So back in August, by chance, I read a post about a tour from Zac Bentz’s music blog. I usually just skip posts about tour dates and stuff because I never expect them to be ones I can go to, but this one happened to be a Canadian tour with bands that I actually listened to! I was kind of surprised to learn that this was actually volume two of Next Music From Tokyo. After some wondering about whether or not I’d actually be able to go, my kind friends felt sad for me and decided to come along too.

We went to the Saturday show at Rivoli. The patio and restaurant portion looked pretty classy. The show was in the backroom which looked like it could fit maybe about 200 people. Apparently, there were about 100 people there, which made it seem nice and cozy without making it impossible to move around. Luckily, we snagged a place to sit on the side. Also, they had wireless, which made it convenient for twitteran’ in between sets.

Unfortunately for uhnellys, they were first and had to perform when most of the people hadn’t actually gotten there yet. They were pretty good, but I’m not really into rap, so it wasn’t really my thing. Their drummer was pretty awesome and I liked the guy’s trumpet and bass stuff. That is an instrumental combo that I don’t think you get to see everyday.

By the time susquatch was up, there was a pretty decent crowd. I think they were the most pleasant surprise of the night for me. Their style is exactly the kind of thing I like and their unique twist is also pretty great. The main vocalist likes how English sounds but isn’t confident enough to actually write a song in English, so the band essentially sings in pseudo-English. This is perfect for me because I honestly couldn’t give two craps about lyrics (hence, why I am far more open to music in a language that I don’t understand). The crowd seemed to really start getting into it during their set.

After this set, I went to check out the merch table and decided to pick up the susquatch album and the first two MassDre albums. Much to my massive disappointment, they didn’t have Zero Comma, Irotoridori no Sekai. Anyway, I’m pretty sure (but not entirely) that the one I was trying to ask about the stuff was Natsuko, the bassist and vocalist for MassDre. She seemed super happy that I wanted not one, but both CDs.

After that was sgt., one of my favourite post-rock bands. Why? Because I friggin love violins in rock music. In the case of sgt., the violin kind of takes the place of vocals. What I didn’t expect was how loud and intense they’d be live. I do think the violin sounded a bit strange at parts when it was hitting higher ranges because it was so loud. I don’t know if it’s because they were the third band of the night or if they were especially intense, but my hearing took a noticeable beating after their (and MassDre’s) set. Still, their music is absolutely gorgeous.

But I’m pretty sure that the night belonged to Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. The NMFT organizer guy was totally right when he said that MassDre are monsters when they perform. I love MassDre because, like violins, female vocalists in rock are another thing that I love. They also get bonus points because their lead singer is also the bassist. It was pretty amazing seeing Natsuko go from standing, smiling and waiting before starting, and then go into all-out beast mode as soon as she starts playing. They totally proved their worth in being the reason I came back to Toronto for this.

So yeah, it was a pretty fantastic night. It makes me sad to hear that turnout is a bit lacking compared to the first tour and that this could be the last one, especially with the tentative lineup for Vol. 3. I mean, chances are that with it being in April (finals season) it’ll probably take a miracle for me to go, but the promise of Midori, Rin Toshite Shigure, and toe is enough incentive for me to try and make a miracle happen.

Also, I need to find some way of getting Zero Comma, Irotoridori no Sekai now that isn’t prohibitively expensive to finish off my collection.