Incura at the Pawnshop, with guests Needles to Vinyl and Looking East along with Fair Blue & Matt Machete

Before the Show~

The day started out fairly typical for me. I woke up, got dressed and did my make up all within an hour and a half time and we were planning on heading to Whyte Avenue in the mid afternoon, but it was slushy as hell and I didn't want to put Daniel through pushing my manual wheelchair in slushy snow! Not a fun time, I assure you. So we decided to head to West Edmonton Mall and thanks to a recent landfall victory in a slot machine, I had acquired two hundred and fifty dollars, ontop of the two hundred I had already for this show.. I was pretty stoked for WEM and this show and seeing as I don't really ever get out on my own anymore, ( Eff you snow and ailing wheelchair battery! *shakes fist*) I was just happy to be spending quality time with some friends I hadn't really seen in a while. We went for two things... Chapters and Mable Slab! I love reading and ice cream is always a win so I felt that this was a pretty big combination.  At 7:30 PM we cabbed it to Whyte and Dan hauled the wheelchair up two flights of stairs as per usual. My friends helped me up the stairs and we were good to go!

We got drinks while simultaneously standing pretty close to the front and I kept looking at the little box with Kyle's gift in it the entire time as my stomach danced in knots about giving it to him. It was a tiny Phantom mask pin I acquired from the musical that came through in 2007. It's silver and shiny and wonderful but I felt it was time to go to a new home and when we saw Incura last time I had mentioned to the vocalist that their music reminds me quite a lot of Phantom. He told me that he decided to go into performing arts for that reason and that Phantom was huge for him. Since then I've always felt a sort of kindred with the music and ultimately, him.

I didn't know this at the time but about a month back I had checked the webstore to see their size selection and they only had up to size XL. I was sad but it's pretty typical for me not to find merch in my size. I'm use to it but it still really bummed me out! My husband however, took it upon himself to message the vocalist, Kyle, about this and ask if there was any way he could possibly get it in a bigger size and they had this whole elaborate conversation in secrecy about it. Two weeks later I got a strange package in the mail with no name on it and as I opened it my heart thudded in my chest (Okay, so who doesn't love getting mail that isn't bills?!) and as I unfolded it I saw the Incura logo and my heart went into my throat and I cried. It's pretty lame, but I did because I was so happy.

I like the Pawn Shop a lot. I mean, other than the stairs thing I think the Pawn Shop is probably my second favorite venue. It has an open concept, it's dark and there are really great acoustics. The drinks aren't too overpriced and you get to go talk to the bands after, which is really nice but I never really do because I'm far too shy. People are fairly respectful of the wheelchair and don't mosh into me which I'm thankful for. Anyways, on to the good stuff!

Review~

Incura at The Pawn Shop, February 9th, 2013.

Incura at The Pawn Shop, February 9th, 2013.

Matt Machete wasn't really my cup of tea but one of my companions liked them a lot, there was nothing really memorable about their set. I really liked Fair Blue and the vocals and the guitar were outstanding, in particular. I loved Looking East because of the vocals and the drums. I love the hard rocker/grunge vocals coming from the beautiful lady on stage and have to make a note to check Fair Blue and Looking East out for sure. Needles to Vinyl, again, was not my cup of tea but I listened and they were good, just not really to my tastes. At some point some guy moshed into me once and spilt his drink all over me but he apologized so that was nice.

The moment I had been waiting for was here and Incura was on.
To say that Incura is a high energy band is an understatement! Daniel could only manage to get these two photos on our camera and the other ones that he deleted were so blurry that there was just no feasible way we could use them.

They are amazing on stage and really captivate the audience in a way that the bigger bands could never. The way they move and play their instruments is flawless and with Kyle on the vocals, it completes the whole thing. I'd like to say that I was hooked on my first listen and it would be right.

 
What drew me in (besides the vocals of course) was the stunning keyboard skills that are required to pull Incura off! Jim McLaren is the keyboardist and if you EVER have a chance to watch him perform I would say do it in a heartbeat. He has the fastest fingers of anyone on the planet I'm pretty sure. Phil Gardner is probably one of the best drummers that I've seen live and he really looks like he has fun doing it\, not to mention has the dexterity to with ease. Royce Whittaker and Jono Olson are just fantastic as the guitarist and bass player and have exuberant amounts of energy too. I have the up most respect for anyone who can shred, so hats off. Kyle Gruninger with his operaesque and unusual but highly breathtaking voice just brings it all together in what I would call this ball of theater metal rock but impossible to describe as it's so eclectic musical package.

