The Thermals with Peace at Fortune Sound Club was only my third published review. With this blog having afforded me frankness and casualness (personal luxuries, professional detriments), I had yet to have any opportunities to practice being tactful with negative reviews. Without re-reading my article, I feel I was more than "fair": I highlighted the positives as much as I could. But truthfully, to be colloquial, the show sucked through and through.
I think Peace are one of the most wildly overrated Vancouver bands. The praise they garner mystifies me: Much of it comes from their close friends - other local bands, whom I love, including White Lung and Nü Sensae - but I'm still perplexed because none of them praise their other friends' bands as much as they praise Peace. Apathy and politely loose post-punk has never felt less inspired or genuine.
Combating Peace's blackhole charisma were the hyper-charged Thermals. They weren't bad live - they weren't sloppy, they played a standard-lengthed set, they appeased the crowd with encores - it just turned out I wasn't as big a fan of them as I thought. Even though I knew their reputation for generic power-pop, I expected their live energy to compensate. But for whatever reason, it just didn't. Even the hits, which are often worth all the duds, felt depressed in the homogenous mire.
If I was a diehard fan, I'd have eaten up the Thermals' set just like... everyone else at the club: Again, the ticket stub should have come with a "HIGH VOLTAGE" warning. But as the show turned out, I can see why The Body, the Blood, the Machine is really the only Thermals album casual fans may gave a shit about.
Read my full review at Vancouver Weekly, and maybe tell me I was wrong about having been tactful.
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