Broken Social Scene @ Malkin Bowl -- 09/24/11

Bittersweet. That's really the best way to describe what happened. With the recent announcement of their impending hiatus, it turned out that Broken Social Scene's show at Malkin Bowl would be their last Canadian date for the foreseeable future.
I was glad it was going to be at the Malkin Bowl, in the middle of Stanley Park, surrounded by trees, as it is one of my favourite venues to see a live show in, and some of my favourite concerts had taken place there.

But first, Ra Ra Riot was out to open the show. With over a half dozen members on stage -- including a cello and violin -- they had a pretty upbeat and infectious indie-pop sound to them and a really lively stage presence. The crowd was still filtering in while they were playing, but they had amassed a sizable crowd of people clapping along. "Boy" -- one of the few songs in their set I recognized -- which especially catchy. They were definitely a good fit for the opening slot and I wouldn't mind catching them again next time they're through town.

Not long after the stage filled with the familiar faces of Drew, Canning, Spearin, Peroff, Whiteman, Lobsinger and a few others as Broken Social Scene came out. The stage was prepped for rain (which held off), so everything was set up several feet back from the front, but they made use of the empty space with multiple members walking up to sing or shred throughout the set.
They kicked it off with "Cause = Time", for a set that was an hour and a half long, and included a pretty even mix of songs from You Forgot It In People, their self-titled and the most recent Forgiveness Rock Record. There was also a really cool cover of Modest Mouse's "The World At Large" thrown in, and an amusing moment where Drew joked about an actual YMCA, which caused Canning to start an inevitable crowd singalong to the first bit of The Village People.
They were at the top the their game, and though I have seen them a few times now, it was probably the best show I've seen them play. Other highlights were two of my favourite BSS songs, the gorgeous "Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" that had many people singing along, followed by the incredible instrumental "Meet Me In The Basement", featuring dueling guitar riffs and intense drumming. They "ended" the set, perhaps appropriately enough, with "KC Accidental", but they were back out after mere moments, saying they had time for just one more, before launching into the absolute perfect way to end things, "It's All Gonna Break". An amazing ten minute jam that built to an intense and epic ending, with horns and each member hoisting their instrument (mostly guitars) into the air for an amazing sight.

When they ended the main set, Drew gave props to each member on stage, giving a heartfelt send off to the band, and proclaiming: "We're Broken Social Scene, please don't forget us"

As if we could.

setlist
Cause = Time; Texico Bitches; 7/4 Shoreline; Stars & Sons; All to All; Fire Eye'd Boy; The World At Large [Modest Mouse cover]; Fuzz*; Sweetest Kill; Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day); Major Label Debut; Looks Just Like The Sun; Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl; Meet Me In The Basement; KC Accidental. 
[encore] It's All Gonna Break


*It said Fuzz on the setlist, but it appeared to be "Late Nineties Bedroom Rock For The Missionaries", with some lyrics from Kevin Drew's "Gang Bang Suicide", that segued into "Shampoo Suicide"

Broken Social Scene @ Comodore -- 10/13/10

Broken Social Scene. What more needs to be said? After their first album in five years (not counting the Drew & Canning solo albums), they hit the road to tour. And while I had actually seen them several months ago, when they played a surprise show at Ontario House during the Olympics, I was still insanely excited to see them. And they most certainly did not disappoint.

The Sea & Cake opened the show, and they were good, but seemed to lack stage presence. I admit, I was back a bit for their set, and the stage was blocked, so I couldn't see them playing, but what little banter they had was mumbled, and the few times I saw the lead singer, he was taking the "shoegazing" thing a bit too literally. There was also a similar-ish sound to a lot of their songs. Certainly nothing bad, and they played Perfectly Acceptable Music, but nothing that really won me over. Maybe I was just a bit tired and/or excited for the main act.

