Constantines Celebrate 10 Years With Volume

It was fitting that Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson opened this first of three 10th anniversary shows for Toronto's Constantines.

If anyone deserves the title of Constantines Superfan, it's Samson. Aside from arranging yearly tours with his band and the Cons, Samson has crafted an open love letter to them, praising their latest disc, Kensington Heights, and also wrote the band bio that appears on the their website.

In that bio, Samson hits upon a metaphor that seemed apt for the occasion:

"I can't recall the first time I heard them, but it would have been on CD, their first, self-titled 2000 release. It came in a beautiful hand-made package that contained a wooden match, an appropriate way to light a long creative fuse."

Samson was at Lee's Palace to show off his new EP, City Route 85. In addition to its songs, he also hauled out acoustic versions of some Weakerthans favourites like "Left And Leaving," "Bigfoot!" and "The Reasons." He closed his set with an unplugged (no microphone, even) rendition of "Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure."

Welland, Ont.'s Attack In Black were on next to warm up the stage for the Constantines. They deliberately focused on the louder rock numbers in their repertoire, ignoring the folkier side of their latest disc, Years (By One Thousand Fingertips). The quartet were surprisingly powerful.

The Constantines hit the stage in a hurry after that, with bassist Dallas Wehrle sporting an interestingly maniacal balaclava that he left on for their entire set.

It was evident with the Cons' first drum strike that Lee's volume levels were at full blast. It only took the five-piece 10 seconds to turn everyone in the crowd into that guy in the old Maxell cassette logo that was being blown away by the speakers in his living room.

As might be expected, the Cons visited songs from all four of their albums. Shine A Light's "Nighttime Anytime (It's Alright)," and Kensington Heights' "Hard Feelings" and "Shower Of Stones" were definite highlights. Samson was seen swooning at numerous junctures.

The Constantines get better and better as time passes. Anyone that sees them live will realize why they've managed to stick around this long.