Hot Hot Heat, Controller. Controller., Marble Index, Fall Collection – Live (July 26th, 2006)

7 concerts. 9 days. One trip down to Calgary for Warped. I was dead, but I still knew I couldn’t miss this show because Hot Hot Heat are amazing live, and having not seen them for over a year now, I knew I just had to go; but before the Victoria quartet hit the stage, there were three opening bands to wow and amaze us.

First up was The Fall Collection a 6 month old band. So to be playing a high profile show like this is impressive and they used it to their advantage as much as they could. It wasn’t a great set, as the band was fairly static and only used their moog twice, but it did show promise. The small crowd received them well despite the cold and drizzling drops of rain and they left the stage without leaving much of an impact but showing definite promise for the future. After them, my favorite of the three opening bands hit the stage: The Marble Index who were an upbeat version of Modest Mouse. The songs were catchy, danceable, but still forgettable; but the band overcame that obstacle by a solid stage presence thanks to their lead singer who played requests from the crowd, joked with the crowd, and even taught them how to dance (he literally forced every single security guard to dance with him before he let them go on with their work). It was a good show, especially for an opener.

By this time the weather had seriously dropped a few degrees, its was very windy and I started regretting my decision to wear my light Kermit the frog shirt instead of a nice warm hoody, nevertheless, it was a concert, and clothes don’t matter. So I patiently waited, shivering for the next band, a band I had heard a lot about, but never actually heard a song by – but when the drummer came on wearing a wolf’s mask I was excited to see what Controller.Controller. would do. Sadly, they failed to really incite any emotion or danceability in me. The guitarist’s vocals were too soft and almost imperceptible, which made his leading songs pretty nonexistent while the entire sound was much too experimental and slow for me to really get into. I guess you need to know the music before you can truly appreciate a type of band like that.

During the break between bands I went to the Sonic tent to talk to my Warner street team buddies and hand some stuff out and I was glad to be in a tent as it started to pour. Sadly, the rain didn’t let off as Hot Hot Heat bounded onto the stage with Island Of The Honest Man, so we had no choice but to get soaked as we watched the band. Lucky for us fans, we weren’t the only ones getting wet as the singer happily ran down the pathway to greet the loyal fans who battle the elements to see them perform and sang from under the rain proudly proclaiming “We don’t give a fuck about the rain!” And just like they did over a year ago at Red’s, Hot Hot Heat put on one hell of an entertaining show playing new songs, old songs and brand new songs from their forthcoming album (which, by the sound of it, will be amazing). They left the stage after saying goodnight with their successful single by the same name only to return after a few minutes of chanting to say farewell with their biggest song Bandages. And even though the rain was annoying, it made the show that much more memorable and it, luckily, didn’t last the whole set.