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I've always kinda liked the French Kicks. They have kinda catchy, kinda mellow, kinda cool songs. They're a band that neither particularly wows nor particularly disappoints. In other words, they're an act that I need to be in the "right" mood to enjoy. And on this particular Monday night, I couldn't have been worse for wear: I was on my fifth consecutive 15-hour day at the Toronto International Film Festival and, by 9 pm, I had already had four coffees (the only four coffees I've had in the past four years). After numerous pep talks, I had convinced myself that going home was not an option. Neither was napping on the sidewalk.
To add to the fun, the friend who had agreed to come with me bailed at the last minute, and, not surprisingly, no one else jumped at the chance to see this 'kinda' cool band. I soldiered on, grateful that the wooden planks they call seats at Lee's Palace are so uncomfortable. If they hadn't been, I would have slept through the show.
I knew very little about openers Sound Team going in. I soon found, though, that the Ausin, Texas sextet put on a fun show full of happening moves and catchy tunes. The caffeine from the coffee couldn't hold a candle to the energizing vision of the group's guitar player, who rocked out with a tambourine around his neck. Who knew such innovation was happening down south? Maybe tambourines will catch on as necklaces. And maybe Sound Team will catch on, too; they seemed to do some pretty good business after they finished up their 45-minute set, selling more than a few copies of their latest disc, Movie Monster.
Sound TeamAfter that pleasantly surprising jolt, I was in a much better mood. I was so excited to see what the French Kicks would do that I wasn't even annoyed at all of the Girls-Who-Shouldn't-Be-Wearing-Skinny-Jeans for wearing their skinny jeans. While the French Kicks aren't bad, they'll never be accused of doing anything mind-blowingly unique. But, that doesn't mean their set wasn't surprisingly entertaining. The Film Festival experience -- in addition to completely draining my energy -- had left me disappointed several times over, yearning to be interested and engaged, if only temporarily. And the Kicks do more than temporarily amuse; they put on a solid show from start to finish.
The band opened with "One More Time", an energetic tune from their 2004 disc, Trial of the Century, which immediately got the crowd of a few hundred involved. Nick Stumpf isn't the most gifted singer in the world, but, as David Byrne once said in his own defense, "the better a person's voice is, the harder it is to believe them." And the fact that the band's live set doesn't quite correspond with the recorded versions of their songs isn't really a problem -- the minor imperfections actually improved them.
Stumpf moved around easily, doing a few endearingly awkward shimmy-ish dance moves without coming off as arrogant, condescending, or trying too hard. These guys like their music, they play it well, and they have a good time. Their clumsy-but-cute appeal was only amplified when drummer Aaron Thurston tripped over a cord, wreaking havoc on the cables and leaving bass player Lawrence Stumpf (brother of Nick) without sound. The band took it casually and sorted things out to the great delight of the crowd.
The Kicks' laidback attitude served them well as they went on to play one of their strongest songs from latest venture Two Thousand, "England Will Just Not Let You Recover." Stumpf moved over to the keyboards to play this pulsing, charming song -- one with much more depth than most of their other tracks.
Of course, depth is sometimes overrated, and every once in a while it's nice to, ahem, "kick" back and enjoy the show. It's truly refreshing to see a singer smiling rather than posturing, and again, a welcome change from the pretension and stress that emanated from many of the attendees of the film fest nearby. I wished I hadn't been so tired and could've put a little more energy into enjoying the show. And when Stumpf requested "dance" music be put on after the band's set, promising that they would hang out with their fans, I really wished I wasn't so tired. For some reason, I was suddenly in the mood.
— 20 September 2006
