Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton @ The Commodore Ballroom

As my first concert of the year I went and saw Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton on Thursday despite still fighting off this flu I have. The Brooklyn trio Tall Firs open the show. They had a pretty unique sound, and their set got consistently better the longer they played.

Emily Haines’s set was pretty much what I had expected. She played the album from front to back, with not too much talking. She was highlighted most of the time mainly by the video screen behind her and her piano, while the scaled back version of Soft Skeleton (3 members versus the troop that played at the Sil Vous Play show) was largely in the dark blue lights. The songs translated well live, and sounded very close to the album versions. Todor Kobakov did a great job of recreating the sounds of the strings and the horns from the album. This show didn’t blow me away, or rock my socks off; it was more a chilled out relaxed show, which was highly enjoyable. Having the Commodore seated worked, and was appreciated by me (I don’t think I would have been able to stand for the entire show). Having it at the Commodore however meant there were quite a few people whispering, and a lot of clanking noises coming from the bars. Emily mention this a few times during the show, and right before her last song (cover of Niel Young’s Expecting to Fly) told us that, “This is your last chance to shut the fuck up.” She then went on to question why you would talk when you paid to see the show, to experience her music. The cover sounded great and was a nice close to the show.

All in all a good show. Don’t be expecting the hard fast rocking of Metric though, this show is completely soft and relaxing.