Concerts

Concert Review: Xian Zhang, Natasha Paremski, Toronto Symphony, May 13, Roy Thompson Hall

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Mark in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

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Toronto – Last Wednesday and Thursday the Toronto Symphony Orchestra hosted Xian Zhang, the Associate Conductor for the New York Philharmonic. She conducted two main efforts. The first was Rachmaninov’s piano concerto No. 2 featuring the young pianist Natasha Paremski.  The second effort was a collection of pieces composed by Leonard Bernstein: Three Dance Episodes from On The Town, followed by Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Altogether it was a great show. Miss Zhang is a very energetic and vibrant conductor.

If not for tsoundcheck, I’m afraid the symphony would be sorely lacking in 20-something young things sporting their jeans, blazers, and cool hipster glasses.

So I’m a sucker for cheap live music. And it just doesn’t get much cheaper than the Toronto Symphony’s Tsoundcheck program. Tsoundcheck is an organization dedicated to promoting classical music to the “youth” of the city. In symphonic terms, a “youth” is anyone under the age of 30. Thanks to this program, said youth can make a night of seeing some fantastic live classical music for a very reasonable entrance fee of $12. If not for tsoundcheck, I’m afraid the symphony would be sorely lacking in 20-something young things sporting their jeans, blazers, and cool hipster glasses.

Through tsoundcheck, you can buy 2 (sometimes 4) tickets for a show. It’s important to know that your date doesn’t have to be under 30, but you do. And yes, they do card you. If you’re in your early 30’s, the TSO understands that you have more money than the 20-something riff raff, but aren’t yet willing to pay full-price. This is where tsoundcheckplus [sic] comes in. It’s not quite as flexible, but you can buy tickets in packs. Best of all, unlike other similar programs, just because you’re paying a pittance for a ticket doesn’t mean you’re relegated to sit in the balcony with the unwashed masses.  I’ve been 5th row centre with $12 tickets before. You simply couldn’t wipe the grin off my face knowning what my white-haired brethren to the left and right of me were paying for their seats.

Rachmaninov’s piano concerto #2 was excellent. Young (and may add, nubile?) pianist Natasha Paremski really lost herself in her music; which is always great to see. Rachmaninov’s pieces are known for their dynamics and expressiveness. Sadly I couldn’t feel the full force of Natasha’s playing because I was sitting behind the symphony in the choir section for this show.  This was interesting as it was the first time I was at a classical show and looking directly at the conductor instead of inspecting their back. But the piano was on the other side of the symphony and less prominent from this vantage.

The conductor, Xian Zhang is one classy lady. One of the criticisms of the classical music scene is that it can be, well, rigid, stuffy, and unable to contemporarize. Classical music doesn’t have to be this inaccessible; and  programs like tsoundcheck have gone a long way to introduce the youth to classical music, and teach the older generation that music doesn’t have to be enjoyed the way their parents enjoyed it. True, the nature of hearing a live un-amplified symphony requires silence (concert douchebags need not apply!), but that doesn’t mean you can’t let some exuberation spill out in between pieces. At the end of every piece, Xian would playfully point out the musicians who did a great job and make them stand up during applause. You stand up, yes you, the timpani player (then she’d pretend to play the timpani), yes you, stand up, you did a good job. It’s gestures like these that remind me that classical music doesn’t have to be treated with that stoic “stiff upper lip” attitude that tends to prevail.

[Leonard Bernstein’s] music evokes a simpler time in the 50’s when we built things really really quickly. During most of the West Side Story stuff, I had the distinct urge to build a house.

Rachmanivov was followed by some modern classical music scored for the musical theatre. I have to admit that I often shy away from the term “modern classical” music. Not because it’s an oxymoron, but rather because “modern classical” is a genre I just can’t seem to get. The traditional stuff I love: Baroque (Bach), Classical (Mozart), Romantic (Rachmaninov), but the modern stuff is inaccessible to me in a way that I imagine bepop is to people who hate jazz anyway. Thankfully, Leonard Bernstein’s stuff is not that type of modern classical, but more theatrical pop-classical. It’s playful, inventive, and easy to listen to. Much of it reminds me of the Bugs Bunny comics when they were building things like highways and sky-scrapers in fast motion. This music evokes a simpler time in the 50’s when we built things really really quickly. During most of the West Side Story stuff, I had the distinct urge to build a house.

The Toronto Symphony’s season ends this June. Until then, you can catch music from Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms, not to mention The Godfather, Rocky, and Superman (TSO Goes to the Movies!).

Concert Review: The Crystal Method, May 8, The Guvernment

Posted on May 12, 2009 by guestwriter in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

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Toronto – Perhaps it’s my ever-encroaching age, but when I go to a “live show”, I would prefer my performers to be, well, live. Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland are no spring chickens either, having been on the club circuit since the early 90’s as The Crystal Method, but I have to admit that I was somewhat underwhelmed with watching two guys fiddle about with their soundboard things whilst pre-recorded music played. At least bounce a little, guys, if you’re expecting your crowd to. It seemed as though they were relying far too much on the light show to stir the crowd up, and while it was perfectly synced to the music that was playing, it was also somewhat overwhelming – and this is speaking as someone who had the misfortune to be wrecked out of her mind and right up against the stage at the U2 Zooropa concert with the huge television screens that were constantly alternating between Lou Reed staring sternly at me and penguins with burning crosses that turned into swastikas.

