Wow! What a show!

There's a feeling that you get when you walk into a venue that is going to have good show. It's like the sensation before rain, there's an energy in the air and you know in a couple of hours you'll be drenched. In this case it was sweat instead of rain that drenched the Bend Sinister crowd on Saturday.

In a well hidden Vancouver artist studio, 3 bands (No Gold, The Clips, and Bend Sinister), over a dozen artists, 10 kegs of beer, and what felt like 500 people made this an amazing start to what looks to be a successful, trail-blazing tour across Canada.

Highlights included: one free beer upon entry (or in MC Grant Lawrence's case a senior's discount on the cover charge), captivating art, and hipster elite actually dancing and singing along to Bend Sinister hits like Time Breaks Down and Julianna.

At one point Grant introduced me to a girl sitting down on a backstage chesterfield with her feet up on a chair. Over the din, I thought he presented her as a serious film producer when in actuality he said, "She has a severe foot infection!" Ironically, it turned out she was a film producer and got the foot infection while screening her documentary about South African women in hip-hop at the Toronto International Film Fest.

The night rounded off with Bend Sinister triumphantly cheered on for a couple more songs. With those tunes finishing, the crowd exhaustedly walked across the sopping floor, out of the Warhol-Factory-esque studio to their awaiting ten-speeds and peddled a wet bike-ride home.

Follow Bend Sinister's exploits as they blog their cross-Canada tour here.

Check out photos from the night here and here to find out why Dan Moxon (pictured above) is smiling.

Update: Check out Steve Louie's photos. Some killer shots here! Anyone else have photos of the evening?

posted by Chris Kelly on Sep 17, 2007