And then finally around 10:30, Broken Social Scene hit the stage with some of the usual suspects; Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff (whose birthday it was), John McEntire (who produced the album), Charles Spearin, Lisa Lobsinger, Andrew Whiteman (with his wife, Ariel providing backup vocals on a few tracks) and a few others. As the fog rolled off the stage, they kicked things off large with "World Sick", the opening track form their new album Forgiveness Rock Record. From there they went on to play an amazing set of two hours and over twenty songs, hitting a lot of older material as well as the new stuff. The songs off the new album all sounded great, as you would expect, since they were made by the new, "slimmed down" lineup (which still saw as many as a dozen members on stage), but the older material was also fantastic, despite lacking some original members.
Some of the highlights for the set were "Fire Eye'd Boy", which had a drum fill that seemed like they played with the surround a bit, so Peroff was coming at you from one side, then McEntire, on a small kit, was rebutting from the other speaker. The Sea & Cake members coming out to join them on a couple songs. Drew and Whiteman joking about hitting the right note on "Forced To Love", mock-cursing Sebastien Grainger, and Lisa Lobsinger absolutely nailing "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl", sounding every bit as good as Haines' original. I was especially glad to hear it, as it's one of my favourite songs (BSS or otherwise). Ariel Whiteman, who sang backup for that and a few others, took the spotlight and killed "Almost Crimes" and the two lovely ladies proved that they were more than able to take on the female vocals. They "ended" the set with "Meet me In The Basement", my favourite song from the new record. The instrumental started off grand and then just build from there. The intense drumming, the powerful horns and especially the duelling guitars of Spearin and Whiteman all came together for one of the most intense live songs I have seen.
For the encore, first just Drew came out to start playing "Lover's Spit", to a very low, very blue lit stage. Then slowly a few other members came out to finish it, before launching into another old one, which Drew mentioned was his favourite, "Looks Just Like The Sun". The whole night was brought to an end with "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)", as the sold out crowd was still going ballistic.

I am very, very, ever so slightly disappointed I didn't hear "It's All Gonna Break", but they did play it earlier this year at the free Olympics show, and the setlist was damn near perfect even without it. With this show, Broken Social Scene once again proves that they are not a band. They are a force of nature.

setlist:
World Sick, Texaco Bitches, 7/4 Shoreline, Fire Eye'd Boy, Forced to Love, All to All, Stars & Sons, Cause = Time, Sweetest Kill, Art House Director, Romance to the Grave, Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl, Pacific Theme[?] Guilty Cubicles, Superconnected, Almost Crimes, Ungrateful Little Father, KC Accidental, Meet Me In The Basement.
[encore] Lover's Spot, Looks Just Like The Sun, Water In Hell, Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day).

Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene

Given how the various members of Toronto's "musical collective" Broken Social Scene have gone on to their own success, Jimmy Shaw & Emily Haines of Metric and Feist perhaps the two best examples, and the pair of "BSS Presents" solo albums by co-founders Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, it was not unreasonable to be in doubt of the future of the group. But after "slimming down" to a core nine members, the group feels more like a band, and less like a loose gathering of musicians. There are still guest stars galore -- there are 30-something credited musicians on the album -- but most just pop in for a song or two, including BSS alumni Feist, Haines, Amy Millan, Jason Collett, members from The Sea & Cake, Pavement and many more. But will the new, streamlined lineup provide the same magic that previous albums hit?

Forgiveness Rock Record starts as the almost seven minute long "World Sick" slowly creeps in, before swelling to grandiose proportions. The sprawling song is reminiscent of their previous work, but once the frantic and frenzied "Chase Scene" kicks in, you know the album is going to be their most diverse yet. The topical "Texico Bitches" is an effortless song, and "Forced To Love" is a more straight ahead rocker, featuring Sebastien Grainger. Those gives way to the more electronic-y "All To All", the first song to showcase the vocals of relative newcomer Lisa Lobsinger, who proves she is right up there with the rest of BSS's talented female vocalists. The horn-laden "Art House Director" is another high energy rocker, where the influence of Apostle of Hustle's Andrew Whiteman shines through.
"Highway Slipper Jam" slows things down with a more chill, loose, acoustic-y vibe to it, and the lo-fi and twitchy "Ungrateful Little Father", crawls to a dreamy ending. But then the energy is right back up with the epic "Meet Me In the Basement", an absolutely intense instrumental battle of guitars and horns that leaves you drained at the end. Which is probably best to be followed by "Sentimental X's", which starts a little more subdued, but then builds to a grand climax. It also, if I am not mistaken, marks the first time Feist, Haines and Millan have sung on the same song.
The sexy bass line of "Sweetest Kill" belies some of the darkest lyrics on the album, which seem to have a focus on romance, abandonment and death, as "Romance To the Grave" also does a good job of showcasing. After a few slower tracks, "Water In Hell" brings the energy back up with another great cacophonous rock song. The album ends with a kind of strange song, "Me and My Hand", which sounds like it's a one-take screwing-around song that should be a hidden track rather than the closer.

In the end, the album manages to be their most eclectic, yet most accessible. It is less sprawling, and while at first it may seem a bit too focused, the more you listen to it, and peel back the layers, the more you see new elements you missed the first, second, or even fifth times. Is it their best yet? No, probably not, but that is only a testament to how brilliant their previous albums are. But it is definitely their most engaging, and absolutely worthy of being short listed for a Polaris Prize.


Download Chase Scene

Download All to All

Download Meet Me In The Basement

Clicky to exchange monies for music

Olympic Shenanigans: Fit the Third

Even more great shows going on around, including one of the best surprises ever! I'll back track a tiny bit, to before the Hey Rosetta!/Stars show, and I won't try to ramble on too much, but that could be difficult considering last night.

