Arkells ~ February 6, 2009 The Horseshoe - Toronto, Canada

Words and Photos by Pete Nema

It's happening. Anyone in Southern Ontario who has ever become a fan of the Arkells knew it would happen, eventually. The Arkells have grown up, and now they're leaving us (even if only temporarily.) Although I've never seen them in their home town of Hamilton, in Toronto we've seen them open for other bands at Phoenix and Sound Academy. We've seen them play shows with only a small crowd present... small enough that we were all on stage with them. But now they've released a brilliant debut album called, Jackson Square, and the number of fans has grown in a huge way. So those days are gone, and I fully expect to see Arkells headlining at some of the venues where we saw them open at last year, and deservedly so.

The show last Friday was similar to the incredible show they put on last December that put them in spot #3 of my Top 10 Shows of 2008. They played with the same insane amount of energy, so much so that Max Kerman's (vocals, guitar) fingers were bleeding, presumably from a high-impact guitar strumming error, and that sweat flew from their faces as they sang “Oh The Boss Is Coming!.” The Horseshoe was completely sold-out, which meant more than 500 attendees were packed in there, with the fans pushed up at the stage singing along to many of the songs. The songs themselves are never replicas of the recorded material... instead they change it up, adjusting songs to increase the interest level, even if you've listened to the songs over and over at home. They also had a couple of surprises for us this time, including bringing out Jeremy Taggart (of Our Lady Piece) to play along with Tim Oxford (drums) for one very cool synchronized drum-beat filled song. The other surprise was inviting the members from the other two bands on for the last song of the encore to help them belt out the Beatles' “Don't Let Me Down.”

So there they go, out on their own, driving across Canada with The Waking Eyes, taking their unbelievably excellent stage show to fans across the country for the rest of February and part of March. Their shows pretty much define the reason for seeing bands in concert, so be sure to check the scheduled dates on MySpace, and when they hit your town go and see them, seriously. Because the next time most likely won't be as intimate.

For more info go to: www.myspace.com/arkellsmusic