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Toronto-via-Halifax’s fantastic Sloan are the latest veteran band to jump on the popular concert craze of playing an older album start to finish. For this tour, they trotted out their 1994 second LP Twice Removed, the occasion being its recent box set reissue. This particular show was also nostalgic; the album was coincidentally recorded nearby, at Hoboken’s Waterfront Studios. Since I became a fan of Sloan late in the game, with 2003 seventh album Action Pact, I’m admittedly partial to their more recent material, preferring its more muscular production and bigger hooks. But Twice is a favorite of many fans; it was named Canada’s all-time best LP twice in Slant! magazine’s reader poll, and reached #25 on the Canadian charts.
Jay Ferguson (and keyboardist Gregory Macdonald)
Andrew Scott
Because it has a lighter, more polite feel than their later LPs, and contains a few quieter numbers like “Loosens” and “Before I Do,” their run-through of the album lacked some of their typical live tenaciousness. Still, most of the tunes, like the opening “Penpals,” and its two singles “People of the Sky” and “Coax Me,” sounded more hard-hitting than on record. And it was a treat to hear so many songs they rarely or never play live. It was also worth noting that all four members – bassist Chris Murphy, guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, and drummer Andrew Scott – contributed almost equally on songwriting even back then, each singing lead on at least two numbers (as is their custom, Scott comes up front to play guitar for his songs, with Murphy switching to drums and Ferguson playing bass).
Patrick Pentland
Chris Murphy
Following the first set, Murphy announced they’d be back after a short break (“We’re not going to let Twice Removed ruin our night,” he said tongue-in-cheekily), and that’s when the real fireworks started. Upon returning, the band plowed through a knockout 19-song extravaganza that touched on all but one of their nine other albums, skipping only Action Pact. Naturally, they played a handful off their newest tenth album The Double Cross, from Ferguson’s pretty “Beverly Terrace” to Scott’s more boisterous “She’s Slowing Down Again” and “Traces.” And to go with regular Sloan live staples like Never Hear the End of It’s “Who Taught You to Live Like That?,” Pretty Together’s “The Other Man,” and Navy Blues’ “Money City Maniacs,” the band closed out the show with a blowout, party-like encore that included less commonly heard, driving rockers “G Turns to D” (from 1996 third LP One Chord to Another) and “500 Up” (from 1993 debut Smeared). Like the previous six times I’ve seen them, this was another smashing Sloan performance!
Upcoming Sloan “Twice Removed” dates:
11/22 Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON
11/23 Le National – Montreal, QC
