Islands (GAMH, 9 November 2006)

I remember back in Noise Pop 2004, I saw the Unicorns play GAMH. There, I witnessed the wackiness that is Nick Diamonds and the rest of the Unicorns. They were all dressed in pink and white. They all were hopping around and climbing up speakers. Yet, they sang, they played and they were fun.

Nick Diamonds, and former Unicorns drummer J'aime Tambeur, are now Islands. Along with the Chow brothers (who were 1993 and 1994 Super Nintendo champions) on strings, a sax player, a bassist and a couple of rappers, the Islands mirrors The Unicorns in many ways, but less so in the wackiness part. Personally, I think Islands are better than The Unicorns.

They came on around 11pm and the crowd immediately warmed up to them. Many going crazy every time Nick opened his mouth. Nick walked on stage with a head attached to his neck and some sort of jumpsuit. As he was singing, he removed the head and the jumpsuit, revealing a white tank top and white jeans, and then put powder on his face. It was wacky, but not that wacky. Nick also teased the crowd by going near the edge of the stage as if he was going to dive right in. He never did.

They played everything from their great album, Return to the Sea. They also did a cover of Ray Davies' "Waterloo Sunset," which they claimed was their first song. The crowd went crazy when they played "Rough Gem," "Ones," the first song in the encore "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby," and wowed with some hip hop during "Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone."

But don't dare yell out a request for a Unicorns song. Nick heard someone from the audience yell out "Jellybones" and threatened to kick that guy's ass.

I enjoyed the show. But I was freakin' tired. So, I wasn't hopping around like the rest of them. Rest assured, if I was awake, I would have.

Beer Rating: 1/2