Ride 'til Dawn Amigos and The Fjords - December 8th

Maybe it was all the local musicians at this show or maybe it was all the people happy to be out of the -30oC wintery night, but Amigo's was full of positive energy for this show. I have seen The Fjords a number of times, but this was my first time viewing Ride til Dawn Amigos (yes, that is their catchy name). I thought they were fantastic! A little rough around the edges, but I was quite impressed with what I heard. I think that with a little more tweaking of the vocal sounds, they are going to be a great local band to be reckoned with. I was happy to see a few members of "Parades Against Parades," a great local now-disbanded band, playing music together. I'm glad that they gave Fraser a microphone for the in-between-song banter because it was quite hilarious to hear the joking banter of "you suck, no, you suck" that carried on throughout the evening. I look forward to hearing more from this great band. They will be playing shows over the holiday season and I intend to be there based on this performance.

The Fjords. Every time I see them, I think that they could "make it." Luke Ryalls has a certain "rockstar" quality to him... is he really becoming Saskatoon's local "Boss?" They are so tight and so full-sounding that I quite believe that they could be huge in the indie rock scene. They have a completely solid rhythm section and they're cute to boot! I have owned their debut EP for a while now and know all of the songs on it by memory. I was a little surprised they started the show with "Breezy Day," by far their most catchy song, but they totally pulled it off. Their new album is supposed to be coming out soon and I look forward to putting it on my Top 10 albums of 2008.

Crystal's rating: 7.5/10