Toronto – The Washington-based duo Thievery Corporation came to Toronto last Saturday to share their unique fusion of solid beats decorated with musical styles from the world over. The heart of Thievery consists of duo Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. They filled out the stage by bringing a veritable posse of over 10 other musicians, including a Brazilian songstress, a sitar-player, horns, and assorted percussionists. This is the 2nd date of a new tour helping to promote their latest album, Radio Retaliation. You can check out an excellent review of this album by my fellow Panic-Manualer Brian here.
Sure the bass drums may sound “great” if they’re literally shaking your chest, but if it’s doing so at the expense of the vocals, the horns, and the sitars, then all you’re left with is some muddy-ass drum and bass
I will say that I was looking forward to this show for months. Thievery is one of my go-to groove bands when I just want to get in the zone and stay there. It’s good music to listen to when doing stuff; like polishing shoes, or ironing, or working/studying. Radio Retaliation is by far their most political offering to date, but it still contains the main elements of Thievery that I love; killer beats and an atmospheric sound. While the show was great, I think my expectations were probably a little unrealistic given the venue that is Kool Haus.
I don’t want to be a one-trick pony where all my live reviews consist of an intense critique of the venue, but the more concerts I attend, the more I realize how important the venue is. It is a critical element that will colour the entire concert-going experience, for better or worse. I have to say, I do try to avoid the Kool Haus (and the affiliated guvernment) at many costs, and will only be persuaded by my favourite bands. To Thievery’s credit, they are one of those bands. That being said, after this experience at Kool Haus, the bar for “what bands I will go see at Kool Haus even though I hate Kool Haus” has just been raised a couple notches.
I think if we spent more time making sure that a band is properly heard, then the crowd will concentrate on making sure that it’s being properly felt.
Now, I know that getting a live band to sound good is no easy feat. Any sound engineer worth their salt will tell you that working a big cavernous concrete box like Kool Haus is no simple task. But I do feel that sound engineer’s today could learn a great deal by discovering that special button known as the “master volume knob”. Sure the bass drums may sound “great” if they’re literally shaking your chest, but if it’s doing so at the expense of the vocals, the horns, and the sitars, then all you’re left with is some muddy-ass drum and bass. I think if we spent more time making sure that a band is properly heard, then the crowd will concentrate on making sure that it’s being properly felt.
So, despite the sound and feedback issues, I would say that Thievery made the best of the situation. They started at 10, but things really got going about 20 minutes into the set when they started to dust off some well-known material from their 2002 album, The Richest Man in Babylon. The beats were solid and got the crowd shaking for most of the 2 hour set. Despite the sound issues, it was still impressive that an electronica-duo would tour with so many musicians. How cool is it to have an electronic band playing live with horns, a real sitar player, and two beautiful songstresses? One highlight was hearing the song “exilio” set to female vocals.
So overall, I’m glad I went to see Thievery Corporation. I would have preferred to see them in a less crappy venue. Although Thievery is a fairly popular band, the $50 price-tag combined with a place as thoroughly underwhelming as Kool Haus makes for a questionable transaction. A band like Thievery can only command a price like that at a place that actually sounds good, like the Mod Club or the Phoenix. Sadly, after this experience, the list of bands that I’m willing to go see at the Kool Haus for this kind of dough just got a whole lot smaller.
Thievery Corporation: 4/5
Kool Haus: 2.7/5
