The day started off gloomy as a few of us were unsure if we wanted to hit the M83 show as it was the last day at the office for…ohhhh about 124 of us had our last day. But to be quite honest I’ve never seen a happier group of peeps leave a place before, myself included.

So with a day like that a few of us were in a chill mood, but I was convinced to check out M83. The first act, School of Seven Bells, came on the stage at roughly 9:30pm and WOW! The group, from Williamsburg Brooklyn (figures), came on and played a seriously solid set. I hadn’t heard of them before but I was definitely down with what I was hearing and the next day bought their record, Alpinisms. The band features twin sisters, Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis formerly from Secret Machines. They very much had the crowd warmed up and going crazy. A solid act to look out for down the road most definitely.

After School of Seven Bells 5 – 6 song set, the stage crew came on quickly to re-configure the equipment and shortly after M83 came out to a host of screams and cheers. The group played songs off of the Saturdays=Youth album, but at one point a fan requested something older, to which Anthony Gonzalez replied with a “eeeeh, I don’t know about that one”. The crowd went crazy when “Kim & Jessie” came on and M83 could feel the love as they played with a warm smile on their faces. Actually they pretty much had this look on their face the whole night and the chemistry between Anthony and Morgan Kibby (from The Romanovs) was incredible. They had a certain connection and would send playful signals via quick glances.

Morgan Kibby’s voice is incredible I have to say. She had 90% of the guys swooning over her and I received a barrage of Blackberry messages from my friend Martinez, who was stuck in the back, to get as many pictures as I could of Morgan. Stunning and talented and held her own on stage with Anthony. One of the songs that would really capture me this evening was “Skin Of The Night”, the song is just so ominous with mad ‘80s flavor and Morgan’s voice just melts your face, pretty fuckin’ epic. When the fairly upbeat “Graveyard Girl” came the crowd immediately went into another dancing frenzy. Another song I quite enjoyed was “Up!” its definitely reminiscent of something quite familiar, but with an M83 twist all over it.

For the groups encore they played “Couleurs”, this track is so friggin’ next level. The layering on it alone is bananas, seriously! This was definitely a perfect way to end a night of solid performances from both School of Seven Bells and M83.

I want to thank Timbre Productions for allowing us to come in the house and take photos and write this review for you all. They put on a great production and bring in stellar acts. Check out their site www.timbreproductionsconcerts.com for upcoming shows in your city.

School of Seven Bells photos here
M83 photos here

DT
www.killahbeez.com

Here are the rest of the tour date stops.

Photo by David Thai

Earlier this summer I had an opportunity to catch Thunderheist at the Virgin Music Festival out in Toronto, except for one thing, I was busy reviewing and taking photos of another act, a small group by the name of MGMT. So suffice to say I was a bit bummed, but then was totally stoked again when I ran into Thunderheist in the backstage tent area, where the good peoples of Bacardi were serving us lots of free booze. I immediately jumped at the chance for an introduction. During this meeting of the minds, Isis performed a freestyle with my online magazine name, Killahbeez, that went on for a good minute at least and drawing a crowd. Then we were on stage dancing during MSTRKRFTs set. Definitely one of the dopest highlights of that weekend. So when I heard they were finally hitting the West Coast I was giddy like a 12-year-old schoolgirl.

The evening started off with the ½ Alive DJ crew which consists of: Tyler Fedchuk, My! Gay! Husband! and Tony X. These guys held it down and warmed the crowd up nicely as everyone was shaking it to their sets. They dropped some old school and I mean like Planet Rock type old school, hip-hop, New Order, MGMT and Breakbot’s remix of Pnau to name a few tracks.

Just shortly after 12:30, Isis made her way to the stage first and shortly after Grahm aka Grahmzilla joined her. Immediately the crowd was wildin’ pretty hard, those at the front, this includes yours truly, were getting squished against the stage. It was all worth it once the first track, “Bubblegum”, dropped. The energy that Isis had was pretty incredible and throughout the night she would maintain this frenetic pace. Showing some love to the crowd she at one point pulled a girl up on stage to dance with her, this said girl from the audience went buckwild and as she left the stage basically tripped over a chord and almost did a face plant onto the floor, luckily she was caught by a whole lot of people. Throughout the night both Grahm and Isis dove into the crowd to do a little surfing, very cool that they were keeping it mad real like that with the fans in the house.

Photo by David Thai

Also in the house for the night was director That Go and model Ana B, whom were both involved in the video / visual delight for the song “Jerk It”. During the song “Jerk It”, which was the last jam of the evening, Isis pulled Ana up on stage and the crowd went wild, then home girl basically threw Ana to the wolves for some crowd surfing, all of it was pretty hilarious to watch.

Thunderheist went on to perform jams that any fan would recognize, hitting “Horny”, “Little Booty Girl”, “Peer Pressure” and “Sueos Dulces”. At one point during the evening Grahm threw on MSTRKRFT’s song “Bounce” and asked if everyone recognized the voice. Of course! It was Isis. She went on to let everyone know that they had her do the track and never gave her any credit or form of payment, pretty wack considering both crews are from Toronto and that song blew up.

The performance was high energy and had yours truly and everyone else from the looks of it, sweating like a mofo. Grahm providing the ill beats while Isis slayed the mic all night long and provided some comedic relief, commenting on how unsexy she felt with the amount of sweat coming off of her and randomly making comments like “OBAMA BITCH!”. The show was great and the audience was dope as you could tell everyone was there to shake their asses to some good music, I would definitely have to recommend that all music heads experience a Thunderheist show as they bring the muthafuckin’ heat. How much heat you ask? I woke up with broken glass in my hair, bruised knee caps and sore calf muscles, wtf??? Much love to Tyler Fedchuk and the ½ Alive crew for hooking Killahbeez up with some tickets for a wicked show. Check out their website for upcoming shows and info: www.halfalive.ca. Stay tuned to the first quarter of the new year, as Thunderheist will have some goodies dropping.

If you like this review vote for me here.

For pictures of the event hit up my flickr page here.

One.

DT

What up peoples. As some of you readers may know, I also write for Virgin Music. Actually I was selected amongst a group of people to review and write about the Toronto Virgin Music Festival and represent the Vancouver music scene with my reviews and interviews. Well, I’ve made it past the first round and am now in the last leg of the competition and I need your votes. Winning this writing contest will mean that I will be able to travel the world going to every Virgin Music Festival, but what’s in it for you? Well, by voting you automatically are entered into a draw to win two free tickets to a Virgin Music Festival yourself, pretty sweet deal for taking literally 2 seconds to vote. Hit up http://music.virgin.com/vpass-voting/?voteuser=David%20Thai.

Thanks for the support y’alls. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to bring you some of the dope ass interviews and concert reviews and all the other content on this site to you every day. Pass this link on to all your friends as well.

