The Weakerthans @ the Granada Theater 4-1-08

Weakerthans @ the Granada

Went to see the Weakerthans play tonight with my sister. I haven't seen them play in a few years but it feels like I haven't missed anything in that timespan. The band was solid as always, coordinated and professional. They've added a keyboardist to the line-up and while she didn't have a big role in the sound, when you did catch her it certainly filled out the sound. But the acoustics of the Granada tended to wash her out. Otherwise the band was good. They played a good selection of songs from their entire catelogue and packed the playlist as much as they could for the time alloted them. Even the encore was planned out, featuring four songs that closed the set dead on at midnight.
Unfortunately the Granada Theater is one of those dreaded "no smoking" places so I made several trips outside for my nicotine fix. In doing so I ended up noticing a cute bartender who I chatted up for ten minutes or so. While she had a boyfriend (no love for your dear blogger) she was quite interesting so it was worth the slight embarrassment. More importantly, as she said herself, while she could make more money at other bars, she enjoyed the atmosphere of the Granada more. That kind of attitude is heart-warming since it shows that there are still people out there who would rather make less money and enjoy their job than make more money under less than desirable conditions.
All in all, it was a worthwhile evening out on a Tuesday night. That's something of a rarity these days. It was cathartic and while the show didn't blow my mind I did get a chance to truly relax. So now I'm off to bed and the sleep of a content person. I wish there were more nights like this.