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The Doves/Mercury Rev show at the Kool Haus last night just about blew my mind. People were tearing their faces off with excitement — which, as any regular concert-goer in Toronto can attest to, is quite the rarity — and Doves frontman Jimi Goodwin even went so far as to say that Toronto was “by far the best f—ing crowd of the tour so far, no word of a lie.” The crowd was a definite oddity (ranging in age from about 12-60), but their enthusiastic response and applause were only fitting for the talent and energy that both bands showed while on stage.

Openers Mercury Rev started out the evening on a good note with an hour long set that could only be described as majestic — cosmic, even, with a backdrop of visuals and inspring quotes perfectly timed to the performance. Singer Jonathan Donahue directed the other band members like an orchestra, and grinned and gazed out into the crowd as though he was on some sort of personal mind trip.

Doves followed with a 90 minute setlist packed with favourites, focusing mostly on material from their last two albums. Jimi, Jez and Andy showed off their skills and traded instrument duties on a few tracks (Words, Here it Comes, There Goes the Fear). House of Blues security at the Kool Haus was tight as always (a few people had their cameras nabbed partway through the night) but surprisingly the sound was actually half decent for a venue known for sub-par quality. I came home still buzzing from the great performances by both bands; a great way to kick off a really concert-heavy week for me.

Posted on Tuesday, May 17th, 2005 at 10:38 am by Kat and is filed under Blog.

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