Wesley Pentz aka Diplodocus aka Diplo, has been on the scene for a minute killing it with his unique style. Arguably he’s best known for 1. Releasing one of the illest mixtapes ever with M.I.A called Piracy Funds Terrorism and 2. For dating M.I.A. But really, what he should be recognized for is introducing North America to Baile funk. In ’06 he formed his label, Mad Decent, which brings us to today as Abe Vigoda, Telepathe, Boy 8-Bit and Diplo are on 24-city tour throughout North America.

On Thursday night I got the opportunity to check them out, but admittedly I was only able to show up for parts of Boy 8-Bits set, but got to see Diplo’s amazing set. With that said I can’t comment on the other two acts, but when I walked in Boy 8-Bit had the crowd dancing pretty hard with his unique 8-bit like stripped sounds, hence the name. One of the joints he played had me gettin’ loose and that was the “Township Funk” remix, the build-ups and dips in that track on a great stereo system is amazing.

At around 11pm, while Boy 8-Bit was still spinning, a make shift DJ booth with lights was wheeled into the middle of the dance floor. Had everybody anticipating and wondering if Diplo was going to be spinning on this spot. They wouldn’t have to wait long as he jumped on shortly after it was wheeled out and the crowd lost their shit.

He started the set playing reggae, reggaeton mixed with RnB and transitioning into hip-hop. When his remix of N.E.R.D’s “Everyone Nose” came on, the crowds were freaking it hard on the dance floor. From there he would mix in Naffie’s “Satisfaction”, a little AC/DC, Santogold’s “Creator” before going into Lil’ Waynes “A Millie”. The song would set off a string of what I would like to dub as some serious hood anthems. Playing “Money In Da Bank”, “Hustlin”, “Hip Hop”, “Paper Planes”, and “It’s Going Down” to name a few tracks. To change it up he went from Yung Joc straight into MGMT’s “Electric Feel”, now how’s that for a complete 180, somehow it worked though.

The set would go on for about an hour and a half before he was told he had to shut down, but then was told to do two more songs. As he was selecting his tracks, my home girl, Shiva, shouted out “PLAY SOME SLOW SONGS!”. To which he obliged and dropped The Flamingos “I Only Have Eyes For You” flavored with his drums of course and followed it up with Ginuwine’s “Pony” before ending the night with the final track B.O.B from Outkast.

Probably one of the nicest dudes I met as he hung around to share some of the Girl Guide cookies he had with him and take pictures with his fans.

The night was absolutely amazing as he was able to mix it up throughout the night dropping songs you wouldn’t expect but adding his recognizable drums overtop of the tracks. Definitely check this out if this hits your city. Oh and I just got word for those out in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area, Diplo is doing a pre-show set at Commonwealth in DC before his show at Black Cat. A big thank you goes out to Sealed With A Kiss for hooking this show up. As always check out www.sealedwithakisspresents.com for upcoming shows, as they’re always bringing in talented acts.

Check out the rest of our pictures here.

Tour Dates:
10-16 New York, NY - Webster Hall
10-17 Cambridge, MA - Middle East (Downstairs)
10-18 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret Musée Juste Pour Rire
10-20 Ottawa, Ontario - Babylon
10-21 Toronto, Ontario - Circa Nightclub
10-22 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10-23 Chicago, IL - The Abbey
10-24 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-25 Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre
10-27 Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
10-28 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard’s on Richards
10-31 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
11-01 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
11-03 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-04 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
11-05 Phoenix, AZ - The Brickhouse
11-07 Austin, TX - Emo’s
11-08 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
11-10 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
11-11 Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
11-12 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
11-13 Baltimore, MD - Sonar
11-14 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom

Yelle, merely hearing the name makes me conjure up images of Julie Budet aka Yelle gyrating her hips in those lovely red shorts in the video “Je Veux Te Voir”, moisturizing up her legs in “A Cause des Garcons” and not to be forgotten the brief boobie flash in the video “Ce Jeu”. Honestly, I’m not a pervert. I just have a massive crush on her, someone I like to call “wifey” she just don’t know it yet. So when a few of us Killahbeez heads were invited on Tuesday by Sealed With A Kiss to check her out I was definitely stoked at the opportunity.

Arriving at 10:30ish, we were right on schedule and quickly grabbed a few shots, before seeing the lights being dimmed and the fans quickly rushing towards the stage. The lights came on and there in front of me was “wifey”…errr I mean Yelle with Grandmarnier and Tepr. The synths kick in, followed by drums, the instrumental had people going nuts and everyone that didn’t already make their way to the dance floor did so at this point. A few moments later Yelle starts singing the lyrics to “Tristesse / Joie”, there’s one part of the song around the 3:50 mark where the beat goes down and builds back up, seeing that live was crazy as the build-up came and hit it’s peak everybody wilded out. As the song ended, she thanked Vancouver for having her and in her adorable French accent asked the crowd “Are you ready to DANCE!” a resounding hell yeah was shouted back.

The up tempo song “Mal Poli” would be the next song we were treated to. Watching her dancing across the stage back and forth was quite a site. She was ass shaking and getting the crowd to do the same, it was infectious and there was no possible way that you could not dance. Yelle kept the pace by going straight into “85A” before going into “Dans Ta Vraie Vie”, which has a very Missy Elliot-esque feel to it.

This lead to her taking a quick water break or maybe it was for the crowd to take a water break so that we could keep up. In any case the break ended with her asking the crowd if we knew “Je Veux Te Voir”, and the crowd cheered. The song is a controversial one as it disses Cuizinier, a member of the Parisian hip-hop group TTC, the song also was originally titled “Short Dick Cuizi” and was the song that blew her up on MySpace. From there she went into the third single from the album Pop-Up, “Ce Jeu”, which is easily one of my favorite tracks. At this point I noticed everyone is soaked in sweat, myself included, it felt like we were all in an aerobic class, a hot sexy French aerobic class.

She ran through a list of most of her songs while maintaining the same energetic pace throughout her set. “Les Femmes”, which is the next single from what I’ve read and an interesting one at that, as it talks about a possible lesbian romance. Part of the chorus says, “If the guys don’t open their hearts to me, I feel that I will go see somewhere else, there where all is beauty and full of sweetness, the woman”, quite a sensual song.

As this song ended she would let the crowd know that the next song was their last. She then asked everyone to sing along to “À Cause des Garçons”. I can’t say enough about her dancing on stage as she really just puts it all out there and seems to almost try to translate her songs through her dancing for the audience. The song started out as the original and towards the end of it they played Tepr’s remixed version of it, which has harder drums driving the track as well as a more techno feel to it. Fans would come to find out that this wasn’t the last song as she stated and performed three more songs, ending on another Tepr remix, this time for the song “Je Veux Te Voir”.

