LIVE: Mike O'Neill Starts Again With The Beginners At St. Stephen's
Monday May 05, 2008 @ 03:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

May 2, 2008
St. Stephen-In-The-Fields Church
Toronto, ON
By Kate Harper

"I was really nervous before this show, so my brother went down the street to a bar and picked me up a shot of whiskey in a plastic bottle," opener Laura Peek giggled after she'd played a few songs on Friday at St. Stephen-In-The-Fields Church. "They funneled it into the bottle. I'm not nervous anymore."

The Halifax-based singer/songwriter was without the bandmates who comprise her backing band, The Winning Hearts (who take their name from an Inbreds album). You could tell she was nervous during her first couple of songs, as her voice wavered a bit on the high notes. But after a few tunes, the whiskey kicked in or she loosened up on her own, because she joked more with the audience (she held up a music folder with a tiger on the cover, which she said she'd bought at Staples, and remarked on how "prog" it was) and her voice took on a Feist-y, syrupy intonation when she hit the high notes. She apologized to the audience for The Winning Hearts' absence and said she worried her songs sounded "weird" without them, but she had no reason to be sorry, because she more than managed by herself.

Will Currie & The Country French benefited from St. Stephen's cavernous architecture. Although their large membership already gives them a big sound, the sextet's piano pop songs sounded massive inside the church, and they played a tight set of songs from their A Great Stage debut. Drummer Aaron Mariash is one of the reasons Will Currie and company are such a tight live band. He's incredibly virtuosic for such a young drummer and his impeccable, snappy playing and great timing did wonders to hold the band together.

Despite the horrendous, miserable weather (it was pouring rain on Friday night). Mike O'Neill drew a large crowd, perhaps because he hasn't played Toronto for years. This Over The Top Festival show was the live debut of The Beginners, his new band comprised of himself, guitarist Charles Austin and drummer Hampton Kelly. O'Neill didn't say much to the audience, but stopped to remark about the shortness of his set list. The trio played some new songs and some of O'Neill's solo material like What Happens Now's "Camera Shy." About halfway through the set, he and Austin switched instruments so O'Neill could show off his new guitar chops on a few songs. O'Neill is obviously more known for his fuzz pedal-accompanied bass playing from his Inbreds days, but his guitar work sounded great alongside Austin and Kelly.

The audience was obviously baying for an encore after The Beginners took off their instruments. Austin and Kelly left the stage, but O'Neill remained and walked over to Austin's guitar. He sat down, picked it up, strummed a few chords and then asked the audience, "Does anybody have anything they want me to play?" before remarking, "Wait, I'm actually not sure what to play. I don't know any more songs."

Although he's much more competent on bass, it was obviously impractical for him play that instrument unaccompanied, so he strummed a few more chords on the guitar while audience members yelled requests. Eventually, he asked if anyone in the audience knew his songs. He invited someone up on stage, but the crowd member could only play drums, and said he would work the kit while O'Neill sang.

"No, man," O'Neill said, laughing. "Drums and voice? I don't even know what that sounds like in my head."

O'Neill looked out into the crowd and saw Hayden, who was hanging out near the front of the stage with Sarah Harmer. "Hayden, man! Come up here and help me out," O'Neill yelled.

After he spent a few more minutes unsuccessfully trying to get Hayden on stage, Austin and Kelly returned and the trio ran through one of the songs they'd already played.

This could have killed the show and could have made O'Neill look ridiculous, but it only added to the set's entertainment and made him seem more genuine. No one held it against him, either. When O'Neill finally left the stage, he told the crowd The Beginners were hoping to have an album out by the end of the year. In response, an enthusiastic young man screamed out, "Hurry up!" to which everyone else responded with shouts and applause. Exactly.