Yesterday, ZMP hit me up and gave me the 411 on a Pilate concert that was happening at the Bomber the very same night. Pilate (pronounced like pilot, not as I thought, like the exercise) was an unknown band to me but I have heard good things about them from various people so it seemed like a safe bet. They are generally described using bands like Radiohead, Coldplay and Crowded House.

I know that I’m in the Waterloo Bubble, and it is true that I don’t really pay attention to what happens on campus, but I totally did not know that this concert was happening. I couldn’t even look it up online! Perhaps because it was supposed to be a surprise concert (featuring Alt Rock Heroes). I think they did a good job keeping it a secret, even scheduling it during reading week when most people are away. Nevertheless, there were quite a few people there.

The opener was kill The Lights. I heard most of their set, but I can’t really comment on them. They are like your random rock band that you have never heard before trying to make it big.

Pilate came on at about 10:45 and played a one hour set. Since I had never heard anything by them, I thought that I was at a disadvantage. Turns out that that wasn’t true! I would say that 2/3 to 3/4 of their 10-12 song set was new material from their forthcoming album. I finally understood that the reason they had a free concert on a day where there would be a reasonable, but not a huge crowd was because they wanted to try out their new songs in front of a live audience.

Unfortunately for them, we didn’t really get into the songs. Although, the lethargic nature of their performance probably contributed to that. Perhaps in a different situation, the experience may have been beter, but I thought last night was rather poor.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: concerts, uwaterloo.ca