This was, however,  one of the rare concerts that actually had most of the crowd moving in some fashion. I don’t want to harp on incessantly about Toronto crowds not moving, but for the love of God, what are you people doing here otherwise?  That being said, the energy level overall was good, but I do think that it’s easy to feel energetic for such a short period of time with such heavy bass going. The Crystal Method set lasted all of 45 minutes, and the entire show was pretty much over by 10pm, which was a shock to the system after having been conditioned by other performers to expect delays and very late nights (even on work nights, you thoughtless bastards).

Being that I haven’t really followed The Crystal Method since I was a wee ravette/goth, a lot of the other songs were lost on me, but the clavicle shaking bass was a comfortingly familiar sensation.  They finished off their set with their best known track, “Keep Hope Alive”, which made me queerly nostalgic for glowsticks and cheap E.

In all honesty, I could heard this set at a nice, cozy, illegal rave, wondering idly if the light show was my grandmother trying to contact me from the beyond, paying 6 dollars for a bottle of water, and have been just as happy.  This is definitely a concert for the die hard fans only.

Concert Review: Patrick Watson, May 2, Trinity St. Paul’s United Church

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Brian in Concerts | 4 Comments

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The opener played tunes on what looked like a big wooden Gameboy. The lighting cast huge, eerie shadows on the wall behind the band, shadows broken only by the lights strung on three dead-looking potted trees. The first song featured a hand-cranked wind machine and a wailing lament in his trademark dreamy high voice. He played what looked like a raggedy miniature piano for one song that he admitted the band fished out of the garbage. He topped it off by walking into the crowd with a strange speaker contraption strapped to his back made of megaphones. And it all took place in a church.

Yes, it’s just another day in the world of Patrick Watson. We’re all just lucky he gives us a glimpse of that world every now and then.

Watson’s press bio calls him a “musical mad scientist,” as apt a description as there is of what he does. On stage last Saturday he looked the part as he scurried about the stage from the front stage microphone to his piano to the wind machine and everywhere else, his mad musical creations whirling about the shadowy church. You’d almost expect him to shout “IT’S ALIVE” to the crowd, if he weren’t so busy singing. With his very talented bandmates Mishka Stein, Simon Angell and Robbie Kuster aiding in the creation, Watson put on a stunning show of songs from his terrific new album Wooden Arms.

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Concert Review: Bloc Party with Longwave, March 22, 2009 9:30 Club DC

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Tom in Concerts | 3 Comments

Bloc Party, V-Fest, Toronto, 2008

Washington DC- This concert review is a tale of two parts, since I’ve decided to offer a review of the opening band as well.

Part 1: Longwave

My first impression upon arriving at the 9:30 Club: Rarely have I seen a venue so full for an opening band…this bodes well for the show.

And Longwave did not disappoint.

The band, recently returning from a 3-year hiatus, played an up-tempo set featuring songs from their new album “Secrets are Sinister”. With the aim of regaining fans, Longwave brought a lot of energy to the stage, playing songs that were infused by building guitars, pounding drums and spirited singing by frontman Steve Schiltz. Highlighting their performance were the songs “No Direction” and “Satellites”, both of which got the crowd moving.

While the music itself was impressive, the band did lack in the crowd interaction department. Between song banter came across as awkward and forced, part of which may have been due to the absence of founding guitarist Shannon Ferguson (congratulations on your first child!). However, after the show I noticed that the band was hanging out at the merchandise booth, talking to fans and enjoying themselves. I found that a refreshing reminder of what music should be about.

Overall, Longwave played a very solid set and I recommend checking them out if you get the chance.

Part 2: Bloc Party

One word: Amazing!!!

As soon as lead singer Kele Okereke stepped on stage, wearing a Clinton Portis Redskins’ jersey, you could tell it was going to be a special show. Bloc Party quickly worked the crowd into a frenzy, starting off with “One Month Off” from their latest album “Intimacy”. Sprinkling in songs from the first two albums “Silent Alarm” and “A Weekend in the City”, the set continually built upon itself, gaining energy that permeated everything and everyone.

Playing the crowd to perfection, Kele even grabbed a homemade sign requesting the b-side “Tulips” from a fan in the crowd. Despite not having played the song in a couple of years, Bloc Party (after apologizing to their sound people) broke into “Tulips” (video here) as if they had played it at every gig on their tour. Later, a seamless segue from “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” into “Banquet” elicited a strong response from the throng, an effect that further increased the vigor of the set.

What will stick with me, though, is the song “Mercury”. Immediately, Kele jumped into the crowd and began an incredible journey, buoyed up by people’s hands, around the floor. After returning to the stage for a few seconds, he disappeared again, sneaking off around the side of the venue, to suddenly emerge in the middle of the crowd (where I conveniently was standing) and rock out amid the masses. Then, entrusting his life to the fans again, he resumed crowd-surfing and was passed back up to the stage (video here).

Like I said before: Simply amazing. I would consider any Bloc Party show a must-see.

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