Toronto – 3D. It’s all the rage these days, what with 3D TVs and practically every big budget blockbuster being released in 3D. So it stands to reason that somebody would take a stab at giving the people a 3D live concert experience. OK, fair enough, every concert already is 3D, but not every concert has 3D projections onstage with the bands. That was what the people behind the Out Of The Box Festival were providing on this night at the Toronto Underground Cinema. That, and popcorn.
I arrived at the venue shortly before The Hoa Hoa’s took the stage. I figured that their psychedelic, shoegazey sound would be a good fit for the 3D treatment, and it was. If only there was more effort put into the 3D component. Don’t get me wrong, the extra visual element added something to the experience, but the fact that for most of their set, a screen saying “menu” was up there, along with repetition of the same basic images, I found it to be somewhat lacking. Perhaps they were allocating certain images to certain bands so as to avoid repetition throughout the night, (I do believe that Rival Boys, who followed The Hoa Hoa’s, had comepletely different stuff on screen during their set) but it still seemed as if somebody just hit play on the DVD and then didn’t really tend to it for the rest of their set.
It was mainly about the music though, and as I said, The Hoa Hoa’s played a great set, previewing some songs from their new EP along with a few oldies. They also made good use of a keyboard for several songs, something singer/guitarist Lee Brochu stated was a pretty rare occurrence. I’ve got to say, the keyboard really adds a lot to their live sound. Hopefully, they’ll make more use of it in the future. Of course, that may be a bit of a moot point, since this was one of the last shows they’ll be playing around Toronto for awhile while the band takes an extended break.