It was announced this week that The Phoenix Concert Theatre was either closing or moving somewhere due to Condo development or something. After 33 years in the same spot, the venue is set to close its doors in January of 2025.
Anyone who enjoys live music in Toronto has been to The Phoenix, which, if we were to be honest with ourselves, was kind of just a meh venue. It was situated in a slightly out of the way spot, the sightlines at the back were trash and for some reason they would swap the male and female bathrooms sometimes depending on the show. Either way, it was still a place where many memorable shows took place. Here are a few of mine, in no particular order.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs/TV on the Radio (2004)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs were touring for their debut record Fever to Tell and, as you can imagine, this show was awesome. I had just moved to Toronto like a year before and I had never seen anyone perform live like Karen O did. It was also notable because it was someone in TV on The Radio’s birthday and they brought out a cake and sang Happy Birthday after.
PJ Harvey (2004)
This show was memorable to me because the Phoenix on Friday/Saturdays would have early shows for concerts, meaning they ended at 9pm. This is because at 9pm all the clubbers come and do whatever they do. For me, PJ Harvey playing an early show on this October night allowed me to pull off a double show – PJ Harvey at the Phoenix from 7 to 9, and then the Libertines at the Opera House from 10 to midnight. What a great night of concert going.
The Beautiful South (2006)
This show was memorable because I was an idiot and didn’t know the show started at 8pm. I arrived at 9:30 after a soccer game to just hear the last song and the encore. They never toured Toronto again. Sad times
James (2008)
The first time I encountered a James live show. They are amazing live – every song is a singalong and you just get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside whenever you see James live. Can’t wait for their show in October. This was a memorable one because it was just an awesome show and I remember my friend Mark saying afterwards, “I wish I knew their songs more.”
Manic Street Preachers (2009)
My first Manic Street Preachers experience. It was hard to believe they can fill Wembley in London and they come over here and play the Phoenix. The crowd was great and the band was great. This was one of my favorite shows ever, and the last song – “A Design For Life” – where James climbed the speakers and sang along with an adoring crowd is still etched in my mind to this day.
The xx (2009/2010)
Hot off the heels of their stunning debut album, The xx chose the worst possible venue to play their music. They were paired with Friendly Fires, who were also gaining popularity but had a completely different vibe. The mish mash of bands and a very chatty crowd resulted in an uneven debut performance. Still, it was the first time we saw The xx, who have since gone on to much more spectacular things.
Here are my favourite songs. I listened to a lot of songs this year due to a decrease in managerial responsibilities at work (less meetings = more time to listen to music). Anyways, here they are.
Young Fathers – Only God Knows
A song that’s featured on the Trainspotting 2 soundtrack, this track from Young Fathers is so good I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t a famous cover. With it’s relentless beat and uplifting sound, “Only God Knows” is a pulsating track that’s further enhanced by the use of the Leith Congregational Choir. When Danny Boyle says this song is the heartbeat that drives his movie, you can totally understand it.
Paramore – Rose Colored Boy
Catchy as hell pop song. I can’t say I heard a Paramore song before this year, but I guess they went through some changes and now sound like an ’80s pop band. Good for them, good for me.
Carly Rae Jepsen – Cut to the Feeling
The only song Carly Rae Jepsen released this year (I think), but really with a track like this she only needs to do one a year. Another really catchy pop song – CRJ has a knack for writing these. It’s irresistible so why try?
Sundara Karma – She Said
Who said Brit pop is dead? Every few years some band comes along that clearly has listened to too much Brit pop. This year it’s Sundara Karma, who is doing their best to revive the sound that brought us so many big and memorable bands. “She Said” is one of the many single worthy songs on their album and it features all the things you expect – a big hook, guitars and attitude. Don’t sleep on this band.
The XX – On Hold
What a fuckin’ great song. By now everyone has probably heard this already, but it’s a magnificent song that highlights the three members of the band at their greatest powers. Simple melodies, amazing vocal work and Jamie XX’s on point production. You wouldn’t have figured this song could come out from the band when they delivered their Mercury winning debut record and that in itself bodes very well for this group as they get bigger and bigger in the future.
