Going to a Crystal Castles show is like stepping into some sort of tripped-out Tim Burton musical. Or at least, that’s how it felt at Vancouver’s Gossip Night Club on the last Saturday of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Flowing white curtains hung from the ceiling, with pink lights clashing against them. Spiral chandeliers reached out towards the floor. The bar was backlit with odd arrangements of red, black and yellow lights. And perhaps scariest above all was that a beer cost nearly nine dollars! Guess that’s the price you pay for living in an Olympic city.
Yet through the overpriced drinks, it was a surprisingly rowdy crowd that greeted Crystal Castles shortly after midnight. Any space left in the middle of the floor was quickly filled, as fans threw themselves towards Alice Glass. Dozens of hands instantly stretched out to get a feel of her hair and face. A very cool Glass sang through it all, throwing down the same level of energy the crowd was dishing out. It was a decent offering on both ends.
The set was met with the usual antics: shrieking vocals, flashing lights, and on more than one occasion Glass jumped into the masses for a crowd surf. Tonight, it felt like she was amongst our kind than that of elite band status. Glass must have felt compassion for our wounded wallets, as she soon passed a half bottle of whiskey into the crowd. It was only the very close and the very fortunate that got a taste of the free alcohol; the rest remained subjected to the ways of the evil overlords at the bar.
Most songs were easily recognized from their only LP, Crystal Castles, but a decent number must have been from their impending second album. It’s not like Glass or Ethan Kath talked much between tracks to announce where these songs were coming from.
Either way, it was a fresh set from first whacked out electro-note to the last. And as Crystal Castles exited the stage, it was only the tired and the sweaty that followed; and even then, a good amount of them stayed behind. Most of the patrons stayed out on the floor, choosing to dance a little while longer, and to bask in the glory of an Olympic Vancouver, if only for a night.
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