Thursday, Feb 18
Back into Richmond to see Arkells. The park was pretty packed, but sadly that was probably because they were opening for Our Lady Peace. They played a pretty decent set, starting with "The Ballad of Hugo Chavez" and going through a few tracks off of Jackson Square, with at least one new one in there. The whole set seemed a bit... off, though. I don't know if it was bad positioning, where we were standing, or what, but the whole set just didn't sound right. Instruments were murky or too high or barely audible. During "Oh, The Boss Is Coming", for example, the bass seemed overpowering while the guitar nearly indistinguishable. Due to this, it was probably the worst least-good Arkells set I've seen thus far. But even despite that, they still put on a hell of a show to the packed field, and if the response was any indication, they won over their fair share of fans that night. Some other highlights were "Deadlines", which morphed into a brief cover of "My Boyfriend's Back" and the always awesome "John Lennon" to end the set, which again included a few lines from "Eleanor Rigby".
Due to my vast indifference for OLP, we bailed before they actually came on.

Friday, Feb 19
After the spectacular Stars show, we attempted to race over to Robson Square to check out the free show Said The Whale was doing. Unfortunately, it was way too insane, and we didn't really get a decent spot, ending up behind the band. Half the songs were not very audible, and it was getting pretty late, so we took off about half way through the set. I would have felt bad, but I'll be seeing StW soon enough, when they open for Plants & Animals in May.

Saturday, Feb 20
This was quite the tricky day. Right up until the night before, I was still unsure as to what to go to. Sam Roberts, Arkells & Coeur de Pirate at Livecity Yaletown? Or Hey Ocean!, Mother Mother & Said The Whale in Surrey? That was quite the predicament. Fortunately, my decision was made by Ontario House, of all places. The night before, they announced who their surprise guest was going to be, and that made my decision right there. For you see, the surprise guest was...

Broken Social Scene.

Being incredibly paranoid, I ended up heading down far too early, so after soaking in some of the sights around the area, I met up with people and got in line around 6. For the 10:00 show. And they were not admitting people in til 9. Though considering I hadn't seen them live for almost three years (not counting the Kevin Drew show two years ago) and since it was Broken Freaking Social Scene, I was more than willing to wait in line.
After an epic wait, they hit the stage around 10. It's always interesting to see who is going to show up to the shows, and just after they came out, Kevin Drew made the introductions. There was Drew, Canning and Peroff, of course, as well as Jimmy Shaw, Bill Priddle and a few others, some new to the band. (Random aside: Canning was clean shaven, which looked kinda weird and made him look really young!) They kicked off with "Superconnected", before bringing out another BSS veteran, the lovely Lisa Lobsinger for "7/4 Shoreline".
The set consisted mostly of older songs, spanning the BSS library as well as a few from the Drew and Canning solo albums. Half way through the set they brought out a surprise, Julie Doiron! For a cover of Neil Young's "Out On The Weekend"!! They followed that up with one of my favourite songs, "Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl", with Lobsinger fitting in almost perfectly for Haines. As they set came to a close, they brought Doiron back out and rocked through one of her songs, "Consolation Prize" (which was, apparently, unrehearsed!). They finally "ended" the night with another one of my favourites, and a fantastic live song, the ten minute epic "It's All Gonna Break", dedicated to the city of Vancouver. Perhaps a sly way of getting around the contract they signed not to speak ill of the olympics? It was an incredibly sublime sight, especially to see all ten of them out there, absolutely rocking out. The song ended and members slowly filtered off with just Drew left on stage, thanking us profusely and promising to be back soon. He then spontaneously (or "spontaneously") proclaiming he didn't want to leave, and would do one more, but a song made up on the spot (or "made up on the spot"). It started with just Drew and his guitar, but he was joined first by Peroff, then Canning as the night ended with the three core members, proving that Broken Social Scene didn't need a stage full of people to be amazing.
They took their leave at 1130, but the crowd was still fanatical to see more, even though the roadie removing all instruments and equipment seemed like a bad sign. But Drew eventually made his way back on stage and apologized for not being able to play more, due to the curfew... before leading the crowd in an impromptu karaoke of the first verse & chorus of U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

The setlist was as follows:
Superconnected, 7/4 Shoreline, Backed Out On The..., Churches Under The Stairs, Love Is New, Stars & Sons, Out On The Weekend (Neil Young cover), Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl, Frightening Lives, Sweetest Kill, Consolation Prize (Julie Doiron "cover"), It's All Gonna Break, "spontaneous" song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2 a cappella sing-along cover)

It's probably a good thing I am taking the next few days off from the free shows -- partially to recharge, partially because there is nothing I need to see -- because there is no way anyone is going to be able to top that.