By: Jarrett

The Time and Place: April 11, The Music Hall of Williamsburg

The Review:

I have seen more rock shows in my life than I can count – that’s a fact. And, the truth is that if you were to make a list of the best memories I have of my life, more than half of them involve those rock shows. The rock music scene has treated me well, most definitely. But, the problem is that having all of those shows under my belt can make it pretty easy to take it all for granted.

Maybe that’s why I was so surprised at how affected I was after seeing The Weakerthans at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 11. Through the entire show I just stared on starry-eyed from the balcony like I was a 13 year old kid again, seeing my favorite band play for the very first time. It was nothing short of emotional.

The Weakerthans have been on tour to promote their new album, Reunion Tour. Now, I have to be honest, I have been a Weakerthans fan for no less than eight years, when I first got my hands on their sophomore album, Left and Leaving and became mesmerized by singer, John Samson’s unmistakable voice. And, to be quite frank, when I heard that the band was about to release a new album after two years of relative silence – I cringed in fear. After all, these sorts of albums usually involve a drastic shift in sound that turns out to be depressingly disappointing to the long time fans who can’t reconcile the old band with the new. But, this was not the case with Reunion Tour. I was given an advance release of the album, and I slid it cautiously into my computer, braced for what I was certain would be a huge letdown.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. About forty minutes later, when the last track finished, all I could was start the album over and listen to it again. And again.

It seems that the extra time spent writing this album really paid off. Samson has refined his lyrical ability to write narrative songs that manage to tell the stories of his characters (who are both real and imaginary on this album) while somehow managing to invoke simultaneous feelings of loneliness and hope in the listener. I think the thing that amazes me the most about these stories is that he never seems to bring his own ego into the writing process. You really feel as if he is just a vessel delivering these songs to you on the behalf of his characters. Still, Samson manages to bring out every last bit of empathy that you have in your heart to give to the characters as the songs play out.

Honestly, I was a little bit torn up inside the first time I heard Virtue the Cat singing, “I can’t remember the sound that you found for me…” in “Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure.” But, shhhhh! My emotional sappiness will have to be our little secret…

But, don’t take that to mean that these songs are actually sappy. They aren’t. They are just honest. When you listen, I think you’ll understand what I mean.

And, this brings me back to the April 11th show. Maybe it was the fact that The Weakerthans played every song of theirs that I knew and loved from their entire discography. Maybe it was because everyone else in the sold out crowd seemed to be just as amazed by the show as I was, and we were all singing along to every song together. Maybe it was just the sheer charm of Samson as he did things like snap pictures of the crowd for his mother (or so he claimed) before his first encore. I don’t really know. But, this show was GOOD. It was good to find out that I can still be surprised by a show this good. It was great to know that I can still feel that same excitement in my gut after a show that got me hooked on the music scene in the first place all those years ago.

The Weakerthans are currently touring through Europe, but they will make a return to North America in early August for Lollapalooza, followed by several shows in Canada. Do yourself a favor, and check them out.