Andrew and I went to a concert at World Cafe Live on Sunday night. It was a mutual anniversary present to each other because we both love the Weakerthans (even though Andrew will tell you when he first sent me their music I said, "The Wintertons? Winkletoes? They're alright").
It was the best concert I've ever been to - no joke! This even beats when I met the Cold War Kids on my 21st birthday.
When we got to World Cafe Live, we saw the band's tour bus and there were a few guys coming out of it as we passed. We didn't know it was the band and we pushed past them to get into the empty venue only to be told we were too early. Once inside, we saw the lead singer John Samson walking around aimlessly with a grey hoody on. He seemed to have all the time in the world and I went "BABE THAT'S REALLY HIM" and pointed. This made Andrew turn red and I think I saw John smirk. That's gotta stroke the ego, right?
The venue was great, we had Mezzanine seats on a nice comfy couch. We started in the dining room and split a delicious arugula salad that had apples and candied walnuts with a balsamic vinaigrette. Then came the burgers and fries - YUM. They were great thick char broiled burgers with nice crispy fries. Even the pickles were good! They were very filling though and I didn't get to try any of the desserts, but that's probably for the best.
Rock Plaza Central opened, they were cool for about two songs. The music was good but their lyrics were pretty religious and most of the choruses were just repeating a single sentence over and over. I began to really appreciate how well-written theWeakerthans' lyrics were and couldn't wait to hear from Virtute!
The Weakerthans sounded just like their recordings and played a great mix from all their albums. They interacted with the crowd nicely, despite the hagglers (who just happened to be sitting behind us, how does that always happen?). The best part of the show was when John played solo, even though it was just him and a guitar he filled the entire concert hall. It was really impressive.
They played four songs for their encore which was nice. We pictured an old manager backstage listening to our cheers and saying "The kids want rock and roll!" But more likely, they walked off stage, refreshed their drinks and came back. It was still a great encore, especially since they played Civil Twilight, my favorite song.
I would really recommend checking out their albums and trying to see them in concert. They are some cool Canadians!