The day started off on a couple of

 

 

 

 

The day started off on a couple of tragic notes. The first was that Mac DeMarco had cancelled all of his sets for personal reasons. The hedonistic lifestyle has finally caught up with him I suppose. The second was that Calgary is under some serious threats of flooding so many areas of downtown have had to be evacuated. The latter only affected me slightly, so after a couple of venue changes and a bike ride downtown that drenched me, I got my Day 2 Sled on.

On the indie garage/punk rock spectrum, Warm Soda fall neatly into the “pop” category. They burned through a bunch of songs off their latest album “Someone For You”. This kind of music must be a fad right? And when a lead singer grows his hair out and and gets a mustache he knows what he’s doing right? I wonder if this kind of fashion will ever become a parody that hipsters play on? That kind of self-reflexivity would be highly amusing. Warm Soda was great though.

Went over to Flames Central and for my first show of Sled where I didn’t have to wait in line! Arrived to what looked like a terrible set by Hooves. From what I saw they sounded like they were trying to be a 2013 version of Bikini Kill, which raises the question why is a band trying to be Bikini Kill in 2013? One important difference was how hyper-sexual they were dressed. *confusion*

Next came locals Roaming Storms. They sounded like an indie rock version of Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire. They also had some really interesting things to say in between songs, one of which was “one time I did a lot of mushrooms and puked”. It’s amazing to me how local bands can get so full of themselves before they even have a record deal. Thank God for Portlandia.

The real reason I came here was to see THEESatisfaction. I’m a man who loves a sassy black woman, and here I was getting two! Ironically enough the set was kind of distracted by those proto-feminist band members mentioned earlier. They started having a dance party in the front row that got a little carried away. Sorry ladies, but our focus here is not you but the real music going on. And what a way to be seduced! THEESatisfaction were seducing me with their music and their choreographed dance moves. The highlight had to be my new feminist anthem when they sang: “Tonight I might be bisexual” over and over. Whereas the proto-feminist dance party was exploring their lesbianism in an effort to seduce the patriarchy, THEESatisfaction were using it as a last resort to thwart it. There was a lot more rapping than expected and if you like Shabazz Palaces, think of this as the female version. Very hott. Very feminist. Very sassy.

Last up was rock band Torche. I got so used to using the word uplifting to describe this band’s music that I started to think they were a Christian rock group, lol. This show might actually take the prize for the show of Sled. When they kicked into the chorus of “Snakes Are Charmed” I could’ve sworn we were in the airship from that Thomas Pynchon novel travelling at 120mph and cavorting with the angels. I could’ve sworn! But yeah, this set was relentless and it was nice to just let go and rock the frock OUT! I’m still having trouble hearing out of my right ear.