The Final Rheo's show ... ever

[guigsy]

thanks, indeed.

nice shots, taper.

all i could really do when it was done was shake my head and dry my eyes. what a band!

[Tenenbaum]

it wasn't rain but snow... which song was that for again?

anyone got a setlist?!?

[phishtaper]

3/30/07 - Massey Hall, Toronto ON

Saskatchewan

Me & Stupid

Bad Time to be Poor

P.I.N.

Mumbletypeg

IT

Christopher

King of the Past

Northern Wish (Dave Clark on drums, Don Kerr on cello)

Easy To Be With You (DC drums, DK cello)

My First Rock Show

We Went West

Aliens

Feed Yourself

Making Progress

Shaved Head

When Winter Comes

E1:

Self Serve Gas Station>

California Dreamline

Claire (with Chris Brown)

Horses

Stolen Car>

Rock Death America

Dopefiends and Boozehounds>Alomar>Dopefiends

E2:

Legal Age Life

Record Body Count

[guigsy]

{ all that's irrelevant now - thanks taper)

no one's mentioned the horseshoe show yet... absolutely incredible rock show. exactly how i want to remember them.

big leagues tease > queer > saskatchewan > queer (from the 'shoe) was the highlight of all 3 shows for me.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Guest

[Tenenbaum]

anyone remember the Crosseyed and Painless tease?

"Still Waiting!"

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Love those encores.

I'm going to pretend I was there. Or I'll have to settle for Stephen Franke teasing Self Serve Gas Station last night in Ottawa .

[Northern Wish]

C+P during Horses was huge.

It topped off our (Guigsy and I) Talking Heads in Toronto Day.

The posters from the show are amazing!

S

[carstairs]

big leagues tease > queer > saskatchewan > queer (from the 'shoe) was the highlight of all 3 shows for me.

I wish I could have made it to the Shoe. I would have loved to see them in a bar one more time.

It will take me a while to recover from Friday night's versions of Christopher and Horses. Defintely the most somber crowd coming out of a show that I can remember.

[paisley]

thats so awesome they finished the last encore with "Record Body Count"

no doubt would've been serious tear time... I hate goodbyes, didn't go

If you haven't heard Whale Music, either, be sure to secure yourself a copy so you can spend the rest of the foreseeable future regretting that you never caught them live .

"Melville" is also a wonderful collection of music

thanks for so much wicked music Rheostatics... n changing the face of the Canadian music scene... all the very best

Edited April 2, 2007 by Guest
and I'm very good... in THE WOODS

[AD]

Horseshoe was awesome... Massey a bit underwhelming but that can be understood given the circumstances. Great weekend, very sad to see them gone.

AD

[Northern Wish]

Well put AD, I figure that Thursday was the SHOW and Friday was the EVENT....

Glad I caught both.

And yes sad.

Looking at that flickr slideshow, the smiles are really tearing me up. Why? Why Tim Why?

[rubberdinghy]

Good times everyone, Good times...

Non show highlight of the Friday night...

Northern Wish meets pole....I still giggle when I think of that! Sorry man

Show highlight aside from the great tunes...Martin wiping out!

Edited April 2, 2007 by Guest

[Northern Wish]

After the show on the way out to Now Lounge from a hotel break, I walked back by Massey and noticed Wendel Clark sitting in the lobby along side the guitar cases. So of course I walked right in, no one around, right into the hall and stared up at the empty silent stage and upwards to the lit chandelier.

It is a beautiful room and it was a powerful event- and it moved me.

[Northern Wish]

Way more than I moved that pole..........

Sean

[Ms Zimmy]

My Tummy gets all in a knotted up when I think about this. Both shows were great. I wish that I could go back in time and do it again.

You're pics are great phishtaper, they made me kinda sad....

[voodoolady]

I agree with Northern Wish...

Thursday was the SHOW and Friday was the EVENT....

I'm so glad I got to see both shows, they were so different, yet both great.

Whale Music and Melville are definately my two favorite Rheostatic albums.

Thanks to Revenge for introducing me to the Rheos and thanks to Asparagus for getting us the tickets to both shows.

[AD]

Pretty good review by Chart, I can't really find any fault with it, which is rare for me.

LIVE: A Piece Of Canadian Rock History, As Rheostatics Play Final Show

Monday April 02, 2007 @ 05:30 PM

By: ChartAttack.com Staff

March 30, 2007

Massey Hall

Toronto, ON

by Steve McLean

I can't back it up with statistics, but there's a good chance that I've seen The Rheostatics more than any other band over the past 20 years. When the group were firing on all cylinders, there were few better. But there was also a period in the late �90s and early this decade when I rarely went to their shows because their choice of material and performances had become a bit too arty and proggy for my tastes. But they seemed to swing back around over the past five years and, while their shows could still occasionally be hit and miss, their batting average rivaled their early days when they were the Albert Pujols of the Canadian indie rock scene.

So it was strange last week, when I witnessed the Rheos' final two shows — a Thursday night gig at the Horseshoe Tavern, where they've staged marathon 10 consecutive night residencies over the last several years, and Friday at a sold-out Massey Hall. While I'd like to say that their final performance was their best ever, singer/guitarist Martin Tielli was suffering from a severe voice problem that he's consulting doctors about, and it looked and sounded painful when he belted out his numbers. But he pushed as hard as possible, not wanting to disappoint diehard fans who had travelled from across Canada and the U.S. to witness this piece of history.

