The Legendary Pink Dots

October 6th, Lee's Palace

    The Dots, once again, kicked butt in Toronto, and the crowd did the famous "Toronto Buttocks Dance" in appreciation.

    First, the opening band: Origami Galactika. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I'm grateful for it's high volume as it drowned out much of the audience chit-chat. He might be classed in the school of "minimal and esoteric knob-twiddling to large effect" noise ambience: lots of equipment that couldn't be seen, a man with oddly testicular facial hair tweaking knobs to facilitate the general blowing off of heads, and eardrum-shattering phase-shifted drones. Did I mention ambient loops sent through effects processors and filters, sounds of subways and rain, and a deep and penetrating bass throb? A significant part of his sound mastery seemed to involve mini-discs. Near the end of the set he sawed on a guitar like a maniac, providing a wonderfully musical end to an otherwise noisy show. I liked!

During "A Certain Stuukey," a lot of people with fashionable black wrist bands anticipate the inhaling of second-hand sax fumes.

    Next: The Dots, because that's really why we came.  Niels, on one end of the stage, was strangely bereft of hat, and for a man who confessed afterward that he hadn't slept in 24 hours he was remarkably cheerful and outgoing...in short, his usual wonderful Hoornblower self. At one point he played one of those twirling whooping tubes that you spin over your head...a children's toy that I haven't seen in 20 years and don't remember the name of. Those in the front row got the much-anticipated pleasure of poking their noses into his sax bowl during the "A Certain Stuukey," which was a really fun and confrontational time.

    Martijn, as usual, was the least outgoing of the bunch, though I swear that Niels was trying to get him to do some synchronized back-up steps during the final encore. Martijn played a broad range of instruments: guitar, bass, mandolin and -- oh wow! -- violin, which perfectly suited the crazy, trancey, extended rave-out that was a pleasant shock (and was perhaps not a re-working of "Evolution," but -- thankfully! -- a track called "The Brightest Star" on "All The King's Men.") At the end of the 10-minute-plus freak-out the folks on stage (and those in the audience) were in a blissful state of happy nothingness. I don't know if the Dots are going to experiment more in that direction, but I for one hope they do!

Niels spins the tube so fast that it twists into another time, another home.  So, in other words, you can't see it in the picture.

    Edward always seems to tempt fate at Lee's Palace by going barefoot on the dodgy stage. He's survived so far. He mentioned they were jetlagged (and then revised his description to "van-lagged" due to the amount of time it took to get out of the airport: "They're getting bigger. They'll take over soon.") At the beginning of the second encore he said that he'd normally want a cigarette at this point (I wasn't aware of this, but it looks like Toronto has followed the lead of some other Canadian cities by banning smoking in clubs). When someone in the audience tried to bum a cigarette for him he admitted that he'd rather quit.  The only other chatter I remember -- besides the pleasant "thank you"'s -- was in response to a woman with a wonderfully horrific scream in the audience: "My goodness...were we that bad?"

    For those who like these sorts of things, here's what they played for us, in no particular order:

    After the welcome strains of "Sing While You May" they started off with "Birdie," the first track off of the new albums that most of us had heard.  Other songs from "All The King's Horses" and "All The King's Men" were "Our Dominion," the darkly gorgeous "12th," the likewise darkly gorgeous "Wax and Feathers," "Lisa Goes Surfing," "It's The Real Thing," and the sort of power-polka 30 second "Daisy" (I doubt they were anticipating Kitchener's horrific Oktoberfest celebrations by playing this song, but still...I forgive them).

    They certainly stole hearts by playing "Isis Veiled" and "Stitching Time," as well as the newer tracks "When I'm With You," "Blue," "A Certain Stuukey" and "The More It Stays The Same."  They certainly raised eyebrows (and got bums moving) by mixing "Evolution" with "The Brightest Star."  Other than that there were certain silly interludes of the kind they used to do during older shows (apparently to give them time to change their synth patches and drum programs, according to April Illiffe).

By looking carefully at the details of this picture, you too can build a Phil Knight synth kit!  And you know you want to because it sounds so good and it looks so fun.

    Yes, Silverman broke out a most impressive Grand Piano, and was also getting a real kick out of a dramatic, theremin-ish sample-trigger device that he could play by striking his hand off into space, and which added something extra-special to "Stitching Time." They also played a great "unplugged" set, which should dispel any ideas that "The Dots need their live drums."  As an aside: yes, I do miss the drums to some extent, but their absence shows that the drum programming is getting more varied and powerful (I'm not talking Patrick Q. Wright-ish...actually, the drum patterns were very subtle in most of the songs, but had a quirky unpredictability to them that I like).

Edward encourages us to "Kill It" while Martijn does The Pigeon in the background.

    For some reason the songs on "Horses" -- and their sound during the tour -- remind me most of "Red Letters" mixed with "Last Man To Fly," which may only be because they blew my mind by playing a song off the latter. But there is a definite song-structure to most of these new tracks.

    The highlights? For me, "The Brightest Star," without a doubt, closely followed by "Stitching Time" and "Isis Veiled."  It was wonderful to see the Amazing Dots Machine continue to chug along at the same high speed, drawing energy and inspiration from God Knows Where.  It was also nice to be part of a wildly enthusiastic, appreciative and respectful crowd who didn't once shout out a request or snatch at somebody's caftan.  I predict the shows can only get better during the tour (after a few good naps) and you're all in for a treat. Hopefully the merchandise will hold out.

    Oh yes, and the visuals WERE astounding, contributing to the special psychedelic atmosphere of the show. This feeling of surreality was further compounded when a homeless man on Bloor St. rolled over on his back and started meowing at me, in the cold, at 2am.  "Meow!  Meow!  Meow!" he kept shouting as he lay there with his hat outstretched.  After I gave him some money he thanked me soberly and resumed an upright position.

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