Alvvays – Dreams Tonite
A perfect lullaby that hits all the right nostalgic notes. The warm fuzzy feelings you get from listening to this song are a perfect way to counteract the harsh reality that is the world today. I was curious how Alvvays would top their debut record and this song was a great start.
The Horrors – Something To Remember Me By
My favorite song of the year, I wrote about it already here. It’s so good.
Little Cub – Too Much Love
One of those songs where you don’t think of much at first but then you find yourself listening to it over and over again. I really like the synthesizer in the chorus. It’s a low key jam.
Alex Cameron – Stranger’s Kiss
I love duets for some reason and this one with Angel Olsen is the best of the year. Read more about it here
Ratboy – Laid Back
Yes this sounds like a Jamie T song, but that’s not always a bad thing
Man, The XX were awesome on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since I’ve seen them live, but they have improved a lot since I saw them on a bill with Hot Chip. In town to promote their excellent new album I See You, The XX played a super fun, confident and epic set that basically screams “we should headline festivals now”. As everyone has noted already, this rendition of the XX seems happier than the previous moody version and maybe we all bought into that narrative but the show they put on essentially became a full on party.
It’s amazing to see how good Jamie XX’s production is. Even if he’s behind Romy and Oliver on the stage, there is no mistake that his influence has grown within the band as his status grows. The dude turned “Shelter” into a dance tune and added additional depth to each song. As excellent as their albums are, The XX are actually better live, which is hard to believe. Highlights for me included “Infinity” (one of my fave XX songs), the dance version of “Shelter,” the set closer “Loud Places” and the encore, which consisted of “On Hold,” which is as close to a stadium anthem as you’ll get with the XX. Just for good measure, they also played “Intro” in the encore as well.
It’s been seven years since I last saw the XX. There’s no way I will wait that long again.
This past weekend saw the closing of one of the most divisive music venues in all of Toronto. The Guvernment/KoolHaus was a venue you either love, hate or tolerated. Whatever your feelings about it were, there was only one thing clear – you couldn’t really avoid it. Since we are quite a reflective group, I asked various members of the Panic Manual to share their feelings about it.
Initial Thoughts
Ricky I wasn’t in Toronto at the time it was known as the “Warehouse” but rather only after it rebranded itself as the “Kool Haus”. Right away, I knew it wasn’t that cool, because no truly cool places would call itself cool. Furthermore, no really cool places would call itself cool with a k. It’s not 1985.
Thierry I’ll always remember the general sense of dread I felt when an artist I wanted to see was scheduled at the Kool Haus/Guvenment—it was slightly smaller than the one I feel when a show is announced at Sound Academy, but only because at the Kool Haus there was a 10 sq. ft. space in front of the speakers where the sound was actually pretty good!
Melody– I’ve never hated the Kool Haus. Sure, I’ve had bad moments there, but I’m smart enough to know that it had nothing to do with the venue and more to do with my own dumb decisions: choosing bad shows (a free k-os show because why the fuck not), choosing to show up early like an idiot (any band I idolized as a teen) and getting shit-faced (that’s how I dealt with that k-os show, I have no recollection of how I got to/from the venue) were all things I did to myself. Poor Kool Haus just facilitated my madness. Kool Haus was so indicative of my *~youth~* (yes, I guess I’m still living out my youth), it was the place where I’d eagerly fork over my cash, line-up early for the chance of seeing an artist come out of their tour bus to greet fans and willingly listen to great music in a shitty venue. There’s a reason why I haven’t gone there in recent years and it’s because I want to believe I’m an adult now. Kool Haus was a fun teenage fling of sorts, but I’d rather spend my nights watching Netflix in a cool house. Okay, that was lame.
Brent: I can remember my first show at the Koolhaus (then the Warehouse). It was in 1997. A bunch of high school friends and I took the GO train from Port Credit to see Suede. We were a bunch of pretty excited teenagers but more of it had to do with being a suburban kid downtown on a school night. Badass.
