Live And In The Flesh
P.O.S - March 13, 2010
2010 provided us with our first experience with some of the Doomtree crew live. P.O.S, one of the founding members, was out on the road promoting his latest album, Never Better and had announced a stop in Montréal. I had been getting into Doomtree for the past few years and couldn't believe that we were finally going to see some of them live. The Every Never Is Now Tour brought along Dessa, Doomtree's female force to be reckoned with, along with another opener who I knew nothing about, Astronautalis. A small group of us made our way down to the Saturday night show.
The gig was booked at the Il Motore, a small club that we had yet to attend any shows at. I was always excited about hitting up a new venue for a concert, as there was always a bit of mystery around what to expect. Il Motore quickly became a favourite Montréal venue by the end of the night. The small club atmosphere that you were embraced with as soon as you walked through the doors made you feel right at home. Tables and chairs were set up for those who had wished to relax a bit before showtime. By the time we made it in, they were full of fans eagerly awaiting for the show to begin. We headed up to the bar and ordered a few drinks while we had a look around. The garage doors behind the stage had it feeling more like an old auto repair shop, which set the stage perfectly for the rawness of what was to come.
We were settled into the front row at the very left of the stage waiting for Astronautalis to make his way up to get things started. We didn't know what to expect from him, but we knew that if P.O.S and Dessa had decided to bring him along for the journey, it was for a reason. The first track into Astronautalis' set, we knew what that reason was! He was incredible. The energy and passion that he was pouring into his performance was a site to see as he continued to win us over more and more with each song that he performed. He had even asked the audience for some input into an on-the-spot custom freestyle that he would perform for us right then and there. I can't quite recall all of the topics thrown into the mix that night, but I do know that poutine and a beaver was among some of the ideas worked in. Not only was it hilarious, but the guy showcased his true talent and quick-wittedness. He showcased material from his Pomegranate and You and Yer Good Ideas albums throughout the rest of his half hour set. By the end of the night we made sure to pick up whatever Astronautalis was selling over at the merch booth, cd's, vinyl, t-shirts, everything!
Dessa made her way up shortly after Astronautalis had cleared the stage. We were pretty excited that we were getting a couple of Doomtree solo sets. She had just released her debut solo album, A Badly Broken Code earlier that year so there was plenty of material for her to draw from on top of all of her solo tracks from the Doomtree releases. Hearing Dixon's Girl live for the first time will never be forgotten. Her flow was incredible, and you could tell that she was loving every minute of performing for the packed house. We heard a good chunk of her latest album before she turned the microphone over to P.O.S to wrap up the night.
We knew we would be in for an incredible performance from P.O.S. The energy that is packed into his music is intense as it is, let alone experiencing the true force of it live. P.O.S made his way up with another Rhymesayers regular from Minneapolis, Plain Ole Bill, holding down the turntables for him. We heard a good majority of P.O.S' latest album Never Better throughout his set, which lasted almost an hour. Low Light Low Life, Savion Glover, Goodbye, Let It Rattle, and the title track were just some of the highlights of the night. The crowd engagement that Stef encouraged throughout his set was awesome. It seemed like there was a point in each of his songs where the crowd would be able to sing along with some part. It made for some incredible energy in the room as it continued to build more and more with each passing song. The highlight of the night was P.O.S and Astronautalis performing their hidden track from Never Better, Hand Made Hand Gun. We knew that we couldn't miss another opportunity to catch these guys out on the road again. The connection that you feel with artists at these smaller shows makes it worth so much more than what you pay for a stadium show. Experiencing what we just did for under $20 seemed totally unfair considering the amount of talent up on that stage. We made sure to buy as much merch as we could from each of them to show them our support and help ensure they felt it worthwhile to make their way back up north of the border for future tours. Luckily for us, it wouldn't be long before we would get to enjoy their talents live and in the flesh once again.