight or nine rooms, we felt like we had enough moving space and scenery to keep the night interesting. I am not exactly the worlds biggest electronic music fan, but it was NYE and I was ready to "surrender to the flow". Admittedly, there was a large contingent of bar stars, out as though it were EC on a Friday night. We had gladly paid our $50 to see the New Deal, and then we happened to gain entry to a hell of a party at the same time.

I think the coolest thing about the New Deal's sets was their jamming off of the dj that was spinning as they took the stage. Very nice touch.

Both sets were fantastic music. I have seen the New Deal before but they had yet to grab me the way they did the other night. They use a lot more of a textured approach to their music than some of their earlier shows. The second set seemed to demonstrate their abilities as a band moreso than their abililty to play the dj role. Both the bass and keys seem to have a lot of new effects attached to them and provided for some fresh sounds.

Of course a setlist is impossible but I do remember an 80's cover teased (possibly Funkytown?) in their and I think I imagined a Beatles tease......

All in all a wonderful night with some really good friends. We were up for the electronic thing which may have caught some off guard.

Peace in 2002,

Sean

ps. I also noticed a lot of video equipment being used by stage hands during both sets so look out on the website for some video footage.

smile.gif" border="0

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quote:

Originally posted by CyberHippie:

We took off... MarcO and some friends remained who can tell the rest of the story, more lining up, more pushing etc...
mad.gif" border="0

STUPIDEST NEW YEAR's EVER!

Fucking Guvernment Club with their fucking stupid bouncers and their stupid fucking ticket windows that you couldn't squeeze a fucking baby midget squirrel through and the fucking line-ups and 9 fucking rooms of music my ass - only if you can float through walls - and huge fucking stupid smelly beefheads working security and standing there for two fucking hours with my coat in my hands because the Kool Haus coat check was fucking full so we have to use the Guvernmnet coat check but we can't because we can't physically get to the freakin Guvernment and my girlfriend crying and Trevor and Tara (and eventually Brian) just leaving - don't blame 'em -and everybody in the crowd just being generally fucking stupid.

But it was nice to see you, Sean!

Wishing I had done BNB NYE,

MarcO.

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quote:

Originally posted by MarcO:

STUPIDEST NEW YEAR's EVER!

Fucking Guvernment Club with their fucking stupid bouncers and their stupid fucking ticket windows that you couldn't squeeze a fucking baby midget squirrel through and the fucking line-ups and 9 fucking rooms of music my ass - only if you can float through walls - and huge fucking stupid smelly beefheads working security and standing there for two fucking hours with my coat in my hands because the Kool Haus coat check was fucking full so we have to use the Guvernmnet coat check but we can't because we can't physically get to the freakin Guvernment and my girlfriend crying and Trevor and Tara (and eventually Brian) just leaving - don't blame 'em -and everybody in the crowd just being generally fucking stupid.

But it was nice to see you, Sean!

Wishing I had done BNB NYE,

MarcO.

I may be an idealist, but it might be an idea to write letters to the people who run the Guvernment and/or Warehouse (and maybe copy the LLBO and any Toronto Tourist Association you can find, and list the CCs on each letter, so the Guv. and Warehouse people know you're letting the PTBs know) about your experience. If the coat check overflowed, somebody at the club misplanned; if you were having trouble getting into/out-of/between rooms, the whole venue sounds too crowded (and maybe dangerous). The bottom line is that you paid them to provide the background for a fun night, and they didn't come through.

If you're going to write a letter, follow the usual complaint rules: be direct and precise, don't swear, have specific complaints, and let 'em know that you don't feel confident/comfortable coming back to the venue(s) in the future unless the problems get fixed. The more people who write letters, the better.

Aloha,

Brad

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You are one of the lucky ones!!

First when we got there we had to line up in a pushing crowd outside the warehouse, because our tickets had not been mailed to us and we had to find whoever had the 'list'. The first window we got to was a bust, we had to work our way to another one. It's been so long since I've been to a club I forget how many idiots go to those places and how they love to push... About an hour later we were finally entering the warehouse.

Coat check full... Ok now we must make our way to the guvernment, a little new deal will make this whole situation a little happier...

