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Say Anything
The Bled
Pistolita
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Babylon
Ottawa, ON
5/14/2006
By: Morley Seaver
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Nothing could ruin this day for my daughter Kaylie who is a
Say Anything, or rather, Max Bemis fanatic. Not the delayed
interview where we had to kill an hour
waiting until he was
available. Not the rain that poured while we walked to the
venue and waited for Max. Not the news that Max had hurt
his foot the night before in Montreal and the band was now
doing an acoustic set. The mere fact that we were in his
presence was enough of an energy jolt that the smile could
not be removed from her face.
The evening began with performances by Pistolita and The
Bled, two bands I had heard of but have never seen live.
Pistolita is a punk band with a piano-playing vocalist and,
though it sounds strange, it comes off well. The Bled is more
screamo, not my kind of stuff but I surprisingly enjoyed
most of their set as well.
Say Anything, or rather Max and his two guitarists, climbed
onto the stage - nobody recognized him as he was clad in a
hoodie which obscured his features. After pulling up a stool
and tuning for several minutes Max announced that he had
hurt his foot and could not jump around, so the band would
be stripped down and they would do an acoustic set. He said
they would be playing the songs from the record ...is a
Real Boy in order, to the delight of his fans. Despite
the absence of electric instruments, as they tore into ÒBelt,Ó
the energy level blew through the roof. I noticed some of
The Bled fans make their way back to the bar but I doubt
they would have stayed, even through an electric show.
You know the material from an artist is good when they can
play the songs with just a couple of acoustic guitars and you
barely notice a difference. Say AnythingÕs material
transcended the format in which it was originally conveyed
and delivered as big an emotional wallop as the CD version.
ÒWoeÓ and ÒAlive With The Glory Of Love,Ó two of my
favorites, were just spectacular. ÒThe Writhing SouthÓ and
ÒThe FutileÓ were equally terrific. From the first words in, the
crowd was singing along, making for an unscheduled Say
Anything choir.
A side benefit to the acoustic set was without the full sound,
you were really able to appreciate the excellent lyrics as
well. The humor which is prevalent throughout all of MaxÕs
material really shone through...stuff like ÒAnd this girl who I
met, whose pride makes her hard to forget, she took pity on
me, horizontally, but most likely because of my band,Ó and
ÒWhat do the old people teach us but how to dieÓ.
Max may have been sitting on a stool but he was no less
animated in his delivery. Frequently shifting on the seat to
scream out a line or phrase that needed emphasis, he was
fascinating to watch. Unfortunately before we knew it, we
were at the end of the show, which finished off by one of the
highlights of the record, ÒAdmit It.Ó The frantic pace of the
guitars lost none of their urgency making this a terrific song
to end things off with. Of course, after a minute or so of
thunderous applause, Max came out solo for a song before
disappearing but not promising to return in a few months for
a full band set.
Quite simply this was one of the best, most entertaining
shows IÕve seen in awhile. Max Bemis is a brilliant songwriter
and he can deliver a superlative show even when heÕs not up
to par. A lot of other people would have just cancelled the
show or made a hundred excuses. Max Bemis didnÕt just say
anything. He said what the Ottawa crowd wanted to hear.
And they loved him for it. An absolutely awesome show!
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