and the machine getting in between the thought and the finger

I am about to try my hand at describing the Broken Social Scene show Tuesday night. I say I am about to try because there is every possibility that I will fail horribly to describe how impressive this show was. In fact I can’t imagine doing it justice. Maybe Evan will give it a shot and put together something better.

Some background before we get started. About six months ago I was likely making fun of Mark for having this band’s songs on his computer. You see, they are not tough, arty as hell, and decidedly not punk. So that was where I was around then. Then I saw this indie rock bandwagon coming along and jumped on whole-heartedly. The groundwork for this scene had been laid with Hot Hot Heat who were still somehow punk enough for me to not be embarrassed to enjoy. Then I got started with some Belle & Sebastian, The Decemberists and Bright Eyes. My indie predilections moved along cautiously with the Garden State soundtrack leading to The Shins and the like. Then I ran into a girl who convinced me to listen to try out some more intimidating indie stuff. I’m fully ready to admit that I wouldn’t have listened to BSS if I wasn’t trying to impress her, but I’m glad I did, as the music worked out, but the girl didn’t. Now I jump all over bands like The Joggers, Art Brut and The Wolf Parade (and even enjoy my arch-nemesis Modest Mouse). And here we are.

The Most Serene Republic were listed as the opening band and I had read good things, but I figured there would be some local act opening that I could afford to miss, so Evan, Mark and I started the show off in the beer gardens with a fine Molson product. Near the end of the beers Mark points out that this band I had taken to be some local outfit sounds good and we should go check them out. Upon entering the hall I determine that this may well be The Most Serene Republic and we have just missed half their set to drink a solitary Canadian each. A lesson is learned.

We find a spot near the sound booth and are able to enjoy what I believe to be just over half the set. This band had excellent energy, but I can’t remember all too much because they broke my brain when the lead singer started beat-boxing on Proposition 61. I can’t explain how incredible this sounded, and unfortunately the album version is quite tame in comparison to the live one and about 2 minutes shorter. They concluded the set with a song that in not to be found on the cd, and one that we all agreed was one of the weaker tracks we heard. This may have been because it was new song, but it lacked the energy of the other tracks despite the singer (Adrian?) wielding a mop. The final verdict was that this was a good band, resulting in my purchase of their cd at lunch today.

Adrian announced that Broken Social Scene was up next and a huge line formed to get into the beer gardens. We grabbed a spot on the floor up against a wall and per Evan “put the vibe out”. This is a good thing to do at these shows as there is often an overwhelming majority of hot girls. This remained true for this show. Unfortunately they all appeared to be with guys wearing girls pants. Not something I can see getting into. I saw that the crowd was starting to form so I got the guys up off the floor, we dropped our gum off on some ledge, and found another spot in front of the sound booth. Not a terrible vantage point, but certainly not the best.

After a good 20 minute wait punctuated by some mild callisthenics on Evan’s part Broken Social Scene took stage. Actually a better description would be part of the band took the stage. I think there were about 6 guys on stage for the first few songs. I wish I could name tracks that were played, but I haven’t seen a set list on the internet yet, and my memory isn’t so hot these days.

The specific songs that were played aren’t really the important part though. The band played songs off of both Broken Social Scene and You Forgot It In People, plus a few that I didn’t recognize. In the end I am fairly certain they played everyone I could have wanted them to. This feat was due to the fact that they were on stage for a solid two and a half hours. This may have resulted in some sore bodies from standing around for that long, but the fact that the band was able to play that long and maintain the energy they did was amazing. The lead singer was apparently fuelled by booze that night, and proclaimed that he had the home town jitters which resulted in him drinking more than he usually does. The thing is, it wasn’t even his hometown, but the new female singer (Lisa Lobsinger) is from Calgary and it was her first show here with the band. She has been getting savaged on message boards, but I though she did a bang-up job.

Band members wandered on and off stage depending on whether or not they were involved in the song being played and at one point in time I counted 11 people on stage playing instruments. I appreciated that this show was at Mac Hall because the sound there is always top-notch. I don’t really know how 3 guitars, bass, 2 drummers, keyboards, violin, and random horns would come across at Louie’s or a smaller place like that. Here it sounded spotless. The drums were way louder than on the albums and it helped immensely. You could always pick out each instrument being played and no one sound dominated the rest.

I don’t really know what else I can say about this show. They played all the songs you wanted and it sounded great. There were hot girls all over the place, and no one got tackled by a security guard. All in all it was a successful night out.

Tonight I’m headed to Broken City to see Immaculate Machine. They too will rip, although not to the same degree.

Peace.