The Sadies - Dog Day, 8/19/07

Posted: 09.07.07 | Category: [The Sadies]  

The Sadies @ Dog Day farm party, Guelph-ish, Ontario - Shit son, I've been so malaise about music lately that the only shows I've really been able to stomach are boot-stomping heart-wrenching old time country & bluegrass. What in the @&#* is wrong with me?! Some would say nothing at all, so I'm not fighting it. And here's another...

Last year's Dog Day party (which is held annually on a lovely farm outside of Guelph), was nothing short of magical. All day I looked for someone to pinch me & wake me up. When I got the invite again this year I was all kinds of giddy, but it was tempered with a solid dose of nervous-central ... because this year I was asked to do a press shoot for the Sadies and a magazine feature for No Depression during the party. NO PRESSURE. When we got there I scouted a few glorious farm backdrops and waited for their arrival (which was supposed to be in the neighborhood of 6pm). As the day wore on and the sun set lower, I had my eyes constantly on my watch, counting the minutes of lost daylight. Their set time was 8pm, and it came & went... no band. God damn the 401 - an accident had virtually blocked all eastbound traffic. They finally rolled in around 8:15 and instantly hit the stage. No more time or daylight = no more photo shoot. But an awesome, rocking set it was. The 10-more-song encore lacked the Pink Floyd gems from last year, but included stellar new songs from their upcoming LP "New Season" (due out in Canada Sept 18th, a few weeks later elsewhere). Once again farmers danced with children in front of the stage (this year, one in a kilt no less!), and cougars did a dusty two-step under the stars. Yes sir, mishaps aside, it was my kind of day.

*(Fortunate footnote: we were able to reschedule the shoot for later in the week, but had to substitute old barns & cornfields with sketchy west side Toronto alleys. Different feel, same sexy results.)

This pathetic review is brought to you by my brain in outer space, and should be supplemented with Frank Chromewaves far better review, which actually includes narratives about the rest of the day and the other bands.

I picked the above photo because the unique perspective makes Travis appears even more giant sequoia-like than he already is. The rest of the set can be viewed HERE, or as a nice full-size slideshow HERE.