It's no secret that the first time I saw them the only songs that really stuck out in my mind are "Who You Are" and "Decide" but listening to their album over and over again afterwards almost obsessively and I can't find a single song I find distasteful or even flat out don't like which is VERY rare for me. They are and probably forever will be a beautiful, eclectic, creative and emotional group, and as such they make that kind of music. It's almost as if it's straight emotions that I get when listening to the song and for a band to bypass that and make me feel as the emotions as strongly as they do with every song is very rare.

The Set list, for those of you kind folks who want it...

Get the gun
I breathe this
Turning blue
Who you are
I'm here waiting
The greatest con
Decide
Here to blame

And I just have to say that concert was 100000% better than Marilyn Manson. See local bands, support local musicians! I'm proud to have Incura's shirt! Think of every band shirt you own and now think about that being the key to getting them fifty miles down the road.. Aren't YOU proud of the miles in your closet?!

After the Show and Beyond~

Me and Incura

Me and Kyle Grunninger.

After the show, I bid the friends that came good bye, got up my courage and waited in my wheelchair for them to finish talking with other fans. I held the box and almost chickened out about a dozen times. We went up to the table and I spoke with Jim, and told him that he was amazing. Kyle came up to us and I told him I had a gift for him since he went to all that trouble for the t-shirt and handed him the box, when he opened the box and saw the pin he kept on telling me that I didn't have to give it to him and that it was the most amazing present that he had ever received and I asked him for a sticker and told him to put it on the back of my chair. I think my husband and him were discussing how I almost made him cry and I felt very a little awkward, but very blessed!

We took a picture with the whole band and then just me and Kyle and we were talking about Phantom. Something so close to my heart as it is.. I've loved Phantom since I was a little girl and often thought about my father whenever I saw Phantom. He told me he loved Phantom as well and had since he was a child and told me that he was glad he had that connection with me. I agreed and we hugged and he went off to talk to someone.

Daniel bought a CD and previously Kyle wouldn't let us pay him for the t-shirt but we ended up giving the money to Jono anyway, (hahaha jokes on you, Kyle!) and we waited for Kyle to come sign it because he was the only signature we were missing. He came out and  signed it and Wrote "Do what you love, not  what you're told" and I just stared at him.. How could he know that? Dan gave me a smile. I've been toying with the idea of going to school for performing arts for years.. Ever since I lost the ability to play the violin... I'm worried about it because though it is my passion, I know it won't get me anywhere and I'm terribly afraid of taking the leap. I haven't sang in years because of this fear that I'm just not good enough and to have him write such an outstanding statement on the CD was fate, maybe? I don't know. I wish I did. I'm so afraid but I know I'll never truly be happy until I take that leap.

I quickly shrug it off and we started talking about Nightwish which was kind of awesome and then we hugged again (for about the millionth time that night) and Daniel and I left, hoping to catch a cab. I was in a great mood, It was 2 AM and I couldn't wait to eat a late dinner, go to sleep and dream of metal. But that was not the case for us, it seemed.

Here's what I've learned.. Drunk people are scary when they are picking fights right beside you and jaywalking across streets or kicking cabs.. But most importantly, no cab will stop for a wheelchair! We walked up and down Whyte avenue for an hour and a half before ANYONE would pick us up. Even the ones that slowed down saw me behind Dan in a chair and sped right back up and picked up the people behind us. Even handicapped accessible taxis who were driving the area with their light on wouldn't stop for us. So we ended up waiting and walking up and down Whyte Avenue for an hour and a half and I couldn't feel my feet by the time I got home. They didn't really regain feeling until this morning.. Did I mention being in a wheelchair sucks?!

Still worth it! Above all, I hope I made new and lasting friends that night. I really truly have nothing but fondness for them all, and they give me so many good feelings with the music they make that it's overwhelming to say the least, but in a good way.

You can find Incura here! Make sure to check out their webshop, facebook, twitter and soundcloud!
You can find the facebook for lookingEast here!
You can find Fair Blue here on their facebook.
and of course, you can find me and add me to facebook, or subscribe here!

Well, I hope to see you all again as I review some more awesome bands, get going on my Nightwish project and hopefully get out of the house sooner or later. Having a dead battery sucks!

Bailey Dawn~ <3