The Epoxies, Let’s Dance, Go Jeff – Live (April 27th, 2007)

This was one of those nights where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, luckily The Epoxies were good enough to make up for an otherwise long and tiring night.

I went into this concert sick, tired and hung over from the night before which only helped to lengthen the two hour wait that awaited my friends and I. You see, the doors for the night’s show was set to open at 8 so we figured we’d get there around 8:20-8:30, look around and kill thirty minutes and the bands should start playing around nine – how wrong we were. Nine came and went and nothing happened. Nine thirty came and went and nothing happened. Around nine forty my friend overhears a phone call, the bassist from the opening band is MIA. Around five to ten they give up and start to take down the set and set up for the second act of the night. It was ten twenty by the time Go Jeff finally took the stage and it looked as if the night was going to be a long one.

The Moose Jaw natives played a style of spastic punk rock with blistering vocals and chugging guitars. They were tight and reminded me of acts like At The Drive-In and the alternating male/female vocal delivery was a nice change of pace; unfortunately they just weren’t my style of music. After a little less than thirty minutes they announced that Let’s Dance would be up next, so it seemed as if the bassist finally arrived. After another set change where Let’s Dance‘s gear was brought back on they went to start but had to delay another ten minutes as they scrambled to fix the bass amp that had just broken – and that was only the start of the gear problem for the Edmonton foursome as the mic stand quickly broke followed by the mic itself. Nevertheless, Let’s Dance were once again impressive. They were fast and snotty playing a style of punk that would have fit nicely in the late seventies; and the vocalist is always entertaining and energetic live.

On any other night I would have loved to see more of them, but as it was nearing quarter to twelve I was exhausted and just wanted to see The Epoxies. Finally just after midnight the Portland synth-punks made there way onto the stage and did not disappoint. Just like they were two years ago when I saw them across the street at New City, The Epoxies were intensely energetic and put everything they had into the show. Roxy Epoxy ran and danced all over the stage and never missed a note. Sythn player F.M. Static quit the band in the middle of the night to go buy some drinks before returning. They jumped and joked and had a genuinely good time as they ripped through songs like Radiation, Wind Me Up, Everything Looks Beautiful On The Inside and You Kill Me (which was definitely the highlight of the night) and ended the entire night with Robot Man. The set was great as the only downside was that the vocals were a bit low in the mix at times. While it would have been a million times better had I not been half asleep before they had even taken the stage, The Epoxies made the night – and the two hour wait – worth while and I look forward to seeing them again in the future.