Down with Tiny Danza at the Street Pharmacy

Though I saw Noah23 in the venue my arrival was too late to catch his act, which was a slight disappointment. However the other opening bands that I didn't recognize more than made up for this missed opportunity. (Besides I'd seen him at Stay Out of the Mall in December)

Some local boys, from nearby Welland Ontario, took the stage under the moniker Street Pharmacy (drug dealer?). No one I was with had heard of the guys before, yet everyone enjoyed their bass-heavy set. With touches of reggae, and dub they played a relaxed but nonetheless entertaining set that most people could groove to. Their small legion of fans had followed them to this show and demanded an encore which the lead singer delivered solo on his guitar while the rest of the band dismantled the stage for the next group.

Next guys up brought up the energy a bit, with their dual MCs laying down some hip hop verses over a full backing band. This 6-piece from Toronto, who apparently named themselves after the commonly mis-sung Tiny Dancer chorus, barely fit on the small stage. One of the white-boy rappers actually sounded a fair bit like JT when he would sing which was a little surprising but easily recognizable. They did a respectable rendition of an N.E.R.D. track but for the most part Tiny Danza stuck to their original material which fared just fine (especially their second last tune).

I've have long known the name, Down With Webster, despite never hearing or seeing them before this night. Years earlier a friend had seen them at some puny battle of the bands and had rave reviews, even played me a couple tracks (okay that thing about never hearing them before was a slight exaggeration) but I hadn't sought them out for myself. Even with consistently positive reviews from many sources I hadn't the opportunity to check them out. Until now. They rushed the stage (literally - pushing me out of the way as they passed) and cranked the energy in the room up to Full, rarely allowing it to droop below that level. As I'd been warned, the stage antics and apparel sometimes outweighed the songs themselves but you go to a show for entertainment and with D-dub (as the kids like to call 'em) you get it. For a sparse collection of instruments (drum kit, guitar, keys - which would alternate with bass or keytar at times) they sure made a lot of noise (plus I could hear scratching but didn't see a DJ so I assume there was a laptop track playing too). The three people on the mic were bouncing and jumping all over the stage (with their teddy bear and shark backpacks) - disappearing for moments at a time and then reappearing somewhere else unexpectedly. It was tough to keep track of the six of them (I thought there were 7 according to myspace?) as they constantly shuffled. Everything was hooks, or call and response but the crowd (primarily college girls) ate it up. I thought I'd get bored of the full-force hip hop/rock/funk assault, but stuck around to see if the dude with the massive DWW bling chain around his neck was going to knock himself out with the thing, and found myself enjoying the music more and more. The edge came off for a couple tunes nearing the middle of the set when the guitarist took over vocals for awhile and he really impressed - plus his ripping guitar-solos added huge cred to any song in which they were featured. By the final track, Back of My Hand, they were back to crank but with the crowd fully behind them it was exactly what they wanted and it sounded darn good. A two-song encore kept things going (and showcasing the keytar for the first time), and I left finally understanding what the hype about their live shows had been all these years.