As Kevin Drew pointed out at the start of Broken Social Scene's two-hour plus musical extravaganza last night, Monday nights are a weird night to get one's groove on. Of course, that did absolutely nothing to stop the band from tearing through an equal mix of classic audience favorites and new material to the obvious joy of those attending. If anything, the usual somberness that accompanies the start of a week (hangover; cough; say nothing; act casual) created an almost reverential air, as was evidenced during one of the night's highlights, a church-like version of "Lover's Spit." i often compare BSS to a Canadian Wu-Tang, but every time i see them live i remember the better comparison is Parliament Funkadelic. While Drew is the apparent leader of the group (on vocals, if nothing else), each member plays a variety of instruments throughout the set, and everyone gets a crack at the mic, too. Shoring up the female side of things this time was the captivating if seemingly disinterested Lisa Lobsinger. Back up duties and a decent "All to All" were nice, but when she took the lead for the final encore number, "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl," well, i think i might have developed my latest crush. The only time the band stopped rocking was when they actually stopped long enough for each member of the band actually jumped into the audience to dole out hugs. Swear to Black Dynamite, they did. And that was the vibe all night, one of shared camraderie, a bunch of our clearly more talented friends on stage to entertain while the night wore on, an excellent way to spend an otherwise mundane Monday, vibe be damned.
A quick note on the Warner--when did that place start falling apart like that? The arm rest on my seat fell off, the stuffing was coming out of the chair in front of me, and i was worried one of those angels in artwork was going to do a Greg Louganis into the good seats at any moment. The real pisser for me personally, though, was my being told no cameras allowed. Best damn seats i've ever had there (thanks, BSS Fan Club!), and all i brought in was my cell phone. Knives Chau sitting next to me had multiple cameras and some dude was packing a telephoto lens the size of a wildebeest cock (What? Exactly.), so i'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere for the spectacular shots that i'm sure others took. i can tell you that i was close enough to finally realize Kevin Drew is NOT a dead ringer for my buddy Eddie W., but what good does that do you?
This marks the third or fourth time i've seen the band, and they have yet to disappoint. If anything, last night may well have been the best i've ever seen them. They've got their groove on tight. Go see them while the gettin's good, that's all i'm saying.
1 comment:
Beautiful acoustic version of Superconnected! Thank you so much for the mp3, I love it. This BSS tour is great, yeah. I saw them back in May and it was pretty much like you described here
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