In 1990, I am sure that few knew that Eric's Trip would soon become so important to the independant music culture. By the time of their breakup in 1996, Eric's Trip were a phenomenon.
Now in 2001, each member has gone of in his/her own direction. Rick White and Mark Gaudette went on to form the band, Elevator to Hell. Julie Doiron is focusing on her solo career and Chris Thompson went on to play with Moonsocket. But luckily for Eric's Trip fans, the four members decided to hit the road together for one last tour.
Lucky for us, I found out before anyone else when tickets were going on sale, and I managed to score ticket #1-3 even though I purchased two more over the internet later on. Upon arrival we saw a nice sign saying sold out, which is always a good feeling when you actually have tickets. I must appologize to anyone who tried to buy tickets when it was sold out...I accidently purchased two extra ones over the internet, but thanks to Verushka, I managed to sell those off pretty quickly and for face value I must add.
The doors opened earlier than anticipated at 8:15pm and Verushka, Ragman, some non IRC losers and I made our way to the stage floor to stake out good standing space early on. The actual show didn't begin until 8:55pm when a french canadian band came out and began playing their set of Rockabily surf music. They were a nice and fun band but noone seemed to interested.
After the french bands short 20minute set and a stage transition later, a band I had never heard of came on stage called Moneen. I could tell as they were addressing the crowd about their experiences on the Eric's Trip tour that they were going to play a really wild and amazing set. Surely enough, I was right. Never have I seen a band with so much energy. They were jumping around and pretty much going insane for their entire set. One of the singers kept poking his head out at the crowd making all of these weird faces, it was very bizarre. He then proceeded to climb the PA system and scale the balcony. While walking on the railing, he kept singing "I love you" to all of the crowd, who responded back with lots of love. I definitely recommend these guys to EVERYONE. They have a very unique emo-punk meets grindcore sound, like Jimmy Eat World meets Nasum. I told the bassist later on that I thought they sound like Sunny Day Real estate too, and he seemed rather pleased.
Finally Moneen's hour long set, with even an ENCORE was done and the moment everyone was waiting for finally came. Rick came on the stage all alone and began playing song #1 off of their first album, Behind the Garage. Slowly each member appeared on stage, Julie then Chris then Mark. Suddenly the tone of the concert changed making it feel like 1993 as Eric's Trip's second song began, Anytime you Want.
The entire show was absolutely beautiful. The band looked so happy playing together and they were filled with so much energy, it was a very personal concert. The playlist seemed to be most of their first album Love Tara. They played Stove, Blinded, Follow, Belly, Sunlight, Frame, My Room, May 11 and maybe some more from Love Tara, unfortunatly they did not play Secret For Julie. As for other material they played Red Haired Girl, an awesome cover of Bad Religion's We're Only Going to Die for our Own Arrogance, my personal favorite and probably the best song of the concert, Happens all the Time, Viewmaster and many others.
Their set lasted until 1:10am and it was just an absolutely amazing performance. They most certainly went out in glory.
Related sites:
http://www.ericstrip.com
http://www.moneen.com