Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us

Concert Review: Heavy Times, Obits, October 4, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on
7 Oct 2013
by
Paul

heavy times

Simply put, Heavy Times are a very good band. Sure, they’re not exactly reinventing the wheel, but they’ve got all of the ingredients for a fun show. They’ve got the riffs, they’ve got the hooks, they’ve got the melodies. It’s pretty much perfect.

The Chicago band’s latest, Fix It Alone (out on Hozac Records), is a solid garage punk album that ranges from more melodic numbers to noisier fare and while their official bio refers to them as “Chicago’s most hated band on the world’s most hated record label,” I find it hard to believe that anyone could hate a band with a song entitled “Denim Girls.”  And while the album is enjoyable, with a band like Heavy Times, the live show is where it really all comes together.  And on this night, it definitely all came together.

While Obits  were the headliner and obviously the main draw for most in attendance, for me they just weren’t quite as compelling as Heavy Times. They still put on a great show, mind you, and frontman Rick Froberg’s got one of the great rock n’ roll voices, all rasp and attitude, but there was something more immediate for me about Heavy Times.  Maybe it was the fact that I more or less knew what to expect from Obits, whereas Heavy Times was a bit of a ‘eureka’ moment.  Or it could have been the 30 minute-plus wait between sets. Still, when Obits launched into “Widow Of My Dreams” at the beginning of their encore, it was a highlight of the night and moments like that when they really kicked it up a notch during their set showed that, for Obits, everything also came together on this night.

PrevPreviousConcert Review: London Grammar, October 3, Lincoln Hall
NextAlbum Review: Noah And The Whale, Heart Of Nowhere (2013, Mercury Records)Next

SEARCH

FOLLOW US

Facebook Twitter Flickr Foursquare Rss Inbox

THE PAST

Archives

TAGS

Tags
British Music Embassy (10) Canadian Music Fest (11) canadian music week (19) cmf (10) cmw (41) concert (9) el mocambo (9) fringe (26) Great Lake Swimmers (10) guelph (9) horseshoe tavern (23) hot docs (103) jazz (12) Joel Plaskett (10) jukebox the ghost (15) lee's palace (27) marina and the diamonds (10) Massive Attack (10) mod club (12) NXNE (94) of monsters and men (11) Phoenix (15) play reviews (11) Pulp (11) Roskilde Festival (16) rural alberta advantage (10) sharon van etten (10) suede (12) summerworks (34) SXSW (479) SXSW 2022 (11) SXSW 2024 (11) SXSW Online (18) the antlers (11) the cure (9) the national (10) the xx (11) Tokyo Police Club (9) Toronto (25) toronto fringe (14) Toronto Jazz Festival (55) turf (13) tweeview (10) Video (9) zeus (10)
The Panic Manual

We are a collective of individuals bringing you the latest in concert reviews, indie, britpop, Canadian, twee and all sorts of other music, movies, tv and everything else you like. Follow the manual to live a pleasant and fulfilling life.

All rights reserved