Ain't it just like the present to be showing up like this?

Something about those words from Bon Iver's Blood Bank makes me pay attention every time I hear them. But tonight at Metropolis, when Flume came on and 2000 people, including your mother and I, were brought to complete silence, a community was at once forged and made to listen.

Achtung, My Baby.

As I spend more and more time these days counting my gray hairs and the others that simply refuse to stay on my head, it should come as no surprise that the sands of time are sifting past me. Still, I simply cannot wrap my head around the fact that it has already been twenty years almost to the day since U2 released their incredible, career changing Achtung Baby. All I keep thinking when reading reviews of reissues and listening to some of the outstanding covers on the tribute album, AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered, is what album will be covered and lauded 20 years from now. Far from being one to decry the state of music today - I actually think that we live in a time of incredible creativity and innovation in the arts - I have trouble putting my finger on the albums that are shaking the earth enough to make a 20 year mark.

Foreground Music

Most music, even some of the best, can play in the background and serve its purpose in those moments that require it to do so. Every so often, a song peeks through the ranks of a playlist to elicit a smile or maybe even a look of disgust followed by a quick track change. Then there's every song on Bon Iver's self titled album.

Sunday in the Parc Jean Drapeau

Discovery of the day: Typhoon

Most deserving of future fame: Frightened Rabbit

Best live act: The Tragically Hip

Most outrageous act: The Flaming Lips

Love (Comes to Town) is in the air.

Everyone and their dogsitter lived and breathed U2 this weekend. And that wasn't by any means a matter of choice. The city was sweating everything U2 out of its pores. The street signs mentioned them by name. The traffic advisory screens shouted "Traffic congestion due to rock concert". Namur metro was renamed. Businesses within 1KM of the epicentre were closed due to the virtual impossibility of getting in and out of the area as of 11:00AM. I've all but given up on large concerts (other than festivals, that absolutely define our Montreal summers). Nonetheless, the feeling of being completely taken over by music is unique. The fact that I had to bring you in close to my chest so as to not have you wake up to Sunday Bloody Sunday from a whole 6KM away is truly powerful. I look forward to the day where we can truly share and appreciate not only the air that we breathe but also the massive current that only an onslaught of rock & roll can deliver.