The concert was an incredible one and as I mentioned above, it felt like an aerobic workout with the amount of dancing going on. I wasn’t sure what to expect before going into the show but I came out totally amazed at how well she was able to maintain the crowds attention and control us at will. When she spoke, everyone was in an “awwwwww she’s so adorable” state, as her thick French accent made her sound so cute and loveable and not to mention sexy. I would definitely recommend everyone to go check her out when she hits your city, definitely worth the money. Thanks again to Sealed with a Kiss promotions for the hook-up, be sure to check out their upcoming shows at www.sealedwithakisspresents.com.

Photos from the concert seen at our Flickr site.

Below is her set list, but I must warn you, I maybe missing a song or two because I know at one point I was just staring at her through my camera lens. I wasn’t even taking pictures just staring.

Yelle Set list
Tristesse / Joie
Mal Poli
85A
Dans Ta Vraie Vie
Je Veux Te Voir
Ce Jeu
Jogging
Les Femmes
À Cause des Garçons (Tepr Remix)
Mon Meilleur Ami
Je Veux Te Voir (Tepr Remix)

Full North American Tour Stops
Dallas, TX House Of Blues (October 7)
Austin, TX The Mohawk (October 8 )
Miami, FL Polish American Club (October 10)
Orlando, FL The Social (October 11)
Washington, DC 9:30 Club (October 13)
New York, NY Webster Hall (October 14)
Boston, MA The Roxy (October 15)
Detroit, MI The Magic Stick (October 20)
Chicago, IL Logan Square Auditorium (October 21)
Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall (October 22)
Denver, CO Ogden Theatre (October 24)
Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge (October 25)
Seattle, WA Neumos (October 27)
Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom (October 28)
Portland, OR Berbati’s (October 29)
San Francisco, CA Mezzanine (October 31)
Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre (November 1)
San Diego, CA Beauty Bar (November 2)

Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom, Thursday, October 9th, presented by Sealed with a Kiss. The final leg of the Cut Copy & The Presets North American tour officially dubbed “Modular presents Cut Copy & The Presets”.  The tour kicked off on September 13th and embarked on a 20-date tour across the US and Canada, before both label mates, Cut Copy and The Presets, go their separate ways overseas. This wasn’t the first time either groups have stopped in Vancouver as The Presets have made their way here several times and this was Cut Copy’s second stop in Vancouver in the same year.

Kicking and Screaming

So right off the bat I have to say I missed a few songs from The Presets, not due to tardiness or troubles at the gate, but that’s neither here nor there. When I finally did get in it was a party atmosphere as I could feel the dance floor from underneath me moving as if it were a small wave. When I made my way up to front I could see drummer Kim Moyes standing in front of his drums and riling up the crowd and getting as much energy as he could, while Julian was doing his thing on the keyboard.

They performed an array of songs as they went through “This Boy’s in Love” and “Kicking and Screaming”, this particular song had the crowd going wild and literally kicking and screaming as Kim left his drums for the song to switch up instruments and as my friend AJK said “freaked it on what looked to be the analog synth staple, the Korg MS-20”. Kim would do this throughout the night, abandoning the drums for the Korg MS-20.

Other recognizable jams that they performed were mostly off of the Apocalypso album such as “Talk Like That”, “Together” and “My People” which again had the crowd singing along and wilding out hard. A mistake on my part, I was wearing a flannel shirt as it was damn cold outside, but I neglected to check this piece of blanket wrapped around me and damn near drowned in my own sweat from all the dancing with various peoples in attendance. The vibe was mad cool and chill, total party peoples in the house. As The Presets set drew to an end, drummer Kim threw out his drumsticks for a few lucky fans and Julian thanked the crowd for their energy and supporting the music.

Lights and Music

After a brief 10 – 15 min intermission the stage lights went down and through the darkness you could see Mitchell, Tim and Dan walk out on the stage and assume their instruments as the noise level in the venue cranked up to a 50 on a scale of 1 to 10. In the middle of the cheers the group quickly went into “Nobody Lost, Nobody Found”. The energy was definitely incredible as the crowd was fist pumping and dancing along. As the song ended they went straight into “Far Away”, which is easily one of my favorite songs on the album, although I can honestly say I love most of the tracks off of In Ghost Colours evenly.

From there they flipped the script and took everyone on a journey back to their first LP, Bright Like Neon Love, and performed “Time Stands Still”. The set would continue with “So Haunted” and “Strangers in the Wind”, which would lead to the group taking a short break as Dan thanked everyone for supporting the group and showing them all this love, as well as mentioning that this was the final North American stop. At which point he said something that made me laugh so hard I almost peed myself, he yelled out “DISCO TIME!” and then Cut Copy went into “Saturday” from Bright Like Neon Love.

Continuing to jam through their songs including “Lights and Music” and “Future”, which quite a few people noticed was a punchier and more upbeat version then the original, this ended their set, but the crowd cheered louder and louder. The boys from Australia didn’t disappoint as they came back out and performed “Hearts on Fire” for their encore. The show was great, the stage setup, wonderful, a complete “Lights and Music” show.

After the show it’s the…

The official after party held at Republic was also being promoted by Sealed with a Kiss. The after party also featured a DJ set from Kim of The Presets as well as Tim and Dan from Cut Copy. But here’s where our story dies, as management from DHM told us that we were good to get in and indeed we were on the list. The problem really lied with their overzealous bouncer that decided not to let us in, even after knowing that we had promised DHM that we would review the after party. When we eventually did get in, 25 mins later, we had basically missed the DJ set from Kim. Nonetheless everyone was still buzzing from the concert and that’s all that really mattered.

The Presets played a great set and were entertaining throughout the night. This was also the case with Cut Copy as they really utilized the crowds energy by putting their all into the set. Although I will have to say that I would have loved to have heard more older tracks specifically “1981″ and “Rendezvous”, but I can’t complain the performance was, for a lack of a better word, awesome. A big thanks goes out to Malcolm at Sealed with a Kiss, check out their website for a list of upcoming shows, www.sealedwithakisspresents.com.

If you like the review please vote for me here.

Peace.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

P.S.: Pictures are here on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/killahbeez

P.S.S.: As usual I try and get the playlist for all you folks out there to re-live the experience or for those that didn’t make it to have an idea of how the set broke down. Since I missed out on a portion of The Presets set, I will only be able to provide Cut Copys list.

