The venue was right on the edge of Lake Ontario and a great little place, very reminiscent of the student unions back home. I'm always whinging about the lack of gigs in those places, they always provide such a better atmosphere, so was pleasantly surprised to discover this and the sound was great too for such a small venue. We managed to catch the last few songs of the support act, First Aid Kit, a Swedish dream folk band and they were pretty good themselves. They all looked incredibly young for this stuff and completely out of it on Acid half the time, but those can never be construed as bad things really. A definite better than average support act.
Lykke Li herself was brilliant too. I didn't know what to expect as a lot of performances i'd seen from her were stripped down acoustic sessions but she brought a full band (complete with two drummers) and they really turned the material up for the live setting; the sparse lighting, smoke machines and strobes really added to 'The Show' aspect too. Aside from a few mic problems, her voice was completely controlled at all times and the duelling drummers really brought an urgency to the tracks. The set was balanced with material from both albums, along with covers of 'Unchained Melody' and KanYe's 'Power'. The former was slightly unnecessary but the latter, aided by a speakerphone, was ace and really got the crowd going. I'd say 'I'm Good, I'm Gone', 'Love Out of Lust' and 'Youth Knows No Pain/POWER' were amongst my favourite tracks, Alfie even thought it was alright too, and that's VERY high praise for him.
We stayed on for a few drinks afterwards and a shockingly nice bouncer informed us that we could stay there until we could drink no more, wich was nice. However, moments after, a more familiar arsehole style bouncer told us in no uncertain terms that we must move to another area immediately and there was no time to waste GODDAMNIT. Odd. We moved on accordingly, although as why it needed to be done with such haste was a mystery and quickly found ourselves talking to an incredibly chatty Mexican-American couple. I think both of us were a bit freaked out by how they besieged us but it's only because people are so nice, friendly and approachable here, you're not used to it at all. You kind of forget how to act to just genuinely nice, always thinking ‘What’s going on here?...What do they want?’ because you’re so used to encountering aggressive arseholes back home, who more often than not have an agenda or are just plain dickheads anyway. The guy was a Lil' Wayne fan mind and there's no excuse for that either. Closing time was soon upon us so we moved on closer to the apartment and stopped at the Dog’s Bollocks on Queen St. I think their thing is meant to be that they’re a traditional style english pub but it’s just the same of everywhere else really- lots of TV screens showing sport and plenty of tables. And that's good enough for me any day of the week, so we had a few pitchers and watched whatever game was on that night there before heading back. Another rather good night.
One of the many perks of visiting the Atkinson's is they both know their food, and to a high standard, so in addition to getting top notch home cooked meals, they also know all the good places to hit in the area. Now I'd never heard of Poutine but apparently its kind of Canada's national dish and rather nice too. One day we get hit by a downpour of rain, so hid in this cool little diner Alfie recommended, and I decided to sample the local dish while we were there - It's basically fucking cheesy chips. Nothing more, nothing less. And i really must tip my hat to Canada for getting away with such a poor facade. I'm sure they'll say it's not, it's this and that and tart it up but it's basically cheesy chips. Don't let them fool you.
One place where you can't be fooled is the Sushi restaurant on Queen St called Aji Sai. I always enjoy Sushi but it never ever fills me, causing me to just get a big fat greasy burger anyway, making the Sushi eating pretty much pointless, so my interest was certainly perked when Katie said how good this place was and the fact it was also all you can eat. It certainly didn't disappoint with the regards the latter. The stuff just kept coming and I certainly couldn't eat no more come the end. Top notch stuff off the menu too, unlike most of these buffet type places. Much like Mother's Dumplings, I'd definitely say it's worth hunting out if you're here.
The week was rounded off with another visit to Football at the Soccerdome (they again drew), but the highlight for me had nothing to do with the game and was in fact the 'Soccer Mom' sitting next to me going absolutely MENTAL at the referee. She was acting as if her son was like 8 in the West Park league and not 27 years old - 'C'mon ref, move!..... ARE YOU SEEING THIS?......THAT WAS A FOUL YOU HACK....Oh so you call that one?....... dick!....PLAY THE GAME, STOP FOULING YOU GUYS' and so on and so on. She kept switching between languages when at her most angered too and that was absolute comedy gold to me.
We also went for a quick few games of Table Tennis and Alfie absolutely schooled me. Them playing Arcade Fire's 'Funeral' on a permanent loop softened the blow but I only won one game out of about 9 and i could tell he wasn't going all out either. Well, not until i hit him in the face, accidentally i of course but i was rather out of reach before even that. My skills have certainly dropped since ruling the tables of Thurston back in the '90's.....
Once again though, Toronto is just an amazing place and everyone must go, next up - my first NHL match at the Air Canada Centre and the CN Tower!
Song for the Day - Lykke Li
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