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For one reason or another, Simone and I haven’t been to as many concerts over the last few months as we would like.

I won tickets to see an Edge “Next Big Thing” concert with The Constantines. These concerts are getting worse as time goes on. Mind you, the first NBT concert I went to was for the Kaiser Chiefs while Damon Albarn was in town signing copies of the new Gorillaz album. It was a high-point of the summer to listen to a live rendition of “I Predict A Riot” performed with the lead singer of Blur.

The next concert I won tickets to was Tokyo Police Club at Drake Underground.  They went on 45 minutes late and played for 44 minutes. I also came to realize that the vocalist really doesn’t have that much range.

At The Supermarket (located comfortably in Kensington Market), we sat in a freshly renovated lounge for a few hours while the opener went on 45 minutes after curtain time, and subsequently sucked. Some hippie, Kensington Market weirdo with a hemp dress and played the same three notes over and over while she mumbled into the microphone. After twenty minutes she left, and we waited another fifteen before the Constantines finally graced us with their presence.

They were good. Don’t get me wrong. But in the recent renovation of the club, they forgot to put in a decent sound system. The music was maxing out and distorting the speakers that were probably still tuned for the burnout who went on before them. It only served to accent the horrible opener they had. Even though we waited almost an hour and half, we left after three songs.

After that rather disappointing concert at the Supermarket, my motivation for the Toronto music scene was low.  Couple that with the virtual disappearance of some of my favourite bands like Crush Luther and The Salads and I was faced with a need to find some new music to follow.

Simone got a chance to go take photos of People In Planes for an online music mag and for the $12 cover I could follow. The doors opened at 9 and they went on just after the curtain time.  Very professional. From the very start, I had the feeling that I was in the presence of Rock Stars. They acted like they were performing on a big stage with thousands of fans, but crammed into the tight space that the Rivoli stage yields.

The lead’s guitar kept dying. While it was never determined whether it was his instrument or the A/V system he managed to croon his way through the set, occasionally strumming at his muted guitar to keep time. Looking at his watch he mentioned at the 50-minute mark in the set that this was the longest set they’ve ever played. They continued to finish off the double-set (~90 minute) with stuff from the debut album as well as from the forthcoming disc.

The night finished with two encores. They had the audience in the palm of their hands, and I think we had them in ours.