• Nobody Lost, Nobody Found
• Far Away
• Time Stands Still
• So Haunted
• Unforgettable Season
• Strangers in the Wind
• That Was Just A Dream
• Saturdays
• Feel The Love
• Out There On The Ice
• Lights and Music
• Future
• Hearts on Fire - Encore

MSTRKRFT (read as “Master-Kraft”) is an electronic group out of Toronto. Actually this year at the Toronto Virgin Music Fest they replaced SebastiAn, when he missed his flight and they didn’t disappoint. The group came together in 2005 and consists of JFK (Jesse F. Keeler) and Al-P (Alex Puodziukas). The group has remixed over 30 songs of various genres including the latest remix of John Legend’s song “Green Light”.

On Friday I attended Fist Of God, which is the official name for the MSTRKRFT tour as well as their upcoming album, which is expected to drop in January of 2009. The stop I was at had Felix Cartal opening up, but there will be various openers throughout the tour such as DJ A-Trak, DJ Aoki, LA Riots, Congorock, DJ Assault and the aforementioned Felix Cartal. Blueprint Events, which is known as one of Vancouver’s best electronic promoters for a minute now, was hosting the event as well as the after party.

The event took place at Celebrities Night club and was fully packed, in fact this show could have easily taken place at Commodore Ballroom to accommodate more folks, but nonetheless the vibes were good as people were ready to dance their fuckin’ asses off. The duo came on at around 1am and they immediately had the crowd going crazy, as their sound is fairly distinct with that 4/4 beat and heavy heavy synths.

Like usual they played a range of stuff including their own remixes, from the Presets to Dem Franchise Boyz to Cupid to Daft Punk to Usher to Kylie Minogue and throwing in stuff from their first album as well. The set was filled with energy throughout and both MSTRKRFT and the crowd seemed to be feeding off of one another and it was non-stop. The set ended at about 2:30am, but an encore had JFK continue to rock the house til well past 3am. If you left this party not soaked from head to toe in sweat, then you my friend were not partying hard enough. Overall one word can describe this set. EPIC!

Thanks to Alvaro from Blueprint Events for hooking me up with the opportunity to attend the show. For more of their upcoming events check out www.blueprintevents.ca. For those out in New York on October 10th, MSTRKRFT will be playing at Webster Hall, but they’ll also be at the New Era Flagship store as they have a New Era collaboration that’s dropping.

If you like the review please vote for me here.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

MSTRKRFT “Easy Love”

Kylie Minogue “Wow” (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Justice “D.A.N.C.E.” (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Here are the rest of their tour stops:

Fist of God tour:

09-26 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre (with A-Trak, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-27 San Diego, CA - House of Blues (with Steve Aoki, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre (with Aoki, Felix Cartal, Congorock)
09-30 Pomona, CA - Glass House (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-01 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-02 Seattle, WA – Showbox (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-03 Vancouver, British Columbia – Celebrities (with Felix Cartal)
10-04 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Exchange Event Center (with Felix Cartal)
10-06 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-07 Chicago, IL - Metro (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-08 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-09 Columbus, OH 0 Boma (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall (with Felix Cartal, Congorock, DJ Assault
10-11 Poughkeepsie, NY - Vassar College (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-12 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-13 Boston, MA - The Estate (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
10-15 Baltimore, MD - Redrock (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-16 Charlotte, NC - Forum (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-17 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-18 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade Music Park (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-19 Memphis, TN - Hard Rock Café Memphis (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-22 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-23 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-24 Dallas, TX - House of Blues (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-25 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience: The Tenth Ritual
10-27 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-28 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-31 Salt Lake City, UT - Salt Palace Convention Center (with Felix Cartal)
11-01 Las Vegas, NV - Fabulous Festival

Mike who? Mike Relmmmmmm! If you don’t know who Relm is, then consider this a backgrounder. He’s a turntablist from San Francisco and has performed with numerous artists as well as toured across the country. He’s known for his live performances, which feature audio and video mash-ups all cut and scratched live on the spot, and on Friday, Sept. 26, he stopped in on Vancouver, presented by Spectrum Events.

So I have to admit, I didn’t know very much of Mike Relm before I went to the show. I mean, besides the clips on YouTube and doing some background research on him, so I didn’t really expect too much going into the show. By the end of the show I was converted into a fan and even shook his hand (I told you Michelle it wasn’t too late) as corny as that sounds.

The show is what you see on some of the YouTube clips, but with a shit load more energy from the audience and from Relm himself as he interacts with the crowd and people are constantly jumping on stage and attempting to dance then throwing themselves for a stage dive. Oh, and did I forget to mention that he brought friends. Yeah his friends, dubbed the “Sideshow,” were two scary ass clowns, did I mention I’m afraid of clowns? The novel / movie IT, really messed me up as a kid. These “friends” were like his very own hype men, think Flava Flav to Chuck D, Spliff Starr to Busta Rhymes, Memphis Bleek to Jay-Z, except the “Sideshow” were on turntables.

Relm played a diversity of music throughout the night, mixing House of Pain, Pharcyde, Outfield, NWA, with Feist and John Lennon. The music off course was only part of the show, as he would mix in visuals from movies and TV shows such as Harold & Kumar, Office Space, Snoopy, When Harry Met Sally, Team America and Nacho Libre to name a few.

He really rocked the whole show from beginning to end, but here are highlights for me, and judging from the response of the crowd, were:

• When he freaked it hard on his MPC and did his drums live on the spot
• He played his song and accompanying video for “Everytime”
• Dropping Damian Marley’s “Welcome to Jamrock” remixed by Relm, the drums on the mix he played were hard as hell and had a bunch of folks in the back dancing, including yours truly
• In one of his video clips he had a sign that read, “If John McCain wins the election, I’m going to marry a Canadian Woman” ‘nuff said.
• Outfield’s chorus from “Your Love” mixed in with NWA’s “Quiet On Tha Set”

As his show ended, the crowd cheered and wanted an encore and he didn’t disappoint. He came back and ended the show with John Lennon’s “Imagine” which lead to one more song, Feist’s “1,2,3,4”, but not the original, again he laced the tracks with some ill drums and made it pretty nasty, in a good way.

Overall a great show and great energy from Mike Relm and the crowd, I definitely have to give props to Sean from Spectrum Events for hooking us up at Killahbeez with some media passes. Check out www.spectrum-events.com for upcoming events.

If you like the review please vote for me here.

Peace.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

PS: Pictures are here on Flickr.

Photo by Michelle da Silva

On Monday night, Alicia Keys did her second show in Vancouver as part of the As I Am tour and I was lucky enough to be there. To say I have a kindergarten crush on this girl is a mad understatement. The crowd was packing into the Orpheum Theatre and while that was going on we were treated to a performance by Jermaine Paul, who we would later come to find out is also one of Alicia’s backup singers. He actually sang quite beautifully, but it was difficult to hear it all with the crowd coming in and shuffling to their seats.

