NXNE Friday Recap + Exclusive Video – Neutral Uke Hotel Covered Neutral Milk Hotel on Ukulele

NXNE continued in Toronto yesterday with shows and music-related films. One of the films that screened was We’re The Weakerthans, We’re From Winnipeg, which followed The Weakerthans on their 2009 tour through all of Canada’s provinces and territories.

A surprise musical highlight of the day ended up being Neutral Uke Hotel, which is, as you might guess, a Neutral Milk Hotel cover band featuring a ukulele. Their goal is to bring people together to sing along to the beloved album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and they definitely accomplished that goal last night. The crowd at the tiny bar The Painted Lady sang, clapped and stomped along with glee as the band played the whole album. We caught two songs on video:

At the Great Hall, AA Bondy played slowed-down versions of his evocative alt-country songs.

Wavves and Japandroids played for a big, enthusiastic crowd at Lee’s Palace. Wavves’ set included several new songs, one of which singer Nathan Williams said was about a video game.

Japandroids proved that they can do a lot with a little; they only have two members and most of their songs have about three lines repeated over and over, but their boundless energy and spirit keep things interesting.