The Drive Tour Review

All of you Ryan Gosling and Drive lovers are going to appreciate this post.  Last night the Drive tour came to the Union Transfer in Philadelphia.  The Tour takes its name from the Ryan Gosling film from last fall, which scored incredibly well on Rotten Tomatoes and introduced many new ears to the 80s revival.  Capitalizing on new fans, the tour was put together to cross the US with College and Electric Youth, who share a song on the record, and Anoraak, because he's of the same Valerie Collective.



Quick side note, the Union Transfer is a really nice venue if you haven't been there.  It's got an old theater/restaurant vibe, and seems pretty clean.

First off for the night was Electric Youth, who, as far as I can find, don't have many real releases despite being featured on a major motion picture soundtrack.  They did mention one of their tracks last night would be the single from their record, so that will probably change soon.  The singer, Bronwyn, has a perfect 80s pop voice, which helps set their music out apart from the rest.  Their keyboard player had a fantastic rig, including a Prophet '08 and a Moog Little Phatty, and what looked like a Yamaha CS-5, but I can't be sure.  The band's newer tracks were fresh, catchy, and poppy, and it will be interesting to see how they translate in studio when their record for release.  My favorite moment of their set was the solo of "Right Back to You", which seems straight out of 1985.

Afterward, Anoraak took the stage.  If you've read either my interview or previous review of Anoraak, you know I'm a big fan, and this performance didn't disappoint.  We're still seeing a transition phase of new tracks, which means you won't recognize everything you hear at the show, but the new tracks sound fantastic and I can't wait to hear them recorded.  Anoraak does a great job keeping the set fresh with vocals, fancy guitar work, working the crowd, and big drum beats and synth breakdowns.  In fact, they closed their set with an instrumental track with fantastic buildups.  Their new record really can't come soon enough.

Finally, College performed.  College has a cool part-retro-part-haunted-house video show behind his music, and he does sometimes continuous mixes of his best known tracks.  As an added treat, he performed "A Real Hero", from the Drive Soundtrack, with Bronwyn of Electric Youth.  College's set was enjoyable, and certainly adds a nice variation to the tour, as the other two bands are live, and College DJs.

If you're a fan of any of these bands, or liked the music of Drive, I definitely recommend making it out to one of these shows!  Remaining dates and more images listed below.

07/25 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
07/26 – Toronto, ON @ Wrongbar
07/27 – Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
07/28 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
07/29 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
08/01 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl
08/02 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
08/03 – Portland, OR @ Branx
08/04 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
08/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
08/06 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
08/07 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
08/09 – Dallas, TX @ The Prophet Bar
08/10 – El Paso, TX @ Garden Bar
08/11 – Austin, TX @ Red 7
08/12 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
08/14 – Miami, FL @ Grand Central
08/15 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
08/16 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West