The lights go down. A few moments later the band is playing the instrumental for “Go Ahead”, a few seconds later and Miss Keys appears on stage and the crowd erupted. One word that can only really describe this woman, BEAUTIFUL! Black sequin dress with sparkles, black leggings and heels. I nearly lost my mind; in fact I forgot to take notes for a moment on the show as I was so mesmerized by her voice and beauty. Definitely got chills as she was singing. From there she transitioned into “You Don’t Know My Name”, she was being backed up by a 7 piece band with 3 backup singers. She definitely was electrifying the crowd as she moved along the stage and danced. As my home girl Michelle noted it was very Beyonce-esque. As “You Don’t Know My Name” ended, her two female back-up singers joined her front and centre forming a triangle and going into “Teenage Love Affair” and mimicking the dances in the video.

Photo by Michelle da Silva

Moments later she asked the crowd if she could play the piano, uh how about a hell yes to that. So she jumped on and went into “Karma”, but it wasn’t the version off of the album. It was less thumpy and more bouncy, a salsa version of the song. It was different but I quite liked the sound of it.

My favorite song of the night was definitely “Diary”, I love this song, as it feels like a private moment / conversation between a man and a woman. Jermaine Paul stood by her piano as they both sang this together and man, I have to say it was beautiful and soulful. As this was ending she transitioned into what I initially thought was a Janet Jackson song, actually both Michelle and I thought it was, but as my home girl Niña so kindly pointed out, it was Force M.D.’s song “Tender Love”.

The concert was pretty fantastic and she ran through a gamut of her songs, full play list below. The only song she didn’t do that I wanted to hear was “Girlfriend” as it samples one of my favorite rappers, Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Can’t say too much about the venue that it was held in as it’s known to sound acoustically beautiful and it was no different for this concert. The crowd was chill through parts and wilded on occasion, as to be expected. Even though this was her second show in as many days in Vancouver, I still felt like she brought a ton of energy in her performance and kept the audience engaged the whole time. Two words: beautifully soulful.

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Below is the play list for those that were there and those that weren’t, compile as you wish so that you can relive the moment.

• Go Ahead
• You Don’t Know My Name
• Teenage Love Affair
• Heartburn
• Karma (Remixed)
• How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
• Super Woman
• I Need You
• Wreckless Love
• Diary
• Force M.D.’s Tender Love
• My Boo
• Unbreakable
• A Woman’s Worth
• Like You’ll Never See Me Again
• Fallin’
• Encore – No One

So let me start off by saying this was one of the longest days in my life as I started off earlier in the day / evening at the N.E.R.D / Common concert at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park and then I had to quickly get my butt out of the Stanley Park area, which wasn’t too bad actually and get to the Commodore Ballroom where the CSS concert was being held. Huge thanks to the crew at Sealed with a Kiss Promotions for allowing us to attend the show and take photos, check out their website for upcoming shows, www.sealedwithakisspresents.com. Now you all know my mind frame as I entered the show, exhausted. I didn’t get a chance to catch any of the openers.

First things first I had to find a good spot for taking photos, which I have to admit I didn’t get that many great shots, but worth checking out nonetheless. The lights came down, the crowd in anticipation started cheering louder and erupted as members of the band came out and got setup on their instruments. The set started off with “Jager Yoga” and goddamn it kicked my ass. Immediately woke me up from my exhausted state and had me wildin’ out. Lovefoxxx was insanely energetic and there was no way that that wasn’t going to transfer to the audience, so in return everybody else wilded out. Gotta say though that outfit choice of hers was f’in awesome, a leotard, sexy that’s all I can say. Fast forward to the third song “This Month, Day 10”, the crowd went crazy again as soon as the melody and drum line dropped. Again Lovefoxxx just killed it, pouring all of her energy into the song. The crowd was singing and dancing along with every hook and lyric.

There was definite interaction between her and the crowd and she even made note that this was the third time they were in Vancouver, having performed previously at Celebrities and Richards on Richards. Offering shots of tequila to the crowd as well, pretty fantastic.

Then the infectious jam “Move” came on and my ass hit the roof. I love this jam and I love the recently discovered Cut Copy remix as well, which is on Killahbeez.com. The drum line, melody and hook, fuck it. Everything about this song just makes you want to, well get up and “Move” and the video for this is pretty hilarious and quite creative. After this song ended there was a bit of a break as a prop was being brought out onto the stage. Whatever it was, it was under a black curtain and soon to be revealed. A few moments go by and Lovefoxxx pulls off the curtain to reveal a huge Britney Spears microphone stand, I was drinking redbull and it all ended up coming out my nose at this point. It was pretty hilarious to say the least, check out the pictures to see it. This lead into the song “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex”, which the mainstream folks will remember it for being in the Apple iTouch commercial, but the crowd ate this song up, myself included. I love it when they break into the Portuguese rhymes, that shit is hot. The set seemingly ended with “Let’s Reggae All Night”, and the band left the stage. There was about 2 – 5 mins of chanting from the crowd as we clearly wanted more and more is what they ended up giving us as they came back out on stage and did another three songs before ending the night off with their jam “Alala”.

Overall, great concert and it seriously woke my ass up and out of my slight coma and kept me partying the whole time. Great job on Sealed with a Kiss’s part for bringing in another solid act and at a great venue. CSS killed it playing a good mixture of old and new material and great energy on their part in keeping the crowd amped from beginning to the end. Check out the rest of the pictures on our Flickr page.

Complete set list here (big up to my home girl Mae Lynn for lookin’ out):

Jager Yoga
Meeting Paris Hilton
This Month, Day 10
Left Behind
Off the Hook
Rat is Dead (Rage)
Move
Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex
Alcohol
Let’s Reggae All Night
Air Painter
Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above
Alala

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A few of us Killahbeez heads were invited by Livenation to check out the N.E.R.D. and Common concert, which is dubbed as “Seeing The Invincible Sounds of Summer Tour”. The tour name combines both N.E.R.D.’s album name, Seeing Sounds, along with Common’s upcoming album, The Invincible Summer. The tour stop in Vancouver was the 5th stop for these guys with 13 additional dates left, so be sure to check out www.livenation.com for information on the tour.

The night started off with one of Canada’s best DJs and we’ve posted about homeboy a few times here on Killahbeez, DJ Pump. He warmed the crowd up with some classic hip hop, some new joints like “Jockin’ Jay-Z”, “Swagger Like Us” as well as educating the crowd with samples like Aretha Franklin’s “One Step Ahead” and showing the crowd where “A Millie” really came from. I’ve said this numerous times, but he’s truly one of the most versatile DJs I’ve heard in a minute and can rock any kind of party. Check out his MySpace page for a list of upcoming shows, www.myspace.com/djpump.

