As you all likely know, the Pop Montreal festival is taking place October 4-8 this year at various venues throughout the city. Our series of reports where I'''ll be giving my thoughts on the shows that I caught the night before continues today. Don'''t look for this to be an exhaustive list, of everything that went down every single night; I don'''t get paid nearly enough to go zigzagging across the city every night so I can see ten minutes of every show. Instead, my goal is to catch three sets every night, and provide you with some details, a few pictures, and maybe a few other goodies. Enjoy!
Related Links:
More Pop Montreal coverage at Chromewaves and Zoilus

Thursday night I stayed stationary, and caught all three acts on the bill at the Ukranian Federation building. This was partly due to the fact that there wasn'''t all that much happening last night, but mostly due to the fact that it'''s kind of in the middle of nowhere relatively speaking. I'''d never been to, or even heard of this venue before, but it was nice in a quaint sort of way.
Joe Grass @ Ukranian Federation '' 9pm:


Local folk/bluegrass talent Joe Grass took the stage first, and got a pretty nice reception from the crowd. There wasn'''t all that much to his performance''just Joe and his guitar sitting on his lap''but he managed to keep people'''s interest throughout the course of his set. If I had to compare him to anyone I guess early Iron & Wine comes to mind. Overall, it was a nice, low-key way to start off the evening.

Under Byen @ Ukranian Federation '' 10pm:

I had heard a lot of buzz about this Danish group, so I was curious to see how they measured up to the expectations that had been set for me. I wouldn'''t go so far s to say that I was disappointed, but the band wasn'''t the revelation I was hoping for. I'''ll give them credit, their sound is innovative, using everything from violin and cello to an electronically-distorted saw, but I found myself getting restless by the end of their set, and it seems I wasn'''t alone. During their final song, the band was drawing out their last note for all it was worth, and after a solid minute the crowd decided it was having none of that. Scattered applause filled the room until the band got the point.


Under Byen - Af Samme Stof Som Stof

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Joanna Newsom @ Ukranian Federation '' 11pm:


This was, hands down, the performance I was most looking forward to this week. You'''ll often hear of artists supposedly having the audience in the palm of their hands, but I don'''t think it'''s ever been more applicable than last night. The crowd sat riveted, as Newsom cast her spell upon us, drawing heavily from her forthcoming album Y'''s. I honestly don'''t think I'''ve ever been so moved by a musical performance as I was by this delicate little creature plucking away expertly on her harp. Grown men beside me were weeping, and the crowd gave Newsom a standing ovation at the end. This is Montreal; we don'''t do that sort of thing here. The crowd even rallied to her aid at the end, calling out the lyric she forgot to ''"Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie''" during the encore. I don'''t think anything else this week is going to measure up.


Joanna Newsom - Cosmia

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