This past Saturday, Kevin and I went to go see the Junior Boys at the Biltmore in Vancouver. The show started kind of early, so we went to get “dinner” at vegetarian-friendly restaurant: The Foundation. I put dinner in quotes as I doubt that nachos and beers really qualify as a dinner. The size and make of the nachos definitely grant them meal status though. They were HUGE! Delicious beans, cheese, peppers, corn, and some other stuff I can’t remember.

Once we had sufficiently stuffed our face, we head down to the venue. That was the first time I had been to the Biltmore: it’s an okay venue I guess. I really like Richard’s on Richards and the Commodore because you can see the stage from pretty much anywhere. The Biltmore has the problem of having a low stage. Even for a 6’1” tall guy like me, it was hard to see the stage.

I was super addicted to Junior Boys’ last album: So This is Goodbye.. It was the soundtrack to a bad breakup a couple of years ago, so a lot of the songs have an emotional connection for me. The echo-enhanced synth tone really fit my mood, especially the title track: In the Morning. Not to say that their sound is depressing: more like calming, and a bit romantic.

The strength of that album was enough for me to get tickets to their concert. They have a more current album out now, which I will get to in a second. I was really hoping their set would consist of a lot of older tunes- which it did- only, not the songs I was hoping for. They played about 3 or 4 tracks that I recognized, but notably absent was the song So this is Goodbye. I really liked the songs off the new CD, which I didn’t recognize. Enough so that I picked it up on Monday and gave it a listen. I really hate to say I was a little disappointed. Save for a few songs, the CD is pretty boring. I guess it’s sort of fitting that it’s called Begone Dull Care. I’m in love with the song Parallel Lines, like, to the point where it was the only song on my playlist for an hour today, but it’s not strong enough for me to like the whole CD. I’ll stick with their older stuff.

The concert overall was pretty good. The crowd was into the music and moving a lot. Good thing too, as there isn’t much of a stage show. The singer doesn’t move around at all as he’s tied to a guitar or keyboard most of the time; the drummer is pretty much invisible; and, the keyboardist couldn’t have appeared more bored. Despite all my complaints, I’m glad I went. It was my second time seeing them, and I would definitely go for a third.

Related Stories:

• Sasquatch ‘09 – Crystal Castles
• Song of the Moment- Phoenix, 1901
• Sasquatch ’09 – Santigold