Now onto N.E.R.D. these dudes hit the stage around 7pm, when they came out the crowd went bananas and Pharrell acknowledged the cheers by going crazy himself and jumping straight into “Anti Matter”, which easily is one of my favorite tracks off of the latest album, Seeing Sounds. The guitar riffs and drums for the track sounded pretty damn fantastic in the venue and had me head bobbin’, nearly forgetting that I was there to take photos. So dope it had your boy losing focus for a second. A little disappointment though started to set in as I noticed that Chad Hugo wasn’t there and this marks the third straight time (he wasn’t at the Glow In the Dark and Pemberton Festival) that he wasn’t here, which could possibly mean he has difficulties coming across the Canadian border. It was up to Pharrell and fellow member Shae to hold things down and that they did as they kept their frenetic pace throughout the set. Going from “Anti Matter” to “Brain” to “Killjoy”. As one of my friends in attendance said, “I love how Pharrell performs throwing his arms wildly and just rockin’ out his shit”.

There was lot of interaction between the crowd and Pharrell, at one point Pharrell pulls up a kid onto the stage and it was clearly visible that the kid was in shock that he was up on stage with N.E.R.D., pretty cool moment. The set continued with “Maybe” followed by “Sooner or Later”, “You Know What”, “Rockstar”. At this point the crowd seems to be mellowing out, not so much the fans in the front as they were still wildin’, but the peoples in the back and side of the park were definitely on the mellower side. This lead to Pharrell telling the crowd “We’re here to lose our muthafucking minds, otherwise we’re wasting our time. If you’re too cool then get the fuck out”. I thought that was hilarious and he got a good laugh out of the crowd as well. N.E.R.D. went on to finish their set with “Spaz”, “Lapdance” and “Everyone Nose”. But wait they still weren’t done, they then went into a medley of tracks such as “Drop It Like Its Hot”, P’s verse of course, “She Wants to Move” and then dropping a sick live remix by playing The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”, while both Shae and Pharrell did their verses for “Everyone Nose”.

I have the official set list that was taped to the stage, but N.E.R.D., definitely changed it up as a few of the songs were moved around and the medley they had originally planned seemed to have completely changed last second.

Next up, Common.

There were some worried faces amongst the crowd as word had gotten out that there was a hard curfew time of 10pm for the park and the stage setup time for Common was unexpectedly long. But as the clock hit shortly after 9pm, the show began with an opening skit. The stage itself was setup as a club, with a bar, along with stools, dj booth, etc. Enter DJ Dummy and the rest of the band members, shortly thereafter Common busts his way onto the stage and starts the show off with “Announcement”, which is the second single from the upcoming album, The Invincible Sound, and straight into another new song called “Inhale”. Common stops for a second for another quick skit, it was clear he wasn’t here to just rap for us; he was here to entertain the fans. As the skit ended it lead into the song “Go” which quickly turned into the track “Sex For Sugar”, another new track off of the upcoming album. At this point I was relief to hear some of these new tracks as I have to admit I was a bit worried that his whole upcoming album would follow the path of “U.M.C”, which I’m definitely not a fan of and a lot of Common fans can agree that that jam is not one of his best. As “Sex For Sugar” ended he went into another skit, in total there were 4 skits for the whole show. He had also pulled a lucky female audience member up onto the stage. He would do another new song, “Punch Love”, before going into “Come Close” and one of my favorite hip-hop songs ever, “I Used To Love H.E.R.”

I knew the aforementioned song, “U.M.C (Universal Mind Control)”, would eventually be played and wasn’t really looking forward to it, but you know what. Common killed it, the live drum tracks on this song was sick, had me head bobbin’ for sure and that wasn’t expected so that had me amped.

Common did a great job at keeping the energy going during his set, considering he was on his own for the most part, except for a few tracks where Pharrell came out to perform along side Common. As some may know Kanye West isn’t producing the majority of Common’s upcoming album as he did on Common’s previous work. Pharrell has taken over the majority of production duties on this new album, hence the different sound.

He would go through an abundance of tracks such as Talib Kweli’s “Get ‘Em High” (his verse), “Drive Me Wild”, “I Want You”, “Be”, “Make My Day”, “The Food”, “The People”, “The Corners”, “The Light” and finishing off with a new song “Gladiator”.

But something crazy happened in between the tracks “The Corners” and “The Light” and for sure any true hip-hop head would have picked it up right away. The band behind Common started playing one of the most recognizable beat in hip-hop and Common continued the process by doing the first verse and that’s when I had a huge smile on my face. He was doing Nas’s song “NY State of Mind” and customized it for Vancouver, by replacing “NY” with “BC”, very impressive indeed.

I have to say this was a great hip-hop concert and the outdoor venue, Malkin Bowl, was excellent in terms of sound and thankfully the Vancouver weather held-up and it was sunny the whole day. I actually have never seen either Common or N.E.R.D. live before and definitely have to say that both impressed me. I had high expectations for Common as I have grown up listening to all of his stuff, you know before he dropped the “Sense” from his name. So if this tour rolls through your city I definitely have to recommend that you go and check it out.

Here are the remaining tour dates:

September 18 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
September 19 - Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Amphitheater
September 20 - Berkeley, CA @ Berkeley Community Theatre
September 21 - Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
September 23 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
September 27 - Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
September 29 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
October 1 - Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
October 2 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
October 4 - New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
October 8 - Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
October 9 - Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Cafe
October 10 - Miami Beach, FL @ Fillmore

Hit up Livenation for more information on tickets, venues and dates: www.livenation.com

Rest of the pictures can be found on our Flickr page. If you liked this review, please remember to vote for me here.

So it’s been just over a week since the Toronto Virgin Music Festival occurred and I’ve had a bit of time to digest the whole festival. Overall the I have to say the experience was pretty f**kin’ unbelievable, Virgin treated us folks in the media pretty great by giving us access to certain areas that the general public couldn’t enter. My favorite and where we spent the most time was the Bacardi B-Live Tent, as there was a special VIP / Media tent that served…well, what else, Bacardi drinks. I’m not sure I’ve had that many mojitos ever in a span of a weekend. Oh and I tried my first Maple mojito, quite sweet and interesting, not sure if I’d ever have another though.

Highlights:

• Sitting beside The Kooks for the longest time and not realizing and then Melissa stalking them for a picture.
• Meeting with Thunderheist and having Isis incorporate “Killahbeez” and such into her freestyle, which drew some attention.
• Dancing on stage with Thunderheist while MSTRKRFT was djing.
• Seeing Richard Branson backstage at the Bacardi B-Live Tent.
• Sitting across from Moby and not really realizing who he was until I actually looked, yeah that was embarrassing.
• Autographed CDs from MGMT, HELL YEAH!

And much more off course, but if I list anymore it could classify as bragging and that ain’t my steez.

