Blind Fire Live at Groove Lounge
So my best bet for finding out new bands is to go see the bands that are playing… you know, the ones that aren’t the band that I actually planned on seeing. And Blind Fire is one of the bands that I was able to “discover” that night.
It’s hard to really judge or expect anything when you’re not only watching a new band, but also in a new town. I’d not been to a show in Oshawa in a long LONG time, and it very obviously showed. I was there to see Awaking State, since they were the main attraction and going on second, Blind Fire ended up being the local band that would go on first.
It’s taken me a while to understand the politics of who goes in what order, but I think I’ve finally figured it out. If you’re a big enough band, you go last. Make everyone wait. Save the best for last, and so forth. If there’s a group of pretty good bands, but no one will bring in the massive draw, you’re scrapping to play in the middle. In order to catch the people who stuck around after the first band, and to catch people who came in early for the third band. It’s a good mix. Sort of like at school, sit at the front and teacher will notice you slacking off, sit at the back and the teacher watches you like a hawk to make sure you’re not slacking off.
ANYWAYS! I’m here to talk about Blind Fire. They had a pretty good crowd going. Groove Lounge doesn’t exactly have a stage, although the drumkit is on a riser. So the band is ground level with the floor. The “stage” is marked by where the monitors are on stage so the bands can hear themselves. I’m not 100% sure, but Blind Fire seemed to be a local high-school band. It made sense, since their fans and everyone who came to see them were all in the high school/college looking age, and very obviously supportive of their friends.
The crowd, definitely in love with them. Myself and my colleagues, namely Awaking State, were also pretty impressed (From what I could gather, they were also a bit edgy being their big show) and I found it quite endearing that an older couple, quite obviously not the average high-school fan, was videotaping off the side of the stage. I grabbed my camera for practice, to see what I had to work with. The band ran around like only a young band can, makes my job more difficult, but made their fans go nuts.
Now, one thing you notice if you go to any show in Toronto, there’s always about 5 feet of space from the stage to the crowd, riser or not. Musicians that I talk to, all call this the “Toronto Semi-Circle”… being afraid of getting up to where the band can see you, and possibly interact with you. I normally don’t partake in this, but I will admit I feel a bit weird being the only person to break said semi-circle.
Blind Fire, didn’t have such a semi-circle. And that was awesome.
What else was awesome? One of the band members, his mom grabbed my attention during Awaking State. Asked me who I worked for. (Ego boost for me!) After I explained I was with the band, she handed me her card, complete with e-mail address, so I could e-mail her pics. I did. She loved them.
