Peter Bjorn and John
The Phoenix – 05.06.07
Rating: 3/10
Peter Bjorn and John dropped into the Phoenix last week for an early date on their North American tour in a performance which can only be described as monumentally boring. The trio, who recently won a Swedish Grammy for their hit song “Young Folks”, a catchy little ditty featuring fellow Scandinavian singer-songwriter Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes, failed to impress what appeared to be a sold out crowd at the downtown venue.
The band, only seven or eight shows into their severely hyped North American tour appeared lethargic and statue-esque on stage. One can only speculate on the reason for such lousy stage presence—a shy sensibility in tune with their ever-so-cute-and-quirky image? A band tired of playing the same repertoire of stripped-down indie pop tunes on the dawn of the second leg of their tour? Some inexplicable desire to channel a shoe-gaze performance aesthetic minus half a dozen distortion pedals? Or perhaps the ink has barely dried on their diplomas from the Brandon Flowers school of stage presence. Whatever the cause, the crowd seemed fantastically underwhelmed as the pitchfork hipsters stood stone-straight in solidarity with nary a ripple in the crowd.
The contrast was even more apparent to anyone who had read interviews with the act in anticipation of their arrival on this side of the pond. The band proudly proclaimed that an eager fanbase should expect something different from their live act, as they had a proclivity for playing sets as a straight-forward power-trio, adding a pinch of “punk” to their otherwise not-so-punk sound. Imagine everyone’s surprise when they came out sounding less power-pop than just straight-forward PB&J—a facsimile of the bare-bones, sparse, overdub free Writer’s Block.
The result was a show sounding so similar to the album, coupled with a complete lack of crowd interaction, that it prompted at least one drunken spectator, in what was sadly the highlight of the entire evening, to wonder aloud if perhaps they saved the overdubs for the live show. Needless to say it garnered few laughs among the uber-serious hipster crowd. The heckling, a normally unwanted feature at almost any concert, did this time have the fortune of providing an intermittent source of entertainment throughout the night.
My Chemical Romance
Air Canada Centre – 05.11.07
Rating: 7.5/10
Let me please explain myself. I was given free tickets, front row, and $400 dollars cash to attend this concert. Ok, so the cash part was false, but in all honesty, I must say that My Chemical Romance was not bad. In fact, if I were only 10 years younger, when I was actually impressionable and untainted by social pressures to stay musically credible, I would have considered MCR a must see. It is unfortunate that age, self-consciousness and my phase of emo-appreciation has passed.
Right when the lights dimmed, I knew I was at an MCR concert. Why? Girls and prepubescent boys were shrieking at a decibel that could have caused every window in Toronto to explode. It was so loud that the first two songs could not be heard over the screaming fans. In usual MCR fashion, they pulled out theatrics pretentious enough to make the biggest of metal hair performance look like open mic show. The first pinnacle moment of the night was during their first single “Welcome to the Black Parade”. Not only was the drum set rotating, but during the climax four confetti canons were shot from every corner of the stadium. Hell, I would have climaxed myself after experiencing such a grand and elaborate production worthy of presidential campaigns. You name it – pyro machines, sparkling curtains, fog machines, spotlights – this concert had it, and then some.
From beginning to end, MCR performed the entire Black Parade album with little to no breaks. Lead singer Gerard Way would occasionally yell positive profanity like “We fucking love fucking Toronto” to keep the kids stirred. Decked in the same costumes as their music video, the band kept their energy consistently high throughout all 14 Black Parade songs. Although the concept of a concept album show has been saturating the market, MCR have reinvented the formula by pretending to be “The Black Parade”, then following up with an actual MCR show. Brilliant. Or foolishly cost efficient, since they can now save costs by cutting one opening act.
By the time MCR came on as MCR, it was evident that the novelty of their theatrics was beginning to wear thin, and the music platform wasn’t much to stand on. There were two notable clichés during the second set of the night. First, a massive background curtain that spelled “Revenge”, surrounded by several pistols in clock-dial motion. Besides the moderate reference to their last album “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge”, were the pistols really necessary? Second, was Gerard Way’s plead to the audience to not kill themselves, nor resort to violence when depressed. Emo has officially reached a new extreme since my Weezer and Dashboard days in high school.
To top off the night, MCR played “Helena” that was oh so suitable for the audience and band alike. A tragic single that echoed the grandiose and cheesiness of the band — “So long and goodnight, so long and goodnight” – It couldn’t have been any more appropriate.
North by Northeast Indie Music (and film) Conference and Festival is June 7-9, 2007.
Similar to CMW but bigger, skewing a little younger, scenester and more rambunctious (although I heard the Tokyo Police Club and You Say Party! We Say Die! shows at CMW were intense), NXNE is the Canadian version of the mother of all indie festivals, South by Southwest in Austin, TX.
So, why not go and check out some of the 450 bands in the city? As a conference delegate, volunteer and general wristband concert goer, NXNE has something for any music lover or artist. Although it’s cool to check out the "hot" bands performing each year, I love going to some of the smaller scenester-free shows to support some fresh new faces. Sure, you’re rolling the dice on coming across a teen punk band set to change the world with rhyming couplet political poetry (forgetting to first learn how to play their instruments) but it’s worth it when you find that one band or artist that blows your mind.
Through the past few years I’ve come cross great bands like the Tangiers and Moneen to roots/country artist Ruth Minniken, and even a mesmerizing harp/opera-meets-enya singer/performer from Iceland.
I’ve never checked out the films, however I’ve heard some are quite provocative and inspiring.
Here are some of the bigger acts set to perform:
The National
The Clientele
Cancer Bats w/Bleeding Through, The End, Risky Business Thursday
Dinosaur Jr w/Uncut
Voxtrot, w/ Favourite Sons, Au Revoir Simone
Serena Ryder
Mixed Signals Toronto’s Finest Deep House Producers and Record
Labels
Junior Boys / Born Ruffians
KJ Sawka & Kid Beyond, w/ The Industrial Spies
Ill Scarlett
Fountains of Wayne
