I must admit that I had some reservations going into this show. The last and only time I saw
Stereolab they opened for Sonic Youth and I did not have the greatest of times. Fortunately,
at that show, for the first time in ages an opening band started on time. Unfortunately, this
time most people were outside of the venue waiting to get in. I ended up missing 1/3 of
Stereolab's show. Technically, the music was good, however Stereolab gave, at best, a lethargic
and uninspired performance. I knew that Stereolab had not played up to their capabilities that
night, but I was still a little wary going into the Montreal show. Fortunately, the groop
purged all the bad feelings associated with the SY show with their wonderful performance in
Montreal. Nearly every aspect of this show was perfect. The Metropolis is, by far, the best
venue I have ever been to. I got to the venue extra early and was front-row centre. When I
arrived, Simon was practicing alone on the stage and finally, excitement started to kick in.
The opening band, Fly Pan Am (with a member from Godspeed You Black Emperor) were very good,
infusing jazz and experimental guitars. After they finished playing, a huge curtain came down
and covered the stage. I peeked inside and could see Tim and Mary tuning their guitars. The
stage was set up extremely fast, 15 minutes at most, and Stereolab came on! (This is proof to
other bands that a stage can be set up quickly, not in two hours!) They started with a wonderful version of Miss Modular and that set the tone for the rest of the evening. The entire
band were enjoying themselves. Laetitia and Mary gave each other secretive smiles throughout
the show. (Why couldn't I have been privy to what they were smiling about?) Laetitia was playful and
sweet and did some funny dance during Super-Electric and amazingly, she played the trombone.
Mary is a very good guitarist (I never knew!) Tim, as usual, was in a trance. Simon and
Andy kept up the rhythm wonderfully and the new keyboardist, Dominic, is extremely talented
but he still does not know the songs very well. After playing Percolator, the groop played
Metronomic Underground and Dom came in at the wrong time and got a look from Andy, Tim and
Simon! It was really funny. Tim had some problems with his guitar during the latter half of
the night. They started to play French Disko and barely any sound came out of Tim's guitar,
so he kind of thrashed his guitar and stopped playing. They had to start over. Overall,
the groop played an inspired hour and forty minutes show with a good setlist that mixed the old
and new songs. What an amazing night with my favourite band!
Setlist:
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
Click here for pics