Sloan, Equally As Good As Sloan

--taken from: Sticky Magazine

by Pete Nema

My initial plan for April 29th was to go see MGMT at The Mod Club, but when that plan fell through, I started to look around and see who else was playing. I quickly discovered that the almighty Sloan was going to be on stage... in Oshawa. A night with Sloan was just what I needed.

I'm a firm believer that trying new things is generally a good life strategy, and so I planned the short trip out to the new-to-me Karma Lounge in Oshawa to catch up with Sloan. Karma Lounge looks like a decent enough place on their website (if you have enough patience to sit through the intro), but after being scanned with a metal detector on my way in, calculating the high ratio of security guards to attendees, and seeing all the hanging balls from the low, neon-lit ceiling in person, it had a bit of a strange vibe. On Sloan's Twitter account, about 2 hours before they took the stage, the band described the location like this: "We're playing what looks like a strip club without the strippers."

Aside from a few anomalies, the crowd felt more-or-less like the other Sloan audiences I've been in. The opening bands played longer-than-usual sets and the turn-over time before Sloan lasted about 40 minutes, so by the time Sloan finally hit the stage at 12:40am, certain patches of the crowd were reeling from the hours spent consuming refreshments.

If you're a fan of Sloan, you already know the band sounds great live, and it's always excellent getting to see them play. They've been performing for years, and that experience shines through in every show. They pay attention to what they're doing and, based on the show at Karma, they obviously pay attention to the crowd as well. I had no idea what was happening just a few feet away from me, but immediately following the opening song, Chris Murphy (bass, vocals) berated a drunk guy up at the stage for bad behaviour. Apparently the guy had put a woman — who had made her way up to the front out of excitment — in a headlock, driving her back away from the stage. Murphy made it clear that woman be allowed back; it was good to see Murphy looking out for the fans.

With maybe 200 people in the audience (just a guess on my part), this was definitely the smallest venue in which I've seen Sloan perform, and the band was as tight as they always are. From that perspective, the night was a success. With so much material for them to choose from, they played a good mix of songs that included hits like "Money City Maniacs" on which Patrick Pentland's vocals sounded amazingly clean, as well as many other excellent songs, even if not as well known. The set included the usual instrument swapping at defined points, which is impressive when it is done as well as Sloan can do. Hey, it's Sloan!

If you don't have Sloan's Hit & Run EP or B Sides Win album, you can have a listen below, but if you're already a fan, just buy them. You know you want to. Sloan will play a FREE, all-ages event at Dundas Square on Friday, June 18th, as part of NxNE.


--taken from: Sticky Magazine