(Toronto) The Tranzac Club. A make shift venue with lots of character and some good beer on tap. Yes, after a Mill Street Wit and finding a seat at the back amongst the cute, trendy Annex couples, I was ready for the show. As some of you may know I am a fan of Sandro Perri. I recently wrote about how he got snubbed for this years Polaris Music Prize HERE, but I digress.

Sandro came out, started to tune his guitar and then busted right into Family Tree to the surprise of the chatty crowd, who quickly shut up. He stood behind a drum pedal and played his guitar while his homemade orchestra accompanied him. To his right was a metal kitchen rack with homemade chimes hanging from it. A wrench, some forks, bells, and other random pieces of scrap metal which Peace, as he was introduced as, would thoughtfully rattle at the appropriate time. To his left were more chimes, a spinning bicycle wheel and Love, who was on percussion/scratching sound duty. Although very different, the supporting soundscapes were not as distracting to Sandros’ music as I had first anticipated.

On this night, Sandro reminded me of M. Ward, but with good songs. It was a quiet show, periodically interrupted by the sound of the cash register at the bar. Although very much acoustic, Sandro surprisingly had me toe tapping with his ability to rock out even the quietest of tunes.

Up next was Friendly Rich and The Lollypop People. I didn’t stay but they are worth checking out. I just didin’t have a Friendly Rich experience in me last night.