  BANDS: Crowned King, Blue Skies at War, Boys Night Out, Alexisonfire VENUE: G-Mac Hall, U of C, Calgary. This was probably the best show I've ever been to, as far as the level of energy from both the bands, and the crowd. Crowned King was one of those bands I'd heard of, but never actually heard. At first I was a little skeptical about them, as they do have a three piece brass section.
Don't get me wrong, God bless ska bands for doing their thing, I just haven't really been into the ska thing for a few years now. Anyway, they ended up being really great. Their lyrics are great, and they don't go to overboard with the horns, in fact, you hardly notice them at all. Blue Skies At War was up next, and damnit, they rock. For a band that had their van "turn(ed) into confetti" when they hit some black ice and slid into the side of a mountain, and having a sick lead singer, I thought they sounded surprisingly solid and together. I had wanted to see Boys Night Out since buying their album in early November, and was thrilled when I heard they were doing some local shows.
They sound completely different live than on their heavily produced studio album, Make Yourself Sick. (Ferret Records) That said, they still put on a very good show if you can put expectations aside. High energy and great hair, what more could you ask for in a rock band? And Alexisonfire was Alexisonfire. Great show band. I've seen them before and believe I've written about it before. This was exactly the same minus the 200 people on stage.
And now: HURRAH FOR : 1) UofC Student's Union member who were the event staff. They have a neat system for dealing with crowd surfers and rail jumpers. First time you go over the rail, you get shown a sign that says "next time, you're out", then they but a big fat permanent marker line down your arm. If you end up over the rail again, the guy sees the big line, turns it into an 'X' and kicks you out of the show.
2) Crowned King for coming from Vancouver to a city that kicked their team right out of the playoffs, and proving that Ska can be cool. POO ON YOU : 1) The girls with the photo passes. Somehow, three girls, one with a shitty $200 digital camera with the slowest shutter speed I've ever seen, and two with handi-cams got photopasses, yet the guy with the $1500 Nikon next to me, did not.
If you're going to videotape a show, cover the microphone with a think piece of cloth, such as a touque, otherwise the audio will sound like shit, and the photo pass may as well of gone to someone else. Like me. 2) The 12 year old girls next to me. Whenever the pit would get kind of crazy and someone would hit them from behind (we were standing at the front of the crowd), they would jab an elbow into their ribs. After a few minutes of that, I said to them "if you don't like it, get the fuck out", to which they replied with "fuck you". The kid behind them gave me a thumbs up and crashed into them extra hard. 5 minutes later they were gone. 
