(Worth Wagers took this photo.)
The Canadian pop-rock band Sloan was uncool before it was cool to be uncool. Its members don’t act like rock stars, and the group never so massively successful for its success to spoil them.
Hailing originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, they are, instead, four hometown boys that one hopes would make good.
By celebrating their twentieth anniversary with their tenth new studio album, The Double Cross, they have long since done just that.
I have seen each of Sloan’s past three Boston-area performances. All of them have been at TT the Bear’s Place in Central Square. Although the ticket-taker dude said that Tuesday night’s show was not quite sold out, the crowd was the most tightly packed that I have seen Sloan play for.
There were a couple mentions of a recent professional hockey match that pitted a team from Canada against a team from Boston. Chris Murphy, Sloan’s de facto front man, referenced the irony of the Bruins celebration party that was going on right under his feet at the Middle East Downstairs.
But the couple hundred-strong crowd was at TT’s and not the Middle East for a reason. Rather than gloating about the Stanley Cup victory, it twice broke into chants of “Let’s go Sloan! Let’s go Sloan!”
Sloan has never been afraid to show off its latest album, and Tuesday night was no exception. The first three songs of the set were from The Double Cross, and each was sung by a different member.
In the middle of the set, drummer Andrew Scott handed his drumsticks Murphy, who in turn handed his bass to guitarist Jay Ferguson, who gave his guitar and mic to Scott, who sang a handful of songs that he has written. (Only guitarist Patrick Pentland and touring keyboardist Greg MacDonald stayed right where they were.)
You see, each of the guys in Sloan writes and sings his own songs, but the whole group gets songwriting credit.
According to the merch guy, the last vinyl copy of the new album sold out on the third date of the tour. (The TT’s show was the twenty-second.) By the end of the night, the band had performed ten of their twelve new songs. A new Sloan release is never a formality, and the performing of a new song is never a reason for fans to get a beer or take a piss.
Of course, plenty of the classic stuff kept the crowd clapping, cheering, and singing along. Perhaps a proper anniversary show would have included songs from each of the band’s albums. However, despite the acknowledgement of the band’s longevity in the title The Double Cross (two of the Roman numeral 10), Sloan seems to exist in an ever-present now. They were not about to play certain songs just because they might, were a vote taken, be the ones fans from fifteen or twenty years ago want to hear.
That said, my main complaint about previous Sloan concerts is that the band did not seem to know what its best songs were. That was significantly less of a problem at this show. Having too many good songs to play is a happy problem, and makes the next time Sloan takes the stage at TT’s all the more of an event to look forward to.
Sloan
w/ Hot Kid and Devil On Horseback
Tuesday, June 28
SLOANMUSIC.COM
TTTHEBEARS.COM
