REVIEW:
Ok, so it must have been a while since I last went deaf at a rock show. Last night the Mighty Eagles were in good form, despite the absence of their bass player Joe V. In his stead, James Lang filled in nicely and kept the beat beating the audiences' eardrums as I was slowly crushed by the shear weight of the performance.
I can't remember the last time my eyes shook like a handfull of rocks dropped onto placid water... but after daring to stand nearly 3 feet from the stage, I regained that feeling. Scott "Estee Tabernac" Terry gave that old B string a good 10 seconds to fully reverberate through most of Eastern Ontario and I had to retreat to the 'safe zone' where Neal "Diamond" Johnstone could not reach me (due to mic cable constraints ~ see picture).
Adam "Soul Drummer" Frasier wrestled with a nastly looking chunk missing from his ride cymbol, while managing to keep the tightness good and waterproof. If there's anything this band's got, it's a gyroscopic rhythm section. Never straying too dangerously far from the beaten trail they've mastered, they still managed on a few occasions to rip out my chest cavity and dangle it 3-5 feet in front of me like a pendulum of quivering fluid, before submitting to gravity and raking it over the gravel that are Mr.Johnstone's vocals.
The "dueling leads" between Scott and Shawn were also some of the more interesting highlights of this show, which seemed to be more about good times and general debauchery than any serious hard-line message delivering. Shawn "Jam" Hill played double-duty (with the hilariously complication-ridden Garaga as well). Sticking to the shadows, Hill's pick-scraping riffs seemed to somehow be the focus of the group's dynamic... the left side of the stage certainly trying to keep up for dear life... while maintaining his other-worldly, finger-flying (literally) intensity that is far more gooey than his crusty exterior lets on.
It was really good to see so many familiar faces out at the bar, and to be so willingly assaulted by rock again. I must emerge from my self-imposed solitude more often for these things. Unfortunately, I got a little too hammered to actually witness the Jesus Mullet show in person... but my imagination is far stronger than any hairstyle could suggest.
A VERY GOOD NIGHT.
~LloydSmiley.com
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