Wednesday 8 February 2012

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour at the Hoxton


My 2012 concert season was kicked of with The Asteroids Galaxy Tour at the Hoxton on Monday night.  I was joined by my good buddies SD-6 and WP7 (yes, my friends are named after cell phones).  The first thing I noticed when I got inside the Hoxton was that I wasn’t ID’d by the bouncers or security.  This slightly disappointed me because I became self-conscious about how old I looked.  I need a younger disguise.  I knew I should have had my mittens on strings…
Anyways, the Hoxton is an interesting venue - two bars and quite a bit of open area.  It was surprisingly full even before the opening band started playing.  The Vacationers were the opening act and I was pretty impressed.  Their music is what I describe as summery/happy and easy to groove to.  I guess the name ‘The Vacationers’ is fitting.  Some people found odd ways to dance to it.
This leads me to the low-light of the night, brought to you by skinny jeans.  During the Vacationers set, there was a dude who mistook this concert for a soca party. He was grinding up on everyone within a 2 metre radius.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of the fuckers I blogged about at the Sounds concert a few months back.   After a few uncomfortable moments of being violated, SD-6, WP7 and I moved away to an area I like to refer to as the Bar Current.  I call it this because there was a constant stream of people walking to and from the bar that would brush by us like waves on a beach. Very vacation-esque indeed!
After that set ended we relocated to the coolest area of the venue. Literally.  The place was uncomfortably hot but we found a spot where cold air would flow from the vents. Score!  Before the Asteroids Galaxy Tour came on the stage, I spent the time people watching.  It was a mixed crowd.  There were some old geezers in there that seemed really out of place.  They definitely weren’t there for the music and there are much cheaper places to drink, so I honestly don’t know what they were up to.  Then there was the fifty-something year old mother with her teenage daughters.  It was awkward to watch.  Girls, have you no shame?
Despite some technical difficulties with their mics, the Asteroids Galaxy Tour was fun to watch with their funky riffs and prominent trombone use.  My favourite song by far was ‘Suburban Space Invader’.  Quite a fitting name for a band called The Asteroids Galaxy Tour.  They were able to keep the crowd energized and were definitely worth seeing again.  On a side note, the guitarist looked like Han from the Fast and the Furious.
During the encore a tall blonde lesbian rushed up in front of me and started recording the performance.  Now, I didn’t mind that at all (WP7 commented that she was ‘my kind of gal’) but her short and stubby girlfriend was a bit odd.  She stood behind her although she was more than a foot shorter than the blond girl and couldn’t see shit.  I dunno, it was at least amusing. 
The night couldn’t be complete without some retardedness. Plenty of pun intended here. There was a handicapped woman walking through a crowd and she started telling off a group of people just standing there.  She was obviously fed up with the world.  I’m not sure exactly what she said but I would imagine it sounded something like “Ti-Timmay!! Timmeh! TmmmTimay!”
Yep, so that wraps up another fantastic night. Concert season is off to a flying start. With Canadian Music Fest around the corner and a slew of concerts in April, it’s looking like a good year for live music.