Live Review: Wintersleep/Holy Fuck/Fiery Furnaces/Metric, Ottawa Bluesfest, MBNA Stage, July 14, 2006

For my last Bluesfest show of 2006, I hit the MBNA stage to check out this lineup. Although I underwhelmed by the first band, Wintersleep, which sounded like Tool with a disco beat, they were positively fantastic compared to the schlock that followed.

This schlock included Holy Fuck, a "band" which "plays" drums, bass and turntables. Very wanky and absolutely pointless in my opinion, unless you get off on hearing music from 80s arcade games that bring the words "game over - insert coin to continue" to mind.

Things went from bad to worse when the Fiery Furnaces started. A White Stripes wanna-be brother and sister act, the chick looked like a feather-haired early 80s Geddy Lee and sorta sounded like him, too. (I had a roommate once who hated Rush because he thought Lee sounded like a woman singing. Just thought I'd mention that.) Since I'm not really into college bands, I thought the Fiery Furnaces absolutely sucked.

Finally, Metric. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Belinda Stronach fronted a new wave band? Well, wonder no more. Another 80s revivalist act, Metric was made better by both the acts which preceded them, which were by and large shyte, and also their very impressive light show. The CBC-pinned, Guevara-T shirt wearing throng was also very appreciative of the lead singer's comments about marketing and independence (nothing like a little rebel sell to establish credibility with the kids, I suppose). Not bad, but I doubt we'll remember them in five or six years.

Individual ratings:

Wintersleep: 5.25/10
Holy Fuck: 3/10
Fiery Furnaces: 1/10
Metric: 5.25/10

Overall rating:

4/10

Honourable mention: guy who had a green T-shirt on with an outline of the Land of Lincoln and the phrase "Come On Feel the Illinoise": 10/10 (the shirt, not the guy).