So So Glos, The Dirty Nils, Low Levels – Live in Vancouver (05/29/16)

The attraction to Sunday’s night show at The Cobalt wasn’t based on knowledge of the bands themselves. It wasn’t based on wanting to hear a certain song live. It wasn’t even based on the  desire for a concert as it was the third concert in three nights. No, Sunday’s attraction was based solely due to the classic reason of word of mouth, making me go to the show without ever hearing any recorded materials from any of the three bands for a night full of discovery.

The night consisted of:
 – Low Levels, a Vancouver based band that a few friends suggested I see.

– The Drity Nil, a hyped-about Ontario based band that has been popping up online recently

– And The So So Glos, a Brooklyn punk band that I drunkenly saw in Florida at Pre-Fest and remembered enjoying enough to see them again.

I didn’t know what to expect, and the low turnout and fact that the show started thirty minutes late kicked off the evening negatively – but once the music started, the complaints soon vanished and the three bands showed the benefits of checking out unknown live shows.

Low Levels barreled out first and I knew why my friends recommended them. Heavy No-Idea Records meet Infinity Cat sound – the three piece were familiar yet fresh. Front man Al Boyle sounded like Chris Wollard growling into the microphone while bassist Emily Jayne offered complementing harmonies and screaming bridges. It was a wild, grungy punk vibe that would fit in the underground bars of Brooklyn more so than it does in Vancouver.

Ontario three piece The Dirty Nil were next and obviously the main draw of the night as several of the crowd members eagerly sang to every word. It was clear that the talk about Higher Power was more than just hype, these guys delivered on the expectations. They were spastic, moving in an almost Refused like manor – although with a Penske File punk rock sound instead.

By the time The So So Glos hit the stage, the crowd had returned to a rather sparse collection of attendees. Many had left after The Dirty Nil – but that didn’t mean  The So So Glos went through the motions. Instead they killed it, putting on a way better performance than the last time I saw them to a much fuller crowd.

They were also smart, turning down the house lights to make the venue feel smaller, as they ripped through a sixteen song set. Front man Alex Levine channeled Tim Armstrong but with a bit more movement. Levine did everything he could to engage the audience – and succeeded at it despite the small crowd. The band focused mainly on cuts from Kamikaze – playing the first five songs straight to from the start.

Unlike many sets, the band picked up energy as the set progressed – and the crowd did as well. They even got everybody crouching down on the floor for We Got The Days and exploded to cheers. Sadly, they should’ve let it die right there. It was a surprisingly memorable set but the decision to drag it on with a forced fake encore was just that – fake. It wasn’t necessary and the songs they selected seemed lackluster.

It was the perfect example of how writing an encore into the set can derail a show. Lucky, they ended it with Son of An American that most people in attendance seemed to know every word – and that one song made the encore worth it.

Picked up the energy, picked up the excitement and then bam, it ended and that was the way to end a show – just too bad it was the second ending of the night.