The disappointment of the night was that they didn’t come out for an encore, however, I was able to grab a setlist from the stage.
Gary: Ahhh The Guvernment. Even though I had a single, all-too-fleeting encounter with the Guv, I’ll always remember it fondly as the only time in memory when I was checked for guns going to a concert in Toronto. A fitting act for the big-brother. Although why one would check for weapons at the XX’s concert full of moody instrumental indie gothipster is anyone’s guess.
A Fondness?
Ricky While most people seem to dislike the KoolHaus, I thought it was okay. I’ll tell you why
1) Options – Kool Haus is a larger size venue. Up until the Danforth Music Hall opened, it was mainly the Kool Haus or the Sound Academy. I would rather stab you in the face then go to the Sound Academy.
2) Location – For most people, the Kool Haus was a trek. It is queen’s quay and in the middle of nowhere. Guess where I work? On Queen’s Quay. For me, a show at the Kool Haus just meant I go for drinks after work in the St. Lawrence area and then pop on by to the Kool Haus. Since I really liked C’est What, it was pretty easy for me to go to a Kool Haus show. Unless it was a weekend.
3) Sightlines – For most part, the stage at the Kool Haus was not high enough. However, there is a certain sneaky spot way on the other side of the stage that is almost always empty. If you look at all my Kool Haus pictures, you will see that I am always in that spot.
Lasting Memories
Melody: Best shows off the top of my mind: Broken Social Scene, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foals, The Kills, Haim.
Jack: I realized a dream when I saw My Bloody Valentine there back in the fall of 2013. Truthfully, I did feel like I was walking into the Cantina at Mos Eisley, and found myself worried I’d get an arm chopped off by a laser weapon at any moment. The band was not on good form, the Canadian roadies not having learned how to deal with the maelstrom of Kevin Shields; the crowd was eerily quiet, with a lot of awkward silence between songs; and one loud fan redefined obnoxiousness by shouting out that MBV was “THE BEST BAND IN THE UNIVERSE!” at every possible chance. Apart from these things, the Kool Haus provided me with an opportunity I would not have otherwise had. The blissful incapacitating of my ear drums by set’s end was all I needed to look back now and realize I have a fond memory of the place.
Thierry: I did see three great shows at these venues: the Decemberists (2006) and Ben Folds Five (2012) at the Kool Haus, and Miguel (2012) at the Guvernment. That last one also featured a typically mystifying Toronto audience that started leaving in droves when Miguel kicked into his set closing “Adorn”, perhaps to be able to get out of the parking lot before daybreak.
Paul: Some friends and I drove all the way to the venue once to see some metal band (not sure who, no one that great) before finding out it was sold out and then hanging out in the parking lot for a bit while we decided what to do. I think we just went for coffee like a bunch of un-metal losers. Lesson learned. Then there was the time I went on a date to a Sonic Youth show in 2004. It didn’t really work out, perhaps foreshadowing what would happen with Kim and Thurston or maybe because life isn’t actually like the “Dirty Boots” video. Still, Hair Police and Sunburned Hand Of The Man opened that show and I remember thinking they were both pretty rad at the time.
Brent: My highlight though was seeing Pavement for the first time at the Guvernment. Otherwise, I hated that place. It was difficult to get to by public transit, there was always a line that was usually freezing, and when you got inside it was always moist and sweaty. Keep the condo-hipsters down by the lake where they belong is what I say!
Gary: My only regret is that the Guvernment didn’t live long enough to see Ricky cement its reputation in a venue review along with an Etch A Sketch worth remembering. Perhaps we could do that for an epitaph.
Ricky: Kool Haus was home to some ridiculously good shows – Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Doves, Kasabian, My Bloody Valentine and LCD Soundsystem all come to mind. I think I will end up missing the Kool Haus, because it now means I’ll have to go to the Sound Academy more often.
RIP Kool Haus, you were never that kool, but neither was I.
