Band of Skulls At Venue on Saturday, April 24

Fans who showed up at the crack of 7:30 p.m. for the sold-out Band of Skulls show were twice blessed on Saturday. Not only did they get to snag some (but not all) of the best sight lines at Venue—where the British blues-tinted rock trio played its first of two back-to-back concerts—but they also got to catch openers Saint Motel.

Now here is a band after my own heart: heavy, but pretty. The SoCal four-piece delivered a totally kick-ass, guitar-driven set that effortlessly blended in some really graceful vocal harmonizing. Lead singer A/J Jackson even did a sweet falsetto for “Butch”, a beaut of a boogie-licious song. It was a damn near perfect set. Even some of the hard-to-please scenesters in gyno row gave the all-important indie hands-in-pocket, hoodie-over-head nod of approval.

Another endearing quality about the Saint Motel guys is they’re mindful of their hosts. For every tour stop, they produce a big-screen montage specific to that particular city. So we were treated to a video mashup that included images of Canucks scoring and clips from what looked like a vintage black-and-white RCMP propaganda film mixed in with cartoon porn. It was a nice touch! Jackson also made a point of saying that the band is from “America”. Apparently, someone tipped off the culturally sensitive quartet that this playoff season is no time to brag about any L.A. affiliations.

Up next was Montreal’s Silver Starling. The indie-pop quintet is based in my second-favourite city in Canada and they seem like pretty nice people to boot. Adding to their appeal, singer-keyboardist-violinist Marika Shaw is a hometown girl and proud of it.

Soooo, it really pains me to say this, but the band kinda came off as Arcade Fire Lite, which makes sense considering Shaw has toured with Arcade Fire as a viola player. In the group’s defence, that probably had to do with the bill itself; Silver Starling was sandwiched between two heavy-hitting acts, which made it hard to fully appreciate its meandering sonic trip-outs. Perhaps the band would be better suited warming up a Sigur Rós crowd at a moody, candle-lit church.

By the time the headliners hit the stage, Venue was packed to the rafters. Band of Skulls did not disappoint. The black-clad English trio was spot fucking on. What made the band so good live is the way it has the rare ability to move you on an emotional level without being pussies about it. Band of Skulls builds walls of sound that speak to your lovelorn soul, as well as to your inner Zeppelin beast—not easy to do.

Tall and imposing bassist Emma Richardson has enough physical presence that she didn’t need to do much in the way of banter or rock-star posturing. She just did her thing without breaking a sweat and she did it well. Adding yin to her yang, her elfin, bearded bandmate, guitarist-singer Russell Marsden, rocked hard. At one point near the end, he even busted out a feedback-soaked dry-hump move.

Not surprisingly, standouts included BOS’s instantly recognizable (albeit White Stripes–indebted) “Death by Diamonds and Pearls”. But the real highlight of the night was the beautiful indie alt-ballad “Honest”. Here, drummer Matt Hayward put down his sticks and picked up an acoustic guitar as Richardson stepped up to the mike for a truly transcendent performance. And with that, this easily topped my best-show-of-2010-so-far list.