death cab for cutie + franz ferdinand

we were looking forward to the concert of death cab for cutie, who shared the bill with franz ferdinand. together with jolaine and sebastien we went to the ice hockey hall of cepsum where the concert took place. unfortunately the transformation to a concert hall resulted in terrible acoustics. but death cab played with energy and tried to convince those who were just waiting for franz. i don't know if they succeeded, since their setlist was quite adventurous. they started with "passenger seat" and ended with an obscure song. inbetween they played an equal selection from "the photo album", "transatlanticism" and the latest "plans". highlights: "different names for the same thing" and the drum solo in "we look like giants" which was the only song that benefitted from the ice hockey hall reverb.

after the concert we headed for a bar on saint-laurent for a gin & tonic. to our surprise we saw band members of death cab and franz ferdinand entering the bar. jolaine, who talked to tom barman after the dEUS-show, had a new target: ben gibbard, singer of death cab and postal service. and i have to give her credit for getting along with lead singers. so i always have to be happy to talk to the 'second men', like mauro or death cab's chris walla. when leaving the bar we saw mister and miss arcade fire going in, but we were too tired to go back in! better luck for them next time!

malajube

if i have discovered one great band in montreal, it has to be malajube. i was lucky to see them live at mont-tremblant - a nice coincidence. i had bought their last album 'trompe l'oeil' just a few days before the gig and it was good to hear that their songs were as strong live as on cd. they also add the right amount of humour to their show. for the belgians: malajube could be situated between fence and evil superstars (but they sing in french, like most of the bands out here). check out some songs on their myspace (especially 'le crabe') and their videos on malajube.com.

mont-tremblant

mont-tremblant is a trendy ski resort a couple of hours north of montreal. an artifical but cosy town, only ten years old, built right at the foot of the mountain mont tremblant (quicktime 3,20 mb). we're not really into skiing, but we enjoyed being out of the city: taking walks, relaxing in a hottub, watching daredevils on motorcycles and getting our first québecois sunburn during malajube's free gig.