EastScene

It was a mild November day; a day that I, among many, was eagerly looking forward to. The venue was located in Montreal’s East Village, the bright and vivid rainbow flags gave the neighborhood an unusual welcoming feeling. Upon my arrival, there was already a few devoted fans waiting outside the front door of the venue, sitting “comfortably” on the sidewalk. I had been waiting for this night since the day I ordered my ticket, which was almost a month ago. Although I’ve seen Jack’s a few times before, I had a feeling that this show was going to be different, due to the release of their second album, The Glass Passenger. I was anxious to see how the songs would be performed, and how Andrew would beat up his piano to the new tunes.

The first band to hit the stage was Treaty Of Paris, a pop-punk quintet hailing from Chicago, Illinois. They are very fortunate to be signed to Andrew McMahon’s own label, Airport Tapes and Records, and are even more fortunate to be the opening act for Jack’s. They performed an all-acoustic set, and it was one that made you want to see what they could do with electric instruments.

The second act was one that was titled FUN, whose vocalist is ex-The Format’s Nate Ruess. The band is fresh to the music scene, having jumped onto this tour only eight shows prior to the Montreal date, and without a recorded demo. They managed to warm up the crowd in the right way, properly preparing them for what was about to come.

Now, I’m a longtime Andrew McMahon fan. I followed him through Something Corporate, and was an eager fan when Jack’s Mannequin came out. He is a musical genius, and careful with his songs, assuring us that each note was properly placed.

The band played nearly the entire new record, slowing things down with songs like Swim and Caves, and picking them right back up again with The Resolution and Spinning. He also threw in some songs from Everything In Transit, introducing the track Holiday From Real as what made Jack’s Mannequin and according to Andrew, “I spent a few months at home, smoked a lot of dope and… this is what happened!”. He even threw in a cover of Bruce Springsteens’ “I’m On Fire“. The crowd sang along to every word they knew, waved their hands in the air, bobbed their heads to the beat of the drums and gazed up at Andrew as he beat up his piano.

During their set, I spotted three girls holding up a sign that read, “PLEASE PLAY HURRICANE”, at which Andrew mouthed the words, “I can’t!”. For those of you who weren’t Something Corporate fans, Hurricane was a song that was on their 2002 release, Leaving Through A Window, a song that wasn’t even written by Andrew McMahon, but by guitarist Josh Partington; hence, the reason as to why Andrew was saying that he couldn’t play it. Seriously, maybe you could have picked a song that he actually wrote.

However, much to my surprise, Andrew did throw in a Something Corporate track in the encore, “Cavanaugh Park”. I couldn’t believe it to be honest, and it was odd to hear him sing a SoCo song, but it just made the show that much better, and wrapped up the set in an amazing way.

All in all, the show absolutely did NOT disappoint. It was probably one of the best times I have ever seen Jack’s, and for those of you who didn’t make it out, make sure to get your tickets early next time around!