Exactly What You Wanted: Easy Star All-Stars Live in Montreal

By Caile Donaldson on May 26, 2011 – 4:33 pmOne Comment

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Knowing what you’re getting yourself into is half the excitement. Actually getting yourself into it, then finding that it’s exactly what you’d thought it would be…well, that’s not too bad. It probably could have been more, but at least it wasn’t less.

Hailing from New York, Michael Goldwasser, Eric Smith, Lem Oppenheimer & Remy Gerstein came together in 1997 as a studio band to form the Easy Star All Stars, both an epic collective band and their own record label. With a down-to-earth stage presence, Easy Star All Stars grabbed the crowds and wound up playing a tonne of originals off their First Live album. The audience dug it for sure: underneath the clouds of pot smoke and watery yellow and red lights, you could see heads bobbing.

It was the type of show that’s more experiential than your average show, which usually involves getting trashed and trashing around the front stage while some band blasts the sound out of your eardrums. The beginning of their set was a bit more laid-back and relaxed, but the band soon knew how to bring the audience excitement levels up. With lights flashing, sax solos and bass breakdowns were thrown in to the mix, drawing everyone in with sunny vibes and a chilled out atmosphere.

The audience stayed pretty mellow on the originals, but when the band broke out Radiohead’s “Climbing up the Walls” and the female vocalist let loose, it was unbelievably chilling. “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band”, the Easy Star All-Stars take on the Beatles classic, also made way for some cheerful jams. And then of course came their mean rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Money”: Green lights flood the stage, and no one can see anything but the harsh emerald glow. The noise of coughing breaks down into some cool bass riffs…and then suddenly “Money” erupts, and the crowds start dancing hard…followed by a little sax soloâ€¦

When they left the stage, the audience wasn’t having it at all – so the band came back to rock the crowds with about five extra songs and even more energy than they’d had before; the band jumped up and down, broke into some wild jams, and then ended the set on a really, really high note.

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"You have to build your reputation on being honest and unmerciful." -Lester Bangs from Almost Famous. Maybe it has become an "industry of cool." But as long as there are people, there will be people making music. And as long as there's music, somewhere there will be GOOD music. "Good" music is NOT a relative term. I am on a mission to unearth the good stuff. I do not appreciate what is being passed off as "music" in the mainstream. Somehow, for some baffling reason, appalling and unlistenable, over-produced computerized crap is being misconstrued as music, whores in shorts dubbing themselves as artists. I can't comprehend it and I won't fall for it. I dismiss the cop-out idea that it's all been done and said. I love having my face melted and my neurological patterns rearranged. I love being turned on, I love being a maker and a listener. Like Maude says, music is the cosmic dance. I'm in search of the real. I understand, however, that how you judge music is how your own music will be judged, so I appreciate honesty and integrity, passion and genuine excitement, pure desire and innocent experimentation. MUSIC IS EVERYTHING.