The Serge says: The Rifles

The Rifles from the UK sounded exactly like The Arctic Monkeys. Even dressed the same. The Rifles - originality not included.

The Serge says: Young Rival

As Jay stated, we were following these guys from the Hammer (imagine: 2 good bands from Hamilton in the last 35 years) for a while now that we became friends. And if you think I'll give a good review just because someone is my friend, then that would be a huge disservice to them. How could they better themselves if I don't point out their shortcomings? Plus, I don't suck up....unless there was plenty of gin involved.
As for the show, they were solid. Young Rival's garage rock sound is heavily influenced by old, obscure (for most people) bands such as The Pretty Things and The Ugly Ducklings but enjoyable for just about any music fan. The rendition of Misirlou by The Del-Tones (that Pulp Fiction song) was fun, energetic and really showcased Aaron's guitar skills. Plenty of new songs mixed with the older songs that blended seamlessly kept the crowd going (for a 'Shoe crowd).

jay says: young rival

OK, so I'm a little late with this. yesterday was spent licking wounds, big'ol Jameson wounds. I think I'll leave the nip of the o'l Irish to the potato people from now on. Moving on. Young Rival is a band that I've been into for quite a few years now. I had originally seen them, we'll say six years ago opening for the Burning Brides under their former name The Ride Theory. Their 60's garage/surf style blew the doors off the Shoe that night, and left an impression on moi that survives to this day. Their style has remained mostly the same, well mostly. The addition a few years back of kyle on rhythm guitars, brought more of a pop sound to the band, a good Beatles like pop sound. And then John on bass to complete.
Well, Monday past brought us back to the Shoe. The place was pretty busy for a Monday. The guys were opening up for a band called The Rifles (from the UK I think). They were already rippin into their set when we got there. Of course they were on... FIRE (da na na) playing their asses off to the crowd of typical Horseshoe, to cool for school, arm crossers. Their set was a great mix of older stuff and three or four songs that were new (to me anyway). Due to my drunkenness I totally forgot to get a set list. This makes it extremely hard to review what I heard, so I'm just gonna say it was all good, $10 bucks well spent. ALL MUST SEE THIS BAND!
The pride of Hamilton are Young Rival ( sorry Mr.Venom )

Here's a vid

The Serge says: The Black Crowes review

So The Black Crowes decided (or should I say Chris Robinson decided) to stick mainly with material from recent releases rather than play the older songs that the fans wanted to hear. There were only 2 songs from the first 4 albums (She Talks To Angels and Remedy). The new stuff played was boring hippie shit.
If you took a survey of the patrons and asked them "Who has heard the new album?", 2% would say yes, 11% would say no and 87% would say "There's a new Crowes album?". I understand that you want to play new stuff and constantly playing the older material tends to be tedious, but if you didn't want to play the older, popular material then tour under a different name so you wouldn't bore the crap out of the people in the audience whom came to hear the popular old stuff. And you had to play way out in Orillia to boot. Way to screw with your fans, wartface.
Are we missing Kate too much, Chris??? Don't fucking care, just play some good tunes.

jay says

Fucking beautiful luv ditty. I just wish i had played it at my wedding, fist dance ya, the folks would have loved it! Thanks Tim...

The Serge says:

Tim says this is lyrical brilliance. I would have to concur.
"Cuz my heart belongs to you My Love is pure and true My heart belongs to you. But my cock is community property" Seriously, have a listen. Only an LA hair metal band would do this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikgxsFQ8FEo

The Serge: Perfecto, Las Vegas

Ok...so this was in Las Vegas and the cover is somewhat north of $25 but here's a review nonetheless.
What a spectacle even for a Vegas club. DJ Paul Oakenfold's Rain nights at the club Perfecto in the Palm's is filled with his signature prog/trance style celebrated by other DJ's (yeah he wasn't there...maybe he was hiding his crack accessories better than DJ AM did). The acrobatic and dance performers throughout the night were a cross between Cirque Du Soleil and Blade Runner. The weird flying pig monkeys with black boots was reminiscent of the Pink Floyd pig. And last, the fire show. Huge flames would shoot out from the light structure above the dance floor with searing temperatures that would send any Great White fan into serious remission. Oh yeah, there was absolutely no latino music. Check out the link for music / photos.
http://www.perfectovegas.com/