Compared to his 2003 opening slot for ASMZ, Perri has scaled down his band. The two-drummer attack is gone (Boo!!), resulting in a quieter, looser ensemble of guitar, brass and ramshackle percussion. For the sake of these newer, lyrically introspective songs, scaling down the instrumentation is likely to their benefit because the old band would have completely overwhelmed them. Still, I spend most of their set wondering if I'm watching a pleasant slice of Toronto country-tonk or a slightly botched performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' "Eight Songs for a Mad King".
This is ASMZ's 51st show ever (IIRC, the 2003 shows were their first of that tour and only their 10th and 11th gigs together) and it quickly becomes apparent that they've shed any remaining morsels of apprehension in regards to their singing. They're no longer singing with a shy, nearly bashful confidence, like someone singing karaoke for the first time in front of long-time friends. Now, they're really belting shit out to incredibly powerful effect. There is no better advertisement for their talents than "Teddy Roosevelt's Guns", which starts with the impassioned "O Canada, I'll never be your son" line, disintegrates (in a good way) into a noisy, droning jam; and completely comes apart (also in a good way) in the finale with drums pounding, the Branca-esque sound of detuned guitars being struck while melting, and crazed screaming of the song's title. Intriguingly, they seem to give a preview of the next album, too. Last time, some of the "Horses In the Sky" tracks appeared as codas to the older songs and with this show, the pattern is repeated.
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