So in case you’re wondering how I made my way there or why I was at the Toronto Virgin Music Festival, here’s the back-story. One day I was sitting around bored and came across a link where Virgin Music wanted writers to submit reviews that they’ve done in the past, so after some debate on which review I was going to send, I decided to submit my Stevie Wonder review that I wrote for Killahbeez. Then came the waiting game, but I hadn’t heard anything for months and to be quite honest totally slipped my mind and I forgot about it. A day after my birthday in the morning I get an email and phone call telling me I won this contest, I was still sleeping and thought I was a) dreaming or b) a friend was playing a joke on me, but then I remembered I never told anyone about entering this contest. After a few exchanges on email, I decided to take a chance on believing this was legit and dove head first in making arrangements.

The prize was 2 VIP / Media pass to the Toronto Virgin Music Festival and an opportunity to write on http://music.virgin.com, where after an allotted time fans/readers would vote for their favorite article / writers. This lucky winner would then win a Global VPass, where you would essentially travel from festival to festival. Currently that’s where I am in the process, writing on Virgin Music’s website and hoping to get enough votes, so hit up http://music.virgin.com/author/David%20Thai/ and vote for my articles if you feel that they’re worthy of your votes as that would be hella appreciated.

I definitely have to thank Virgin Music for selecting me as it’s definitely an honor.

To view all of our pictures from the V-Fest, check out our Killahbeez Flickr page.

MGMT is easily one of my favorite bands of 2007-08. This group was introduced to me by my mans AJK, who has been pushing a lot great stuff my way, so definitely gotta give him credit here for this one. And can’t forget my other buddy Ryan, ‘cus that fool is on his game. With that said, this was definitely the band that I wanted to check out the most of the whole line-up, and they did not disappoint. They killed it with their performance of “Pieces of What” and “4th Dimensional Transition.” As “4th Dimensional Transition” came to an end, they kept a chord playing straight into “Time to Pretend” and the crowd went nuts and was singing along with the tune. This song has such a great summer feel to it and I couldn’t help but reminisce about my summer during this song, all the great times I’ve had with friends and concerts that I was fortunate to attend. Great times!

They kept the vibes going by playing straight into “Electric Feel,” which is easily one of their more recognizable jams and going into “The Handshake.” At this point, the group took a short, like 1 minute, break, and the drummer and two extra guitarists left the stage. Ben Goldwasser then proceeded to play the instrumental for the song “Kids” through his synths. The sound was just booming through the speakers and I admit, I got chills hearing this shit. From there, both Andrew and Ben sat down on the stage and started performing the song for the crowd, and at one point, Andrew was on his knees singing to his guitar. That concluded the performance, and I have to say, I was pretty damn pleased with it. Their vocals on the album completely match the vocals on stage, which is usually rare, and they were able to keep a great vibe throughout.

See more pictures via our Flickr page, which can be found on the right hand side of the page.

Also if you like this review vote for me here on this page.

Last Thursday on September 11th a few of us Killahbeez members were hooked up by Blueprint Events, definitely props to Alvaro for hooking us up with some VIP passes. The event took place at Caprice, which has been noted as having quite poor sound quality, but I have to say Blueprint Events did a great job in promoting the event as there was a great turnout showing support. The night started off with a dj set from Expendable Youth, but we had arrived a bit later than expected so we really only heard about 30 mins of their set, which actually was decent. Their vibe is a little bit darker and harder then my taste, but the crowd was loving it and that’s all that matters.

Digitalism came on shortly after we arrived and started their set at 12:30am and wow! They killed it from beginning to the the end. Playing remixes of their hits as well as originals, they also played some Midnight Juggernauts and Treasure Fingers to name a few. There was definite love between the crowd and Digitalism as the crowd would cheer louder and dance crazier with every track that they played. The party would continue on until about 3am or so. Overall the dj set was pretty fantastic and everyone easily left satisfied. For those that want to hear more from these guys, you need to go out and pick up the Kitsuné Tabloid compilation that’s mixed and compiled by Digitalism, props to my man AJK for introducing this mix to me.

For more information on upcoming events by Blueprint Events, hit up their website at www.blueprintevents.ca. Definitely looking forward to their October 3rd event with MSTRKRFT.

If you’re liking these reviews and posts vote for us here: http://music.virgin.com/author/David%20Thai/

OK, so I have to admit that I’m not the biggest Oasis fan. And to be quite honest, I haven’t heard a full album of their stuff since (What’s The Story) Morning Glory. Yeah, that was in 1995 and I was 15. However, with that said, of all the acts that hit Virgin Music Festival in Toronto this year, they were one of the few acts to really impress the shit out of me.

The crowd went wild as the band hit the stage and there was some definite love, both ways from the band and for the band. They kicked of their set with the ever popular “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” with Liam showing his usual cocky bravado, while his brother, Noel, looked mad chilled off to Liam’s left playing the guitar. With the view I had from the media tent, I unfortunately couldn’t see the other members of the band, but nonetheless, it didn’t ruin the experience at all as these guys killed it. From there, they went into “Lyla,” off of Don’t Believe the Truth, which some have said is their best since Morning Glory. and continued into a new song of theirs called “The Shock of the Lightning,” which is off of the upcoming album Dig Out Your Soul. I definitely was feeling this track and the crowd was also responding quite well to it. After this, Liam took a quick break to banter back and forth with the crowd. I have to say, I’ve heard some negative things about these guys in the past in terms of performances and cockiness, but that was not evident on this night as there was love going back and forth. Liam was consistently conversing with the crowd and even handed his tambourine to a lucky concert goer at one point - pretty sick. They kept the vibe going with “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” “The Meaning of Soul,” “The Masterplan” beautifully sung by Noel, “Songbird,” “Slide Away,” and “What’s The Story Morning Glory.”

This is where the story takes a step in a different direction. As some of you may have heard, Noel was attacked on stage. It was during the song “Morning Glory” that this atrocious act took place. From what I could see, some guy ran from the side of the stage, violently pushed Noel into the speakers and proceeded to move towards Liam, before he was jumped by security. As security jumped him, I could see Liam throwing a punch at the assailant as he was dragged backstage. The whole band left the stage, clearly for security reasons. As one of my friends who I told jokingly asked me “Was it Memphis Bleek?” to which I replied “Not unless he donned a full body Caucasian suit”. Five minutes later, the group was back out on stage doing their thing, but it wasn’t the same anymore. Assumingly shaken, they weren’t bantering with the crowd anymore. Instead, they just performed out the rest of their set.

The band came back and resumed with “The Importance of Being Idle,” “Wonderwall,” “Supersonic,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” and ended the night with “I Am The Walrus,” but like I said, it was not the same as before the attack. Don’t get me wrong, they still killed these tracks, but you could tell that they were still shaken by what had happened. I had hoped that they would perform “Champagne Supernova,” which is still one of my songs.But at last it was not meant to be.

