Live Performance Review - ADA & The Isosceles Project

The Pre NXNE party at El Macambo last Thursday (29th) featured ADA, The Isosceles Project & Brown Brigade in that order.

I expected a good show. I'd done my homework about ADA and was excited to see them live—complete the circle of what drives me to be such an audiophile.

Deni & I walked into the club & straight upstairs. We easily found a table, bought some insanely overpriced swill and sat down. We had little to say to each other even though we were enjoying each other's company, & so we watched our surroundings take shape for the evening. The staff for the club, a young man, was carrying tables & chairs every which way. Normally this isn't very interesting. Yet it became so when we noticed that he was moving things back to their original position... Odd. Perhaps he was trying to look busy.

They also had a live painter on the stage. Likely an OCAD student. She was painting a woman in a sparkly dress... A decent painting certainly, but watching it take form wasn't especially riveting.

Right about the time we start to get bored due to the schedule delays, ADA begins sound checking. "finally..." we thought. It would have been nice if the DJ turned off his music for this, but no. The band ripped through half a song and the sound was excruciating. The levels were right fuct & penetrating my brain. It hurt. With that, Deni & I were suddenly very skeptical. Of the sound guy more than the band, but we only had to wait another few minutes before we found out if our fears of enduring a bad show were grounded in reality.

Can I just say? Hole. E. Fuck. In addition to the magical & exponential improvement to the sound levels, ADA tore into their set with feverish & stellar charisma. It's very atypical to see all members of a band with an ability to add more to a performance than just a talent for playing their instrument, but all 4 of them were purely exciting to experience. ADA destroyed that place.

I was also please not only by their professional sound but also with an evident professional level of preparation. The guitarist was so into the intensity of the show that at one point *twink* shit... there goes a string (or a couple of them). But rather than freak out, no cool was lost as he quickly plugged in the next guitar he had waiting behind his amp. Though there was no guitar during that part, the band carried through without missing their groove. *whew* Fun to watch.

ADA's show indeed turned out to be that kind where I'm floored, blown away, whatever you call it.

After taking out a mortgage for another round of Labatt Blue, the Lady & I went downstairs to catch the next performance for the evening - The Isosceles Project.

When I started my pursuit of singing, it was right around the time that The Isosceles Project was considering a singer for their band. I found them on Craigslist and jumped on applying because they have a very attractive progressive intensity. Incidentally, they opted for a fully instrumental arrangement.

I had tried to catch The Isosceles Project live previously but for one reason or another, it didn't happen until last Thursday.

No mics in the way. No patch cables to trip over. This allowed the trio to trounce the stage in fits of rage & raw energy. They captured their young crowd. As much as this normally pleases me, I still found the music missing something. D & I agreed. Missing something in the highs. It felt like a great rhythm section with no accent. It didn't help that I was not familiar with any of the songs they played. In fact, what I know about progressive music this intense is that you have to have some familiarity with it prior to a live performance. I was constantly trying to follow the frequent changes but without ever hearing it before I started to get bored.

That all said, TIPs recorded files on the web are a pretty good place to bud from. I hope they grow there.


pax

Nick


ADA
The Isosceles Project