Luckily, guitarist Dave Bidini and bassist Tim Vesely also sing, and one of the most interesting things about the band has always been their egalitarian sharing of songs and vocal duties. And while I was disappointed not to hear "Introducing Happiness" or "The Ballad Of Wendel Clark" (or anything else from their 1987 Greatest Hits debut, for that matter) as I did at the Horseshoe the previous night, they didn't leave much else behind during their eclectic three-and-a-half-hour show.

When The Lowest Of The Low guitarist Steve Stanley and 102.1 The Edge announcer Dave Bookman came out to give the band an eloquent and amusing musical introduction written by Bookie, all that was missing from a Midi Ogres reunion was former Pigfarm member John DesLauriers and Bidini sliding in behind the drum kit. But that mid-�90s band only played a handful of gigs and released one single, while the Rheos have an extensive 13-album catalogue to draw from. And draw from it, they did.

The proceedings opened, just as they did on the group's 1997 Double Live album, with the sprawling "Saskatchewan." The band then showcased their "original new wave rock" with "Me And Stupid,' before Vesely's "Bad Time To Be Poor" (which next to "Claire," which was played in the encore, was probably the closest the group had to a radio hit) offered something for the less hardcore fans in the audience. Though by the requests, compliments and farewell wishes that kept being yelled out, it didn't seem like there were too many of them in attendance.

Bidini sang "When Winter Comes," which name-checks The Band, and he also made a Levon Helm reference during one of the many between-song banter sessions, which was fitting since this show sort of had the aura of The Last Waltz — except instead of appearances by Neil Young and Van Morrison, former Rheos drummers Dave Clark and Don Kerr, former Bourbon Tabernacle Choir member Chris Brown and keyboardist Ford Pier (who was onstage for much of the show) were the special guests.

Other highlights of the two-hour main set included "King Of The Past," "Aliens (Christmas 1988)," "Shaved Head" and "My First Rock Concert," which featured actors playing Bidini, two cops and Joe Jackson to act out an incident relayed in the lyrics.

After a five-minute standing ovation, the band returned and lit into Whale Music's first two songs, "Self Serve Gas Station" and "California Dreamline," before the aforementioned "Claire." Bidini gave a sarcastic dedication to Prime Minister Stephen Harper before launching into an impassioned, almost Crazy Horse-like, version of "Horses," which came complete with a Talking Heads' "Crosseyed And Painless" interlude. Just as frenzied was the take on "RDA (Rock Death America)," which led into Bidini and Pier going to the front of the stage to play percussion on, and then wrestle over, a pair of goalie pads. Tielli sang "Dope Fiends And Boozehounds" next, before saying "See you soon" as the group received another standing ovation.

The crowd enthusiasm was enough to draw the band out again, and they all sat with their legs hanging over the front of the stage to sing their homespun concert staple, "Legal Age Life At Variety Store," with Bidini playing acoustic guitar and the audience singing heartily along. The Rheos then hopped off the stage and walked down the centre aisle to the middle of the historic venue and, as they sung "Record Body Count," a handful of acrobatic followers formed an impromptu human pyramid beside them.

It was clear that neither the audience nor the band wanted to leave, as numerous heartfelt "thank yous" were dealt out during a third thunderous standing ovation. But the house lights came on, and that was it — the end of an era. It was great to see a group who I've seen in relatively small clubs for years get that kind of response from a few thousand people, and I started feeling simultaneous tingles of pride, excitement and remorse, so I can only imagine the gamut of emotions that the band must have been experiencing.

I went to the Horseshoe afterward to see Pointed Sticks, a Vancouver power-pop band who recently reformed for a handful of shows 26 years after breaking up. They were tight and looked like they were having a great time. So even though all The Rheostatics members will be well into their sixties or even seventies, I'm pencilling in a 2033 return date for one geriatric concert blowout.

[ersh]

Did Martin do more singing at Massey Hall? At the shoe he said he was saving his voice for Friday and that Thursday was more for the other guys stuff. His speaking voice alone was pretty raspy.

Great show Thursday, glad I caught it. Good to see a few folks as well.

[AD]

He sang more at the Horseshoe. His voice was wrecked even at the beginning of the Friday show.

(according to my memory)

[phishtaper]

this is how a concert review should be written. its actually about the band, not the reviewer. very nice. thanks for posting it.

[AD]

Tielli sang "Dope Fiends And Boozehounds" next, before saying "See you soon"

that was hilarious, i was laughing pretty good at that at the show.

[Ms Zimmy]

I wish I could go back in time and see them again.

[Northern Wish]

Here are some items from the mailing list I think everyone will enjoy:

http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2007/04/040107_4.html

More importantly;

"To hear all of the Rheostatics' last performance, tune into the CBC

Radio 2 program "Canada Live" on April 7th at 8pm."

Rheostatics -- A Last Show Photo Tribute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcfvmd6KdxQ

Rheostatics -- A Last Show Video Tribute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE6tTeRpoAs

From CBC Radio 3

Rheostatics 1980 - 2007

Posted by John on Apr 01, 2007 | � Post a Comment

After 27 years together, the Rheostatics played their final show at Toronto's Massey Hall

on Friday night. Trevor Weeks, one of Radio 3's contributing photographers was on hand

for the show. Flickr

We'll be posting the show in Concerts & Sessions later on this week, so hold tight!

[AD]

"To hear all of the Rheostatics' last performance, tune into the CBC

Radio 2 program "Canada Live" on April 7th at 8pm."

i thought 'canada live' was a 2 hour show? i'm thinking it will be edited down.... anyone gonna tape it?

[Ms Zimmy]

Rheostatics -- A Last Show Video Tribute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE6tTeRpoAs

this reminds me of the dude sitting right behind me singing off key