There you have it folks. Once a fan has now been converted back into a fan because of this great performance on their part. If you liked this review and want to read more, be sure to vote for me at this site. Special shout out to Melissa for helping me with the song titles, while I took pictures.

See the rest of the pictures on our Flickr page, which can be accessed via the box on the right hand side of the page.

Stay tuned for more reviews on the Toronto V-fest. And I’m out.

Aight so some may have been wondering where the hell I’ve been with my posts and updates and may have possibly noticed a slow down in content. Well I’m back folks. So what took me away in the first place? Well, I had submitted a Stevie Wonder review that I wrote for Killahbeez, seen here, and submitted it to Virgin Mobile Music for shits and giggles. What ended up happening was that Virgin liked it, called up ya boy and told me what’s good. For those that just didn’t understand that (myself included), I apologize as I have barely had any sleep in the last little while. Basically Virgin told me I won their contest and wanted me to represent the festival out in Toronto and write about my experiences.

So after some debate, my ass jumped onto a plane and off I was to Toronto. What ensued from there was a whole lot of fun and some craziness, more then this once small town kid could ever imagine. So bear with me over the next few days as I am blogging for Virgin Music’s site as well. I’ll post all of my experiences here at Killahbeez for all of y’all to follow along, including some pretty sick pictures, including the one above of MSTRKRFT djing, and yes I was literally beside them, behind them, dancing around them and taking pictures. All of this for you, so stay tuned.

Thursday, July 24 – Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver

Pittsburgh, Pa., DJ Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, brought the party to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver on Thursday, July 24. The highly-anticipated event was sold out weeks in advance, and it was thanks to our friends over at Sealed with a Kiss that two of us ‘Beez got in.

A long line was formed outside the venue by 10 p.m., and inside, openers Twin Crystals were makin’ a whole lotta racket that the crowd flooding in didn’t seem to be feelin’. I don’t mean to be a hater, but the thrash guitar, almost screamo sounds of Twin Crystals just didn’t seem to be a good lead up to the pop/ hip-hop/ electro vibe of Girl Talk. Luckily, after the band’s question, “So, do you guys want to hear another song?” was met with a significant amount of boos, Twin Crystals left the stage, and a local DJ spun some cool and relaxed reggae beats that got the hipsters out onto the dance floor.

Girl Talk set up promptly. Nothing fancy – just his basic DJ equipment on a single table, and started the show at 11 p.m. The crowd went absolutely wild as he shouted, “What’s up, Vancouver? So glad so many of you came out on a Thursday!” and threw on T.I.’s “What You Know About That.”

He quickly changed up his set almost every 20 seconds. He’d just roll into the next song, and you’d just feel this energetic uproar in the room. With the bass turned up real high, Girl Talk went from Sinead O’Conner’s “Nothing Compares,” to N.E.R.D’s “Everyone Nose,” to playing the popular riff from Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So.” But he never dwelled on a track for too long. Girl Talk would often just play a hint of the riff or the recognizable beat from a song, get the crowd goin’ on that and then unexpectedly switch to the next riff and beat. He got a great rhythm going and was just feeding off the energy of the crowd. I must say, I hadn’t seen Vancouver so ecstatic at a show in quite some time.

Next, Girl Talk decided to take the party to another level and invited as many kids as he could to dance up on stage and crowd around him. His DJ’ing posture is totally hunched over, so even though there were sweaty screamin’ kids bumpin’ up against him, it looked like he had a way of feeding off that energy but tuning out the distractions. A true party maker. Switched it up to some hip-hop, spinning Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” mixed with Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” and a Jay-Z crossed Radiohead track called “Set It Off” off his newest album, Feed the Animals. Actually, he played almost all the tracks off his new album, including the crowd-pleasing “Still Here” and “What It’s All About.”

When the party on stage got too hot for security to handle, Girl Talk had to shut the party down and ask everyone on stage to get off. But that didn’t seem to stop his party. As soon as security gave him the OK, he asked, “You guys wanna hear some dark shit?” As the crowd went wild with their arms up in the air, Girl Talk started spinning Daft Punk’s “Music Sounds Better With You,” (not very dark, I know), but then he moved onto Three 6 Mafia’s “Stay Fly,” Khia’s “My Neck My Back,” Shawty Lo’s “Dey Know” and Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop.” Of course, “Lollipop” was the opening for “Play Your Part Pt. 2” off of Feed the Animals, so Girl Talk ended his set with the epic Journey song “Faithfully” mixed with UGK with Outkast’s “International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You).” By the end of this set, Girl Talk was up on his table, topless, sweaty and a bit Jesus-y lookin’. He thanked the crowd, as everyone rocked and raised their hands to the epic finale, before he ran off stage.

As the lights slowly came on and the 1,000 who was there took to the streets lookin’ like they’d just been through it, it was clear that Girl Talk had just made his impact on Vancouver once again. And despite how sweaty and exhausted everyone looked, there was no doubt that they were all anticipating the next Girl Talk show.

A big thank you goes out to Sealed with a Kiss as they continually bring in some of the best acts and shows that Vancouver has experienced. Check out their website here: www.sealedwithakisspresents.com more info on upcoming shows.

*More photos of the show on the Killahbeez Flickr page.

Saturday, July 12 - GM Place, Vancouver. The final stop on the “A Wonder Summer’s Night” tour, which features the fabulous Stevie Wonder and his 14 piece band and three backup singers, one of whom was his daughter Aisha Morris - more on her later.

The show starts off with Stevie talking about his fond memories of coming to Vancouver with Ray Charles when he was a young boy and how he enjoyed the city. He also took a moment to talk about the late great jazz pianist / composer Oscar Peterson and dedicated this particular show to the legend.

As he sat down at the keys, fans were eagerly anticipating which one of his soulful joints he was going to start the show off with. The wait ended when he went straight into “As If You Read My Mind.” Fans start going crazy and I have to admit that when he hit the chorus, I had chills down my spine. To hear his records a 1,000 times and then to hear him live was amazing for myself. I’m not a religious person, but this was one of those “religious moments.” He kept the vibe going by getting into “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” and then into “Did I Hear You Say You Love Me.” It was clear from then that he was doing his hits off of the 1980s album with the iconic album cover, Hotter Than July. Next off the album was “All I Do,” and the performance was powerful, moving and soulful.

From there he moved on to “Knocks Me Off My Feet,” the quintessential love song. This is a baby making jam for sure. With lines like, “There’s something ‘bout your love that makes me weak and knocks me off my feet,” what girl wouldn’t fall in love with that?

Next, Stevie freestyles it a bit and jumps on the talk box / vocoder which he has been known to do. Think Roger Troutman (or more recently, AJK’s favorite RnB singer Terrycloth-Pain aka T-Pain). After his moment on the talk box, he jumps i