SLOOOOOO-OOOOOAN
SLOOOOOO-OOOOOAN
The chants for Sloan echoed throughout the Great Hall Wednesday night, and what a night it was. Playing their classic album “One Chord To Another” to a sold out and enthusiastic crowd, last nights show ultimately became a celebration of a great Canadian band, nostalgia and Toronto all in one.
Taking the stage shortly before 11 to a rapturous applause, the four piece group quickly launched into the albums first track and one of the album’s biggest hits – The Good in Everyone. Who doesn’t remember that music video? For the older types in the crowd, the thrill of seeing Sloan in a small setting must have brought back memories of high school all over again. Nostalgia, it’s a powerful tool.
Most people associate One Chord to Another with three tracks – The Good in Everyone, The Lines You Amend and Everything You’ve Done Wrong. Claiming to have gone all out for this show, Chris Murphy brought out a horns section for Everything You’ve Done Wrong, introducing the three members by name before admitting he doesn’t know which one in which in the typical smarmy Chris Murphy way. The horns provided a nice energy (also, makes it sound closer to the album version) to the track which was probably the highlight of the One Chord to Another set. One of our favorite blogs, Mechanical Forest Sounds recorded the track, which we have provided below. You should read his take on the show though, it’s probably a lot better than this one. Joe takes notes at shows, I down Stiegls.
As the One Chord to Another set progressed, the realization set in that I had forgot most of the other songs on the album already. Equally, the band seemed timid on some of the lesser popular tracks, channeling their usual rock star energy into making sure the song was properly played. This was expected since the band has probably not played some of those tracks in a long time. Still, the set was full of energy and it’s always great to hear tracks you enjoyed so much growing up in a live, intimate setting.
Sloan’s encore is one of the reasons why living in Toronto is great. In a city where so many bands call home, it’s not a surprise to see other musicians collaborate on stage. Nevertheless, it’s still a thrill when this happens. In-between classic tracks like 500 Up and Snowsuit Sound, Sloan managed to bring up not only Damian from Fucked Up for a song but also the incomparable Feist for the set closer She Says What She Means for their encore (although if they sang The Other Man, the internet might have blown up). It might not sound that impressive when you read it in a post but when you are there, it’s pretty cool.. and it can only happen in a city a bunch of musicians call home.
As I left the Great Hall, still buzzing from the show, Frank from Chromewaves said to me “See what you get when you go to local shows?” If this is what I get from attending local shows, count me down for a lot more in the new year.
Do yourself a huge favor and check out the charities that this show was put on for as well.
Barriere Lake Legal Defense Fund
COUNTERfit Harm Reduction Services
Sloan – Everything You’ve Done Wrong (live 2011-12-21) by panicmanual