Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Gold March 25th to March 27th at the Orpheum reviewed by Cameron Manning This was one of the best symphony performances I've seen in a long time. Conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, this performance actually moved me. And believe me when | say that | am not easily moved. The selection of pieces by Mozart, Janacek, and Dvorak beautifull "Prague", but it's hard to go wrong with Mozart. The cellist, Hai-Ye Ni, who ing. | walked away from the performance enlightened. Mammarians of Mayhem Painting may be dead, but rock sure ain't! reviewed by Sean Clancy Thursday, March 16 will be a day that will be etched in my mind for years to come. Probably not because | met Tommy Lee backstage at the Commodore, but because at that very moment somebody was outside ripping off my trials bike, thus terminating the longest relationship | have had to date. (| hope the thief loses his f* @king legs in a traffic accident, the unclef@#ker!) Anyhooters, down to business. The show started late because of an extended soundcheck for M.O.M., which left the opening band Midge without a soundcheck. This was a mixed blessing, as it did leave them a bois- terous, large crowd. As usual, Midge rocked the house with a tight sounding, energetic show. Their set was capped off with a new tune titled "Bigmouth" that had some stellar guitar licks literally highlighted by M.O.M.'s fantastic light set-up. Three things | noticed: Methods of Mayhem have the most elaborate stage setup I've ever seen, enough gear to make you feel sorry for the roadies who had to carry it up the backstairs of the Commodore (‘cause the ele- vator was broken); second, it took them about 5 1/2 hours to set it up; thirdly, you can take Tommy Lee out of the eighties, but you can't take the eighties out of Tommy Lee. When the time came for the granddaddy of big-hair rock to show, he emerged playing a drum duet with M.O.M.'s dedicated drummer, Steven Perkins, once of Jane's Addiction fame. Tommy Lee then introduced himself and the band amid smoke and lights. There were lots of "Fuck Yah's" and "Rock" thrown around and then after a short pause due to technical difficulties, they rocked into their set. And it was loud. Hell yah, it was loud. During one song, two young ladies got up on stage to show what God (and a plastic surgeon) gave them, and with that the crowd hit fever pitch. GROOVERIDER @ SONAR Sunday, March 19/2000 reviewed by Ishi Dinim My friend Julian had seen Gooverider play in London and Amsterdam and he told me, "Grooverider is the best fucking DJ I've ever heard!" So with this kind of endorsement | knew | would have to go and see for myself. | strolled into Sonar at about 9:30, early for a usual evening, but seeing as they closed at midnight, why not? There was an air of anticipation among the crowd that began to gather around ten. A two-hour set didn't seem like much to get excited for but | remained optimistic. At around 10:30 the packed house was buzzing unbearably. Then out of nowhere, the music hit. Everyone stood dumbfounded as slow melodic 32 @ sounds flowed through the speakers. This isn’t what they had heard about; where was the ripping Jungle and Drum n Bass rush they craved? Then like forty- thousand elephants trapped in a small glass box, the beat dropped on us. Crunchy fat noises WUMP-CHH- DUM-CHH-CHH over and over again. | reveled in the experience of seeing a few hundred people go from sta- tic confusion to reckless abandon in a split second. | joined the fracas with head-banging, arm-flailing joy. | jumped and dodged around the tangled mass of club- bers who were equally possessed by the quick rugged beats. Every once in a while, Grooverider would quickly y complimented each other. My favorite was Mozart's Symphony No. 38 joined the symphony after the intermission, was very talented and played Dvorak with great feel- T-Loh, the hip-hop half of M.O.M. was bouncin' around the stage in an ever-changing array of orange and green clothing. T-Loh somehow reminds me of a modern-day Pan, albeit with a mic instead of a flute. It's kind of interesting the way there are two different voic- es sharing the same stage, almost in a dual-tongued _ monologue. So here we have this interesting mix of old and new, and | guess that Tommy Lee isn't really stuck in the eighties after all (just the rocker crowd who broke any- thing glass on the Commodore dancefloor). M.O.M. isn't really like anything else | have ever heard. All in all though, | appreciated the music. Not enough to run out and buy the album, but | wouldn't turn it off if it was playing on the ol' hi-fi. As for the live show, well, nobody rocks like a rocker, and if entertainment is what you came for, then that's what you got - a double dose of extra strength rock -straight to the head. And the ears. cut to a new track without the smooth fading I've become accustomed to. It was jarring at first, but then he would quickly respond by throwing extreme BPM at us that peaked at crescendos of chaos. | know that clubs are non-smoking, but Grooverider was burning up on stage. The never-ending orgasm of sound finally cul- minated with an ear-numbing explosion of epic propor- tions followed by a smooth jazz riff. | had metallic echoes in my ears for hours after the jam was through. What this all means is that he was good. Go buy a CD of his and drive fast in a car while listening. Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Gold March 25th to March 27th at the Orpheum reviewed by Cameron Manning This was one of the best symphony performances I've seen in a long time. Conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, that | am not easily moved. The selection of pieces by Mozart, Janacek, and Dvorak beautifull “Prague”, but it's hard to go wrong with Mozart. The cellist, Hai-Ye Ni, ing. | walked away from the performance enlightened. Mammarians of Mayhem Painting may be dead, but rock sure ain't! reviewed by Sean Clancy Thursday, March 16 will be a day that wil be etched in my mind for years to come. Probably not because | met Tommy Lee backstage at the Commodore, but because at that very moment somebody was outside ripping off my trials bike, thus terminating the longest relationship | have had to date. (| hope the thief loses his f*@king legs in a traffic accident, the unclef@#ker!) Anyhooters, down to business. The show started late because of an extended soundcheck for M.O.M., which left the opening band Midge without a soundcheck This was a mixed blessing, as it did leave them a bois- terous, large crowd. As usual, Midge rocked the house with a tight sounding, energetic show. Their set was capped off with a new tune titled "Bigmouth" that had some stellar guitar licks literally highlighted by M.O.M.'s fantastic light set-up. Three things | noticed: Methods of Mayhem have the most elaborate stage setup I've ever seen, enough gear to make you feel sorry for the roadies who had to carry it up the backstairs of the Commodore (‘cause the ele- vator was broker cond, it took them about 5 1/2 hours to set it up; thirdly, you can take Tommy Lee out of the eighties, but you can't take the eighties out of Tommy Lee. When the time came for the granddaddy of big-hair rock to show, he emerged playing a drum duet with 'M.O.M\'s dedicated drummer, Steven Perkins, once of Jane's Addiction fame. Tommy Lee then introduced himself and the band amid smoke and lights. There were lots of "Fuck Yah's" and Rock" thrown around and then after a short pause due to technical difficulties, they rocked into their set. ‘And it was loud. Hell yah, it was loud. During one song, two young ladies got up on stage to show what God (and a plastic surgeon) gave them, and with that the crowd hit fever pitch. GROOVERIDER @ SONAR Sunday, March 19/2000 reviewed by Ishi Dinim ‘My friend Julian had seen Gooverider play in London and Amsterdam and he told me, "Grooverider is the best fucking DJ I've ever heard!” So with this kind of endorsement | knew | would have to go and see for myself. | strolled into Sonar at about 9:30, early for a usual evening, but seeing as they closed at midnight, why not? There was an air of anticipation among the crowd that began to gather around ten. A two-hour set didn't seem like much to get excited for but | remained ‘optimistic. At around 10:30 the packed house was buzzing unbearably. Then out of nowhere, the music hit. Everyone stood dumbfounded as slow melodic @-=2 sounds flowed through the speakers. This isn’t what they had heard about; where was the ripping Jungle and Drum n Bass rush they craved? Then like forty- thousand elephants trapped in a small glass box, the beat dropped on us. Crunchy fat noises WUMP-CHH- DUM-CHH-CHH over and over again. | reveled in the experience of seeing a few hundred people go from sta- tic confusion to reckless abandon in a split second, | joined the fracas with head-banging, arm-flailing joy. | jumped and dodged around the tangled mass of club- bers who were equally possessed by the quick rugged beats. Every once in a while, Grooverider would quickly this performance actually moved me. And believe me when | say ly complimented each other. My favorite was Mozart's Symphony No. 38 who joined the symphony after the intermission, was very talented and played Dvorak with great feel- T-Loh, the hip-hop half of M.O.M. was bouncin' around the stage in an ever-changing array of orange and green clothing. T-Loh somehow reminds me of a modern-day Pan, albeit with a mic instead of a flute. It's kind of interesting the way there are two different voi es sharing the same stage, almost in a dual-tongued monologue. So here we have this interesting mix of old and new, and | guess that Tommy Lee isn't really stuck in the eighties after all (ust the rocker crowd who broke any- thing glass on the Commodore dancefloor). M.O.M. isn't realy like anything else | have ever heard. All in all though, | appreciated the music. Not enough to run out and buy the album, but | wouldn't turn it off if it was playing on the ol’ hi-fi. As for the live show, well, nobody rocks like a rocker, and if entertainment is what you came for, then that’s what you got - a double dose of extra strength rock -straight to the head. And the ears. cut to a new track without the smooth fading I've become accustomed to. It was jarring at first, but then he would quickly respond by throwing extreme BPM at us that peaked at crescendos of chaos. | know that clubs are non-smoking, but Grooverider was burning up on stage. The never-ending orgasm of sound finally cul- inated with an ear-numbing explosion of epic propor- tions followed by a smooth jazz riff. | had metallic ‘echoes in my ears for hours after the jam was through. ‘What this all means is that he was good. Go buy a CD of his and drive fast in a car while listening.