Brooding Over It

Twas a strong but small crowd amassed for the concert at Vinyl (March 25). Local songstress, Patty Bell Smith was unfortunately lost in the din of the dank club, and her excellent vocals were practically drown out by the time they reached me hanging out near the band at the back. Once the fringe-rock trio of Elliott Brood took to the tiny stage everyone clamoured forward, perhaps in anticipation of hand-outs to come. It was a customary Brood set with the drummer pounding away, seated guitarist and those unlikely vocals emanating from that unassuming looking fellow - not to knock their live performance in any way since it is notoriously stellar. Having seen them just recently at a riled up Olympic show in Vancouver there weren't many surprises throughout the night. As per usual they built up their songs, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, so much so that some members decided to join the performers on-stage, much to their chagrin (as they explained later that a past experience of audience participation had resulted in busted instruments). To make up for it they handed out instruments that were meant to be banged about, in the form of dollar store pots and pans, for the final few songs. All songs were equally well done, with the only stand-outs being due to my personal preference. However I was pleasantly pleased by the one surprise of the night, which was when they went beyond their 10pm curfew to play an encore rendition of Miss You Now.