Mobile - May 13th - The Mod Club, Toronto
Rating: 4.5/5
Highlights: New York Minute, Out Of My Head
With bands like Metric, Broken Social Scene, New ****ographers, etc, all creating a huge buzz right now - I had a chance to check out one of the bands who is helping to front a particular Canadian movement (the Montreal scene) this past saturday,
Mobile.
With catchy singles "Out Of My Head" & "Montreal Calling" doing very well on Canadian radio, they played every single off their spectacular debut album 'Tomorrow Starts Today'.
Lead singer Mat Joy has an incredible vocal talent. On demanding songs (with their huge power choruses), such as "New York Minute" and "Hands Tied", he rolled through them sounding strikingly on cue with the album versions of the songs.
Most of the crowd, which consisted of 20-something aged concert goers, were there to dance. So songs like "Right Through Me", "Looking Out", and "Lovedrug" fared very well, while others like "Dusting Down The Stars" and "Scars" got big ovations but little movement going.
Of course, U2-esque "Montreal Calling" was a smash in the middle of the set, but the huge highlight of the night (no surprise) was the alarmingly catchy "Out Of My Head" - needless to say the crowd was insane with Mobile fever.
Throw in a 3-song encore that included a Pink Floyd Cover and which closed with a previously unreleased track (better than most of their album tracks to boot), Mobile certainly provided a handful for the $12.50 that the show cost. Incredible venue, The Mod Club, was perfect for this type of act.
Openers: The Surplus Sons from Toronto. LOADS OF ENERGY. Not to say that it was "classic rock", but it was hard, big choruses, an eccentric lead who couldn't get the tough crowd going at all times, but me and my friends were diggin them huge. We ran into some of the band after the show, and they were really cool guys. I hope they do something with their band and get some recognition soon.
Here are some pics of Mobile I took on my cell: