Toronto – So last week, my buddy Pike visited our great city from Edmonton. He was pretty hell bent on seeing some shows and went to see the Cinematic Orchestra, Common and Ulrich Schnauss. He offered to take me to one of these shows. I couldn’t go see the Cinematic Orchestra because I was at the cottage and I wasn’t really keen on seeing Common (despite liking his new album) because I have a propensity for saying something like ‘ni**a whaaaa’ when I get excited and really, I just didn’t want to get stabbed in case I said that at a show. Also, I had a ball hockey game.
So, by hook or by crook, I was going to see this german dude named Ulrich Schnauss. I had no idea what he played or what his music was, so this was definately a new experience. I even resisted the urge to download his entire discography before the show. So I was going into this show fresh. and clean.
Lets do some background checking on this brotha first. Ulrich Schnass, it appears is a producer and electronic/ambient music artist. Influenced by Kevin Shields, Chapterhouse, Cocteau Twins and Slowdive. So I am guessing droning guitars, and well..droning guitars. Thats not too bad. I went into this show with both an open mind and decent expectations.
I arrived a little earlier then usual, I did not want my friend to miss his show, and also, if I stayed at home longer, I probably would have played some Halo 3 and that would have been the night. Although if I had told Ulrich Schnauss I accidently skipped his show because of Halo 3, he would probably have been proud, given his countries militaristic past. Only I would probably win my matches. Anyway, we went into the Rivoli and holy crap he was on already!
Playing on a dj set, with what must be an autobahn video projected onto the background, Ulrich played some electronicky tunes, and the place was half full or so. I was like ‘this is pretty sweet, I’ll be home around 10 at this rate’. Pike was surprised he would come on that early too. However, this was not the case, as it was just some random DJ playing tunes as the opener.
The problem, I realized, is that I have no idea what this person looked like. So any person could have been Ulrich Schnass. After the opener finished, we all had a pint of beer and talked about random things. When we walked in, there was a live band playing shoegazy/electro music. Holy crap he was on! At this point, I was thinking “Sweet, I can be home by 11”
Only, once again, that was not the case and I didn’t realize this til about the second last song of the set. when the singer said ‘we are excited to see Ulrich Schnauss too’ At this point, I was getting frustrated and hungry. So I spent most of the set thinking about what to eat. Things just started rolling.. new york subway? burritos? pho? chinese food? massimo pizza? do i go home and cook? what do I have in the fridge? burrito boyz?
Luckily, Rivoli was a restaurant as well, so during the break. We ordred Calamari and Sweet Potato Fries. Really, all I wanted was the chipotle mayo that came with these things. That was the real prize. The sweet potato fries were good. by the time we had finished, de german finally came on.
However, I was too tired by this time, and I stayed about 20 minutes and went home. He was really loud.
Review -/5 (didnt really attend show)
