Princeton At Lee’s Palace in Toronto – Sept 11

12 September 2009, Allan @ 7:46 pm Princeton At Lees Palace in Toronto Sept 11

On a sold out night with scalpers outside asking for and selling tickets to a sold out show featuring Ra Ra Riot, Maps and Atlases and the opener Princeton, it was set for a fun night. I was excited to see Princeton as I’ve had ample opportunity to listen to their debut release, “Cocoon Of Love” which is full of excellent well crafted tracks. I’d review it by now if it wasn’t set for a September 29th release. Be sure to expect a good review though.

Princeton, actually named on a street they lived near (see NYT article) and not the preppy university are led by the two Kivel twins Jesse and Matt (Jesse being a former worker at Force Field PR if that name rings a bell among you fellow bloggers). With both brothers sharing bass, guitar and vocal duties, it’s hard to tell between the two on the record. Live, one was well dressed (Matt) and Jesse wore glasses and orange shirts branding a Phil and The Osophers shirt (nerdy goodness indeed).

Princeton At Lees Palace in Toronto Sept 11 Anyway, on record Princeton had multiple instruments and in a live setting they used a much stripped down set. However, they were absolutely fantastic. Sometimes keeping things simple is the best strategy and they ended up turning most of the crowd into fans (tons of swaying and had more and more people creeping up as the venue was filling).

They sounded excellent in Lee’s Palace. Which I have to say, keeps disappointing me on sound quality. Only two bands have sounded superb in this venue, The Walkmen and Princeton (everyone else seems to be plagued by vocal issues or something).

The Kivel twins also have a ton of stage presence, getting both the crowd involved (effectively getting the crowd handclapping during songs) as well as the band showing off that they can continue a song without halting after Matt Kivel’s mic cord fell out during the song Korean War Memorial. The Kivel Twins then just sang out the rest of the song on that mic alone. Great stuff. The band will go far based on their stage presence.

My own personal highlight would be when Princeton played Sadie and Andy. Matt Kivel sung his own and the female vocals and hit every note. Not sure if it mattered that I knew all the songs on the album but at least my girlfriend said “they were the best of the 3 bands that night” and I have to agree.

While they didn’t have the biggest fan base going into the night, they converted me into a fan and I can only hope they gain even more. Here’s to hoping the reviews for Cocoon Of Love are good (as they should be) as I hope they end up doing very well once their album is finally released. Check out the rest of their tour dates with Ra Ra Riot and Map and Atlases (be sure to look out for tomorrow for photos of Ra Ra Riot and Map and Atlases):

12 Sep MOHAWK PLACE – Buffalo, New York
13 Sep GROG SHOP – Cleveland Heights, Ohio
14 Sep THE BASEMENT – Columbus, Ohio
16 Sep SCHUBAS(SOLD OUT) – Chicago, Illinois
17 Sep VARSITY THEATER – Minneapolis, Minnesota
18 Sep FORWARD MUSIC FESTIVAL – Madison, Wisconsin
19 Sep PYGMALION MUSIC FESTIVAL – Urbana, Illinois
20 Sep FIREBIRD – St. Louis, Missouri
21 Sep THE BOTTLENECK – Lawrence, Kansas
23 Sep GRANADA THEATER – Dallas, Texas
24 Sep EMO’S – Austin, Texas
25 Sep WAREHOUSE LIVE – Houston, Texas
26 Sep SPANISH MOON – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
27 Sep BOTTLE TREE – Birmingham, Alabama
29 Sep THE MASQUERADE – Atlanta, Georgia
30 Sep CAT’S CRADLE – Carrboro, North Carolina
1 Oct 9:30 CLUB – Washington DC, Washington DC
2 Oct TROCADERO – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3 Oct PARADISE ROCK CLUB – Boston, Massachusetts
8 Oct THE TERRACE CLUB W/ LE LOUP – Princeton, New Jersey
9 Oct TWISTED BRANCH TEA BAZAAR W/ tUnE- YaRds – Charlottesville, Virginia
10 Oct DUKE COFFEE HOUSE – Durham, North Carolina