Concerts

Concert Review: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Elephant Stone, June 2, Phoenix Concert Theatre

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Paul in Concerts, Everything | 3 Comments

elephant stone panic manual

Toronto – See that there right above?  That is a sitar being deftly played by Elephant Stone frontman Rishi Dhir and it was the perfect way to start off this night.  As they took to the stage, Dhir (formerly of Montreal’s The High Dials) and his bandmates started things off with an Indian tinged intrumental before moving into some ’60s inspired, seriously melodic psych rock.  They were pretty impressive.  The highlight of their set for me was definitely “Strangers,” a seriously catchy song that got stuck in my head for a while afterwards.  Is Little Steven playing this on his show?  He should be.

After an interlude where frontman Anton Newcombe played DJ from that balcony/booth thing they have at The Phoenix (a weird mix that included a lot of bass-heavy electronic stuff with some bluegrass and Archie Bell tunes thrown in), Brian Jonestown Massacre took to the stage and pretty much blew the minds of everyone in the crowd. 

This show marked the return to the fold of guitarist Matt Hollywood, who, along with the always entertaining percussionist Joel Gion, helped to hold  things down on stage, making up for Newcombe’s general shunning of the spotlight.  Standing to the far left of the stage, Newcombe basically just sang his songs and played his guitar, his hair covering his face as he stood sort of sideways facing the band.  And that’s all he really needed to do.  The band was tight and impressive.  They played pretty much any song a fan would want to hear.   Newcombe didn’t really say much throughout the evening, although he did note later in the show that, “Tim Horton’s is fucking rad”(or words to that effect) … I guess Elephant Stone are showing them the ropes on how to tour Canada or something. 

Concert Review: Broken Bells, Morning Benders, June 2, Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Posted on June 4, 2010 by sarahw in Concerts | 3 Comments

Toronto – I am a sucker for a good falsetto voice. Luckily, last night the Queen Elizabeth Theatre had two bands with falsetto front men cued up!

The Morning Benders, hailing from Berkeley California opened up for Broken Bells. To me they are a combination of The Dodos, The Beatles and The Shins – they have that breezy California sound, with some classic melodies while having their own distinctive indie-pop sound.

Morning Benders just released their freshman album, Big Echo.  Seeing as they are touring with Broken Bells now and immediately after they begin a tour with Black Keys, they have been very well-received. Their performance was great, a very enthusiastic youthful band that is clearly still on that break-out star high. Some highlights were their tunes Cold War and Promises, they closed with their dreamy-sunny day-in-California hit single Excuses. Their set took my mind of the torrential downpours in Toronto and had me on a beach in California for an hour.

You can grab a free non LP song from the Morning Benders called Cold War (Wallpaper. Remix) here

Broken Bells are the super group legends are made of, a combination of James Mercer of Shins fame and Danger Mouse, 50% of Gnarls Barkley, who has collaborated with the who’s who in the music industry (Gorillaz and Beck to name a couple). With such a strong falsetto and production genius, fans had high hopes for this collaboration. I really liked their debut self-titled album (though very Shins-esque) so I was pretty excited to see this live show as I have never seen the Shins live!

Their live performance, was, well a little on the boring side. James Mercer’s voice was beautiful as ever and Danger Mouse exhibited talent moving between drums, keyboard and guitar but the 7-piece band lacked energy and excitement. There wasn’t much audience interaction which was fine but they seemed to race through the set, playing the entire album plus two covers in about an hour. The highlight for me was their cover of Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells, they really nailed this 60’s hit.

I wouldn’t say this show was a let-down because Broken Bells were good, but only about as good as listening to their album. I came for Broken Bells but I must say I left loving the Morning Benders, they will be back in August opening for Black Keys and I already have tickets!

Check out the new music video for Broken Bells, called The Ghost Inside, starring Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks here

Broken bells – The Ghost Inside by akitrash

Concert Review: LCD Soundsystem, May 25th, Kool Haus

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Ricky in Concerts | 2 Comments

Toronto – While Tuesday night’s show at the Kool Haus wasn’t officially the last LCD Soundsystem show in Toronto, reports have claimed that the latest album, This is Happening will be LCD Soundsystem’s last album. I remain skeptical at this notion, as the band seemed to be getting better with each album and This is Happening is easily one of the best and most highly reviewed albums of the year. However, there is a slight uncertainty as to when the band will tour next, so it is with that idea that I went to the Kool Haus on a hot and steamy Tuesday night to watch these electro punk legends.

