Live Music Tuesday is dead

Live Music Tuesday kicked off 2013 at The Hub the same way most of 2012 went — unfortunately lacking an audience. The venue and the bands gave a good effort, but it doesn’t matter if no one is listening, which was nearly the case on Jan. 8.

Centuri opened the show strong to the support of the petite crowd. The band was good enough, but it was vocalist Jeff Marriott who stood out the most. His voice is remotely a mix between Our Lady Peace and Wintersleep, a mash-up that worked well.

Sadly, it was hard to understand the lyrics that he was singing which took away from the performance. Some of his on-stage actions seemed a tad bit over-the-top for the venue, but it’s comforting to know he was throwing all of that effort in.

The other downside to Centuri was while their songs were appealing, they tended to sound too similar. Midway through the set they did an Arctic Monkeys cover which seemed to set the stage for more variety, but a lot of the songs overall did seem to sound alike.

Centuri isn’t a bad group by any means, they were very interesting and overall they put in an above-average performance, which is a lot more than they were getting out.

Live Music Tuesday really look like they are a fun time. In fact, if anyone bothered to go to the shows, they would probably agree. Photo: Logan Pollon

They did a good enough job setting the stage for Reigo. Poor, poor Reijo, who only got to play for (seemingly) the bar staff and Centuri. The bands had played together before, and their respect for each other was evident.

Reijo were a decent act considering the circumstances. The vocals were very clear and the band knew what they were doing on stage. They did resemble U2 quite heavily though, through their music and their presence on the stage. The guitarist even had an over-the-ear mic that the Edge wears and played the guitar in a similar fashion with similar effects.

In fact it could be argued all parts of the band sounded very U2-like, which is a great group to be compared to but that is as far as a band should strive for. It is important to receive inspiration but their scope seemed too narrow and they almost seemed like a U2 cover band.

If they branched out more into the other facets and genres of music they would enhance their sound and make it more original and respectable. In all fairness, and comparisons aside, Reijo put on an enjoyable show.

The major attendance issue stunted the acts, and it blocked the bands from reaching their full potential. It should be noted that it was very apparent that both bands loved what they do, and they really showed their heart and went the extra mile to put on the best performance they could.

It’s hard to get feedback, though, when there were more people in a single classroom in Mount Royal than at the show.

The audience is a very key component to live performances, a component that regrettably was absent. The show definitely could have far better, and the fault for that lies within the emptiness in the room and not with the bands.