Hot Hot Heat
with The Futureheads, Louis XIV
Saturday April 23rd, 2005 @ Kool Haus, Toronto

I purposely showed up an hour late for this show to try and avoid San Diego’s extremely crappy Louis XIV, with their velvety, obviously fake English accents and garage retreads. Nevertheless, when I made it inside the Kool Haus, they were just going on stage (to little fanfare – I guess word got around).

How this band got signed is beyond me. Of all the garage/punk revival bands of the past couple years, they have got to be among the worst. Not one member of the band shines. The lyrics are dumb, the band is bland, and they are even worse live than on record. They don’t even play with any energy. Most local bands are better than these clowns, and their set seemed to go on forever.

The Futureheads next picked up the slack, playing at a rapid pace and breezing through 13 songs from their self-titled debut album, engaging in dry British banter amongst themselves, three part harmonizing and very crowd pleasing. I can’t say their show made me any more or less of a fan of theirs. The songs are good, but when played as rush as they were, they tend to sound the same. Regardless, their energy more than made up for how boring Louis XIV were. They were simply solid, and generally met expectations.

Victoria, BC’s Hot Hot Heat finished up with a selection of songs from Make Up the Breakdown and Elevator, but with the exception of “Le Le Low”, avoided material from the Knock Knock Knock EP (unlike their previous shows at the Opera House and at the Horseshoe, or as Steve Bays called it on stage, “the Horse Show”). This mix of their older more danceable material with the more straightahead rock songs of their new disc made for a very easy flow through their set. It was over before you even knew it. I didn’t look down to my watch once. The show also managed to increase my appreciation for Elevator, which I found disappointing on its release. The keyboards were thankfully, put far up in the mix and made many of the new songs sound better live. The keyboard work on the chorus to “Talk to Me Dance With Me” however, sounded off. You can tell the band actually like their recent material which kinda puts a dent in my assertion that the new record is them denying who they are. The biggest crowd pleasing moment of the night was “Bandages”, the only song where the crowd got really really bouncing.

The downside to the show as a whole was how often both the Futureheads and Hot Hot Heat would ask for handclaps. The crowd seemed to have been worn out of this task pretty quick. The other massive wack moment (and simultaneous best moment) was watching the white indie kids try to dance. I’m talking to you Blue Shirt, with your unironic psycho Julia Louis Dreyfuss dance. And some middle aged douche who made his own light-up suit with “Flyerman” emblazoned along the back, who would walk around and rock out in front of people, trying to be cool. It was the first time. The 50th time however, I began to wonder how this retard managed to scrape together enough money to afford a concert ticket.

As I left the Kool Haus, I saw the singer of Louis XIV talking to people by the merch booth. Some guy went out of his way to tell him how much they sucked. Heh.

Overall, a good show, but I still think I liked it more the first time I saw them. Back then they were simply cool, now they’re just cute. Going to their shows may be a good time, but its becoming something you don’t necessarily brag about.

Hot Hot Heat – 3.5 out of 4 stars
Futureheads – 3 out of 4 stars
Louis XIV – 0 out of 4 stars

– Goon

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