Guvernemnt entrance looking extremely bleak. They are not letting anyone in... Spent our new years standing in a heavily crowded line for the guvernment. At about 12:20 (about two hours after we first arrived at the complex) my wife and I gave up hope and decided that every extra second we spend in this evil place would sour our memory of the evening even more. We took off... MarcO and some friends remained who can tell the rest of the story, more lining up, more pushing etc...

Many expensive lessons learned that night!

mad.gif" border="0

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Wow, that sounds horrible. Yes, having to deal with the hip-hop / raver crowd in Tdot was one of the main reasons I went to BNB for NYE. True, we had to wait in line for a whole 5 minutes and the ticket prices a whopping $20, combined with the "All-Good" vibes from the crowd, venue, and band made for an excellent time all together. They played until almost 4am, so basically it cost about $4 per hour of entertainment.

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Thought some of you may be interested in hearing the band's perspective on this night. From Dan Kurtz, bassist, to their newsgroup:

Hi Folks...

After a couple of days of recovery and reflection, I thought I might add a

few comments, most likely on behalf of the whole band, about the NYE show.

Firstly, I do want to apologize on behalf of the Guvernment (a

representative of which I doubt will be gracing anyone with an apology) for

wanting to make the most of the night at the expense of the dozens of

now-unhappy people on and off this list. The impact of overcrowding was

felt by not only the many who have written to this list, but also by us (who

had to have a surreal Beatle-esque "security escort" to and from the stage)

and our closest friends and loved ones to whom we tried, in vain, to offer a

bit of VIP treatment over the course of the evening. We have forwarded

every single email we've received about the unpleasantries of the evening,

as well as our own complaint, to the people who run the club.

However, there is a bit of a triumph to be felt in the air, both by us and I

think by the majority of our fans, as a result of noting that the response

to a live band playing in one of the biggest dance-music strongholds in

Toronto was not foreseen by the Guvernment. We were moved from the Koolhaus

to the Guvernment room because the club wasn't sure that a band could be the

main attraction that night. And though it's true that a lot of live bands

play at the Guvernment complex, I don't think there's been anything other

than djs playing there on NYE for quite a few years. The Koolhaus/Guvernent

party was the biggest in Toronto that night; the most rocking party was in

the Guvernment room (vs. The Koolhaus, or wherever else in the complex)--

live music actually was at the centre of where most of the people wanted to

be. I know that at least I felt, while we were playing, that a lot of

people (especially the phalanx of shirtless groovy dancers behind the stage)

got turned on to live music in a way that they had not experienced in a long

time, if ever.

So I kind of feel that a really great thing happened at the Guvernment,

albeit it at the expense of a lot of people's comfort, and certainly at the

expense of a lot of tND fans' expectations of the night. For that, again,

we do feel badly.

Nevertheless, it appears that if there's any night of the year where

overcrowding, shitty bouncers and high ticket prices are going to set the

tone, it would definitely be NYE. Across Toronto, this was no doubt the

case wherever there were too many people wanting to get in to too small a

place, and from some reports of other shows that I've read on this list,

this phenomenon was not limited to either our show, or indeed our fair city

of Toronto.

From a technical point of view, I feel that we found a great room to play

in, where the sound was unbelieveable, the lights surreal, and (when we

raise the stage a little bit more), the sightlines excellent. It is not

outside of the realm of possibility that tND will do another show at the

Guvernment, and I'm hoping that the exceptional case of NYE will not colour

opinions too greatly of a show that we ourselves might produce there in the

future. As we have demonstrated in the past, whenever we have produced a

show of our own, all the concerns that have been addressed here over the

past few days become our priorities, and rudeness from security, dangerous

overcrowding, and other such issues are controlled to a point of being

non-existent.

So there it is. For those of you who managed to have an uncompromised and

straight-up good experience that night, count yourselves lucky-- other than

the time we were onstage, we too felt squished, harassed and tense. For

those whose evenings didn't end up including even 5 minutes of either of our

sets, I imagine we'll be able to make it up to you with a marathon set at

any number of our future shows. Thanks to all for at least trying to get in

to see us... It did, and does, mean a hell of a lot to us.

Happy New Year,

From Dan, tND and the crew.

Hi Folks...

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