THE HERBALISER Toronto, ON, CA – The Opera House – June 30 2005

[StoneMtn]

Review: Better late than never...

The Herbaliser is a collection of musicians from London, England, originally formed by Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba, a duo who’s been playing together for more than ten years now. You never know who you’ll see, though, because they love to throw other musicians, rappers, and artists into the mix. They did exactly that in Toronto.

The venue, The Opera House, is a medium-sized room, and it was packed. Most of the bar is a dance floor, and the boogy-ing was intense. You could hardly find three square feet (one-and-a-half square metres?) to shake a leg, which was all the better; in my opinion.

The music is, essentially, “trip hop”, but there are all kinds of other sounds going on there; including rock, funk, jazz, ska... They have a full horn section that rivals the Tower of Power, a great DJ, and they brought in a couple of local, Toronto rappers. I’m not sure of their names, but one was far better than the other.

The show was a double-bill presented by Ninja Records, including another band called Bonobo. Unfortunately, I missed Bonobo’s set, but I’m told they are a lot like The Herbaliser, and also a seriously high-quality project.

The crowd was mostly comprised of the “party” (aka rave) scene. Everyone was between 19 and 30 years old (apart from your intrepid writer of course, being one of the oldest attendees at this gig).

These guys are tight as hell, and incredible live. Their show was not long, but one set of an incredible hour and a quarter, or so. I don’t know their music well enough to set out the setlist, mainly because they played most (if not all) of their new release, Take London, which is the only disc I hadn’t heard before the show. (My Herbaliser collection, however, has become complete since then, and I highly recommend picking up their most recent effort.) Some of the highlights were, however, “Mr. Chombee Has the Flaw” and (I think) “The Missing Suitcase”. I’m also pretty sure that the encore was “Forty Winks” without lyrics.

Quote of the Day:

What are you … some kinda “pot camel”?

[kookycanooky]

man herbaliser is fantastic.

I saw them at the harbourfront jazz fest in toronto a few years back...other acts included bullfrog and mmw if i remember correctly.

But alas, i chose to live out my summer in halifax, thus forfeiting the opportunity to see a world of good bands in t-o.

nice review mtn! wish i coulda been there...

[sandora]

Bonobo is great!! I kicked myself for not making it out to see them this time around at the Opera House. I have a few of their live sets and they blow me away. Each set is very different from the other. Highly recommended.

Can anyone tell me what they were like at this venue??

[The Chameleon]

I also think Bonobo is a great producer and love his albums. The live situation with Bonobo (as a band as oppose to DJ sets), while good is really just getting off the ground. I'm sure they're getting better with every set as anything Ninja Tune puts forth is of high quality.

At the Opera House show Bonobo's set was adequate. Didn't blow me away as much as the albums but the potential for growth is certainly there.

[sandora]

Thanks - I will try to not miss them next time around.