Toronto – The show started out on a good note, but then after the first song, it went down hill fast. The first song was Saviour which Murray Lightburn sang as he walked from the back of the club to the front through the crowd. It was pretty cool.
Their set list was really heavy on material from Missiles, with nothing played from End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story. The tracks they played from No Cities Left lost my interest half way through because they lacked what I love about them. The Dears used to have a certain sense of theatrics and drama at their live shows. Like when you went to their show, it was much more than just a rock show. On this night, every song was basically guitars and drums with more guitars thrown on top. Their traditional orchestral dark pop sound was replaced with rock pop. There was no cello, no horns no nothing. I realize that they aren’t the same band they were even two years ago and that I shouldn’t expect the same, but by knowing what the Dears used to sound like live, I was really disappointed. I really enjoy their latest release Missiles because there is quite a bit of that orchestral pop on it, but played live, it didn’t translate.
We didn’t stick around for the encore.