The New Pornographers Make Calgary Dance

The Night Gallery is a small cabaret that has Hard Rock Cafe styled decor with retro memorabilia covering the walls from floor to ceiling.

Last night's line-up drew a 30+ crowd who were surprisingly giddier than your average all-ages pack. Also out to support the bands and mingle in the masses were none other than Calgary's own Zuckerbaby.

First served were the Rembetika Hipsters, who played a set of Greek style music complete with a belly dancer, who strutted around roping in innocent bystanders with her veil to dance in front of the stage. It's not that I didn't enjoy them; it's the fact that I came out thinking I was going to see a rock 'n' roll show (whatever that really is) and ended up dozing at my table.

Next up were Mico and to be blunt, they didn't impress me. Every song resembled the previous with their not-very-catchy guitar riffs and mumbled lyrics. Perhaps someone should have notified the guitarist on stage left that his microphone was a bit too high for him since he put too much effort into trying to make himself tall enough to sing into it.

Last, but definitely not least, were The New Pornographers complete with all six members: Carl Newman, Dan Bejar, Blaine Thurier, John Collins, Neko Case and Kurt Dahle, who skipped a Limblifter tour to play the Porno gigs. The set began with the extremely catchy title track, "Mass Romantic," which woke the crowd up and provoked the barstool warmers to relieve themselves of their duties and wander over to stage front.

Neko Case explained to the eager but mainly motionless crowd: "It's O.K. to dance, we're new wave, you know."

Soon after everyone seemed to forget about his or her abilities or disabilities to dance and just let loose; and the man to my right did just that — just think Mr. Roboto meets the funky chicken. From beginning to end they covered each and every track off of their brand new album, leaving the much adored "Letter From An Occupant" to last and threw in two covers: "The Donner Party" and "Shocking Blue;" as an extra little encore treat.