So this weekend I went to go see the Basement Jaxx at the Commodore. Now, if you don’t know, I really, really like the Basement Jaxx. Their music is so diverse, they mix in interesting beats and flavours of music and generally seem to not take themselves seriously, all the while being serious musicians. The show was excellent. Super high-energy, and marks the first time I’ve ever seen DJs step from behind their decks/keyboards/mixers/computers and play guitar. Both electric and acoustic on different songs. The collective was neat, with 3 female vocalists, a dancer and a percussionist. One of the women, who was rather large, was still one of the sexiest women I’ve seen in a while. It reconfirms my opinion that it’s attitude & image, not body-shape that makes someone sexy. If you think you’re sexy, chances are other will as well, i think. Anyhoo. So that was all good. And they did a nice thing where they segued into the show with this tribal-beat mix thing, and ended the show with a reprise of the same beat. Sortofa full circle thing. What sucked was that the show was maybe an hour long. Doors were at 8. Leah and I got there at 9. The openers, old-school Beastie Boys/Fresh Prince-style hip hoppers were entertaining, and were off by 9:45. My guess is that the Basement Jaxx came on shortly after 10. By 11:40, I was sitting on my couch at home. (Apparently, Luke Mckeehan was spinning later. Had I know that, I may have stuck around).
So here’s my thing. If you’re going to charge 30-odd bucks for a concert, don’t you almost have an obligation to play for longer? And if the show was shorter because Luke McKeehan was coming in to sping, shouldn’t HOB gets its act together and avoid such scheduling conflicts? I bet either one of those acts would fill the Commodore on their own nights….