Eric's Trip
Eric's Trip reunion tour
Sunday, August 26 2001
Cabaret Music Hall - Montreal
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.
Debris
Related sites:
http://www.ericstrip.com
http://www.moneen.com