HeadSwimmingy AGP setlist and report

[tangerineman]

Addison Groove Project

Le Swimming, Montreal

Jan. 14, 2005 (actually Jan. 15, due to 2:05 a.m. start)

Don't Worry

Outta Space > Crullers & Nyquil

Have a Cigar*

Ganymede

Waiting for the Polls to Close

Spider^

*Pink Floyd cover

^Herbie Hancock cover; morphed into a disco vamp with "Funkytown"/"Desire"-ish teases, a chunk of "Around the World" by Daft Punk, and part of the score from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (!)

Montreal, Jan. 15, 2005--Under somewhat adverse conditions, Addison Groove Project turned in a solid, smoking set last night at Montreal's Le Swimming. Amazing, when you consider that at 1:00 a.m., there was still no sign of the band or their gear. As it happened, they very nearly didn't make it into town, let alone the country, at all.

The first hint that this would not be a normal evening came when I arrived at the venue a little before 9 p.m., the announced "doors at" time, to find that there was indeed a battle of the bands going on (as hinted at in Friday's thread related to AGP @ Le Swimming). To my dismay, a posted schedule had the last group, "Wake 'n' Bake" (: hitting the stage at 11. The girl selling tickets assured me that AGP would be going on right after that, but as I glanced at the stage and saw none of the band's gear, I began to have my doubts about them starting much before midnight. Sorry, but I really have to question Le Swimming's decision to schedule two events on the same night. Reminds me of the moe. debacle around the corner at Café Campus last November...

We were eventually told, some time before midnight, that the band would start playing at 1:30. In a classic fu©kup (reminiscent of The Breakfast's show-that-never-was in this same club last year), half the band were held up at Customs. Rob (the keyboardist) explained to me after-show that they had their work permit, but somebody (Canadian Immigration?) had screwed up the permit validation and issued it for last month instead of this month. Had it not been for a telephone intervention by Le Swimming's manager, AGP would have been denied entry to Canada, forced to cool their heels in Burlington, and there would have been no show last night or even tonight.

Two more unusual things happened that could have adversely affected the band's performance, but didn't. First: because the battle of the bands is continuing tonight, the drum set shared by all the contestants (and, I suspect, donated by a music store sponsoring the competition) was not taken down, and with no time to set up his own, Andrew had to play on that kit instead. Didn't seem to make any difference to the groove. Second: the band's regular soundman, Steve, wasn't traveling with them, having gone to hospital earlier in the day with stomach cramps (hope he's ok!). Thankfully, Le Swimming's soundman stepped up, and he did a really fine job.

AGP finally started laying down some grooves at around 2:05 a.m., and played until 3:20 or so, well past curfew. There was still a great crowd on hand (plenty of those faces that have become familiar to me since I started going to see AGP, nero, The Slip, etc.!), and we weren't disappointed. Highlights, as always, were the supertight dual sax work of Ben and Dave, Brendan's guitar (very aggressive tonight at times), and the monstah groove constantly laid down by Andrew and Rob. (For those who don't know, Rob plays all the bass lines on one keyboard with his left hand, while playing very busy chords and fills on electric piano or synth with his right. I don't know how he does it.)

"Have a Cigar," played by request, was stunningly good, with Brendan really growling out the vocals. It included a jam at a faster tempo that was perhaps the best of the night. Le Swimming is a good place for Floyd covers: nero knocked us out with a fine rendition of "Echoes" there a few months back. "Spider" went on for at least 20 minutes, I think, and morphed into a disco inferno.

I've seen AGP four times now in Montreal, and I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've heard them repeat a song. Rob's in charge of the setlists, and he does his research very well.

One more thing: yes, the show was taped, by yours truly. Yes, it sounds good (in my opinion). (Phew--BradM, you put pressure on me in that other thread yesterday...) And as it turns out, it's the only document of the show, since Steve wasn't there to record the soundboard feed onto laptop, as he normally does.

Before anyone asks: I've never uploaded a show before, but this just might be the one... Still have to figure out the Create Torrent function. Plus the audio's not even transferred onto my HD yet. First things first!

During the set, Brendan promised that tonight they'll get on as early as possible and play as late as possible. So if you're in Mtl this fine Saturday, get over to Le Swimming for about 10:30, 11-ish. Actually, go earlier and buy your ticket/wristband for AGP, then chill somewhere nearby and come back later. The battle of the bands costs $10 more than AGP, and if last night's lineup is any indication, none of them are particularly worth seeing.

If you have yet to experience Addison Groove Project, check 'em out; they'll have you grooving and in just the right headspace all night. The faithful who stuck around last night made it a great scene. Hope to see another, bigger bunch of happy dancing people there tonight!

[tangerineman]

One more thing: thanks to Rob for filling in the gaps in my setlist notes!

[kc]

Thanks for the review, Tangerine. Much appreciated.