arts // no. § I'd let them rob me » Nothing But Thieves concert review Sonam Kaloti Arts Editor keen have never headbanged for that many hours with no desire to stop. Hailing from the United Kingdom, rock band Nothing But Thieves performed at Vogue Theatre in downtown Vancouver on September 21 and it was one of the best, if not the best, concerts J have ever attended. The band is composed of five members: lead vocalist and guitarist Conor Mason, guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown, guitarist and keyboardist Dominic Craik, bassist Philip Blake, and drummer James Price. After a long hour and a half wait (they weren't late, it was just scheduled like that), opener Demob Happy arrived on stage and immediately threw all their energy into their music. Their passion rang through the venue and pumped up the audience for the headliner. The intermission between sets went by quickly, and suddenly Nothing But Thieves was rocking extremely hard, making use of the entire stage. The stage lighting was incredibly dramatic in a good way and changed for each song. Each number featured a light show composed of blinding strobe lights and flashes of colour everywhere. Frontman Mason made sure to thank the audience and Vancouver at every opportunity he could. Nothing But Thieves did not have a single intermission, besides CC I have never headbanged for that many hours with no desire to stop. the short one directly before the encore. The energy they displayed was incredible— it honestly seemed like they couldn't run out of stamina. The entire band was playing their instruments to that rock level, while also dancing and running around. Despite the extreme differences in the high and low range and musical difficulty in their songs, Mason remained on pitch and had superior tone quality throughout the entire hour-and-a-half-long set. The band members constantly interacted with each other, goofing around and shooting each other grins. Watching them genuinely enjoying themselves made the entire concert much more enjoyable to watch as a spectator. During the last song, “Amsterdam,” they even began playing catch with a rubber duck thrown onto stage by an audience member, while still playing their instruments. The audience had a tremendous amount of energy, screaming, jumping, dancing, and singing along to every song. Riot yells rang through the crowd during “I'm Not Made by Design,” while tears flooded during “Particles.” Modern-day rock bands almost feel hard to come by due to their lack of media coverage. We must find them on our own nowadays. This prevents people from being introduced to so much amazing music, such as Nothing But Thieves as well as many other bands that deserve more recognition. It really is a shame anytime skill and talent get overlooked for seemingly no reason. “Number 13” and “Amsterdam” were the best songs to witness live, since they were the fiercest performances. The guitar and bass players shredded, the drumsticks theotherpress.ca Photo of Nothing But Thieves by Sonam Kaloti probably should have been broken, and the vocals powerfully matched up to the strength of all the other instruments. There was no major flaw in Nothing But Thieves’ performance and there were many phenomenal elements to the show, which is why this concert deserves its five out of five rating. It’s hard to imagine anything else from a band where every member is as skilled as the next. While they have stolen the Vogue Theatre this time around, I predict the rest of Vancouver's rock lovers will be soon to follow. Awards season continues at VIFF » Celebrating international and local films and more Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist I is awards season right now and everyone is talking about which films will win Academy Awards and Canadian Screen Awards next year. Many movies garnered attention this year, from those recognized in the Cannes Film Festival to those that are yet to be released. The Lower Mainland finally gets to see some of these films in the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). Also, there will be world premieres of motion pictures, talks with various people in the film and TV industry, and music events related to film. The spotlight is on potentially the most popular Japanese director right now, Hirokazu Kore’eda, since a lot of people are talking about his new film Shoplifters. It isa popular topic of conversation among Still from ‘Shoplifters’ via IndieWire those waiting outside the Vancity Theatre to purchase their tickets for the festival. Shoplifters, which won the Palme d’Or (highest prize) in the Cannes Film Festival this year, is about an orphan deciding between living with abusive parents or a family of shoplifters. The film did very well when it was released in Japan last summer and it might win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film next year. It must battle another film, Pawet Pawlikowski’s Cold War, which was also shown in the Cannes Film Festival and will be shown in the VIFF this year. Cold War concerns Poland post-World War II. Another notable feature set to have a world premiere in the festival is It’s Boring Here, Pick Me Up, which revolves around a woman experiencing nostalgia when she goes back to her hometown. Anime fans will be excited about the release of Mirai, the newest film from Mamoru Hosoda, which did well last summer when it was released in Japan. Hosoda is known for previous works including The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children. This year’s Canadian entries include three local films from the BC Spotlight series. The first is a tale of a cultural exchange called The Darling. Another, Edge of the Knife (Sgaaway K’uuna), is the first film spoken only in Haida dialects. Finally, Finding Big Country is the story of the search for a star amongst the Vancouver 66 This year’s Canadian entries include three local films from the BC Spotlight series. Grizzlies. In documentaries there is Rob Stewart’s last film, Sharkwater Extinction, completed after the director's death; Shirkers, a documentary which was thought to be lost but recently resurfaced; and a documentary about promotional musicals, Bathtubs Over Broadway. VIFF will have many panels, including one featuring the creators of various shows such as Orphan Black’s Graeme Manson, Bones’ Hart Hanson, Cardinal's Sarah Dodd, The Good Doctor's David Shore, and Counterpart’s Amy Berg. There are also panels with Michael Schur (one of the creators of Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Paul Austerberry (production designer of The Shape of Water), and musician RZA. RZA will also doa live score of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, a classic martial arts film that inspired him. The film festival this year has a lot of films to choose from and talks and events that go beyond film. VIFF will take place between September 27 and October 12.