Rah Rah open for Wintersleep (Vinyl, Oct. 21)

The evenly mixed-sex, sextet on stage known collectively as Rah Rah were performing their driving pop, lead by earnest drumming. They burst out with Betrayal Pt. 1, including male/female vocals, violin and plenty of energy. Carrying on in short time they covered the infectiously ridiculous Going Steady hit, Tentacles, as well as its record-mate Fuck NAFTA. Like their Saskatchewan brethren (and sistren(?)) of Library Voices they really know how to make a catchy hook and back it up with nearly frenetic pop instrumentation – keys and accordion included. That or burst out in the middle of songs like Henry with lines such as “Hey Henry, you better lock that shit down!” The female drummer who had been clanging a cymbal with a tambo earlier then doled out extra sticks to any bandmate with a free hand and they tapped out Beaches all over the joint (speakers, walls, mic stands etc.) – a highlight for sure. Unfortunately there wasn’t much more time for other highlights as they had a sick member so they tossed in a Duet for Emmylou.. and took off after playing for about as much time as it took them to sound check. Not even enough time for recent single Arrows – which leaves a reason as good as any to catch them on the next fly through.

The Noise and the Ghost are four guys from Guelph who had the honour of opening the evening. Catching only the closing few numbers they held their own with some chill roots rock, tossed in a few decent electric guitar riffs (and had an acoustic going too), before closing off with a Wilco cover.