To sum up the show, I will quote a line in the LCD Soundsystem song All My Friends that goes:

And to tell the truth / Oh, this could be the last time
So here we go / Like a sales force into the night

If this is really the last album, and this tour is one of the last ones, then LCD Soundsystem went out with a force. Playing to a packed house at the Kool Haus, James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney and co. absolutely rocked it last night, going from one epic electro punk rock disco tune to another. I’ve always enjoyed electronic acts that are played with a live band, whoever, upon listening to LCD Soundsystem live, I have concluded that they are more of a rock band then an electro act. The songs are driven usually by the steady drumming of Pat Mahoney and some slick guitar work by whoever the guitarist was.

The show started promptly at 9:30, and the crowd was quickly whipped into a mosh frenzy with 1-2 punch of the Blur-esque song Drunk Girls and the lead track off Sound of Silver, Get Innocuous!. The 90 minute set surprisingly featured only a few new tracks (Drunk Girls, All I want, I can Change) and many classic tracks, much to the delight of the crowd. A nice touch happened halfway through the set, when James Murphy dedicated the classic track All My Friends to the late Will Munro, who passed away on Friday. Speaking of Murphy, he had a nice chilled vibe on stage. Keeping it casual in a white v-neck shirt, the scruffy founder of DFA Records delivered the songs in his usual half-talk/half singing style, occasionally stopping in between songs to talk to the crowd, telling them to be considerate of the females in the crowd while moshing, and also telling them to put their phones away.

All in all the show was really good. The set closer New York I Love You was followed by the chorus (Alica Key’s part) from Jay-z’s Empire State of Mind, giving the show a nice calm ending. I keep on waiting someone to make a song that’s an ode to Toronto. Seriously, as much as I love New York, I’d like to see our city get some props. Jay Z did New York with Empire State of Mind, now Katy Perry’s done it with California Gurls, where is Toronto’s version?

Us vs Them
Drunk Girls
Get Innocuous!
Yr City’s a Sucker
Pow Pow
Daft Punk is Playing at My House
All I Want
All My Friends
I Can Change
Tribulations
Movement
Yeah

Someone Great
Losing My Edge
New York I Love You

Setlist provided by Songkick

LCD Soundsystem – Yr City’s a Sucker by GardenGrassCrap

Concert Review: Fyfe Dangerfield, May 23rd, El Mocambo

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Music | 1 Comment

Dear Toronto Concert-goers,

I’ve had it with you. What’s more, I don’t understand you. As a city of music appreciators where pretty much everything sells well, you would think bothering to show up would mean bothering to pay attention (or at the very least, pretending to). But Sunday night you proved to me that no matter how earnest a performer may be and no matter how many instruments he may juggle, it isn’t enough to compete with an audience who thinks that they’re on the set of a talk show.

Alright, to be fair, Sunday night was the series finale of LOST, a show I have never followed but have never heard more rabble from my peer group. Bearing this in mind, I wasn’t expecting the turnout that showed. Unfortunate name aside, Fyfe Dangerfield (better known as the former front man from the Guillemots) put on a very decent show and filled the room more than a lot of acts could’ve.

Couple of oddities about this show: it was partially seated – something I have never seen before at any General Admission show (random tables and chairs were littered around the general stage perimeter); it contained more photo taking than any other show I have been to (mostly by a group of women in front of me, who seemed to think Mr. Dangerfield was Robert Pattinson at a teenage fanfest). To be honest with you, I can understand the appeal. He’s got a bumbling sort of non-threatening charm that the young Hugh Grant had prior to soliciting prostitutes, and seems like the harmless sort of guy who would carry a pocket watch in his vest.

Fly Yellow Moon is Fyfe’s solo album, and a decent one at that. He wasn’t shy about playing the best known Guillemots songs (Trains to Brazil, Made Up Lovesong #43), he wasn’t shy about playing multiple covers, he wasn’t shy about talking to the audience, and he certainly wasn’ t shy about playing about a million instruments simultaneously. And herein lies my main complaint: while there is no question that Fyfe is a talented pianist, guitarist, bassist, percussionist, and certainly vocalist, it’s just better to have the back-up instead of (as our friend Danny Taylor of Zaza says) “dancing around like a clown onstage“. There were a couple of people on strings who joined him onstage a couple of songs in, and the drummer of the opening act ran in to help him out spontaneously a couple of times (which brought a much needed energy to the show). Watching him play a sample, record a sample, and layer it into a song in front of us was impressive, but when I go to a show I’m not really going to see a spectacle. I’m going to appreciate the music.

Couple of takeaways about this show: Having the experience of hearing live instruments played live in front of you is integral to the non-electronic music experience; I will never, ever understand why anyone who wants to talk loudly would stand anywhere near the stage.

Fyfe Dangerfield – She Needs Me by Royalty Central

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