The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight

Posted on: November 11th, 2007 by Christien

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Be Warned

Touring throughout southern Ontario with Jenn Grant, The Weakerthans delivered an impeccable performance at the Phoenix 2 nights in a row here in Toronto. Epitaph records cleared the first 3 songs of their set including; Civil Twilight (their current single), Psalm For The Elks Lodge Last Call (a favorite of mine), and Our Retired Explorer (used for the video we produced). As sweet as these first three songs were, their set got better and better song after song. I wish I could have captured the entire performance for my own indulgence.

I spent some time researching their song Our Retired Explorer and found a very entertaining music video on YouTube that illustrated the lyrics hilariously. The band members clearly know how to have fun with their music… as the energy they delivered on stage was again present in their music video vividly.

As for the rest of their set list… it made me long for my girlfriend. I remember the first time I saw The Weakerthans perform at the Phoenix about 2 years ago. I brought my girlfriend with me (whom I’m still with today) and she’s hardly one for public affection. However, with The Weakerthans on stage… it’s hard to resist. On the night of this show, every time I took a look at the audience more than half were with their significant other hugging it up.

Now this band isn’t your typical lovey dovey romance group, they’ve got more humour and flare to them than what might be apparent at first glance. There is just something about their sound that evokes a feeling of want or need for closeness. Even back in high school, The Weakerthans were amongst the first few tracks of any mix tape I ever made. To this day, I still feel the same… they will always evoke that feeling inside of me.

The shoot was challenging as the security team wouldn’t allow any tripods for our shoot. This brings me back to the police officer who gave us the same problem at Nathan Phillip Square when shooting Shad K. That wasn’t the only set back, generally speaking, I’ve known the Phoenix Concert Theater to have a rail up front of the stage reserving a clean space for bouncers and media personnel to shoot without interference. Be warned, ask your contact about filming restrictions before you show up with a load of tripods you aren’t permitted to use.