Fucked Up’s Damian Abraham put together two nights of rock and roll at Toronto’s The Great Hall, in support of charities. The first night was headlined by Fucked Up, I didn’t attend, and have yet to see the punk band live, but would at some point like to see that show.
The second night, however, I did attend. Starting off the show was Bonjay, a three-piece, who were fun, and danceable. I’d definitely go see them again, probably wouldn’t buy the record as it’s not my kind of home music. I was standing at the front with some awesome friends, ex-lovers1, and some newbies. After the first act, I saw some more people I know up in the balcony. All I could think were 1) OMG! Great vantage point! 2) Leaning on railing would be so much better than standing 3) I could sit if I wanted.
These were all very excellent reasons. So I ended up joining Mechanical Forest Joe, History Jen, and a newbie to my life, but one who I have seen at thousands of Toronto concerts before2 I made new friend. It also gave me the opportunity to send creepy tweets like:
and:
Yes I’m a strange man.
So Ohbijou played next. They were better than I remember. Still somewhat boring, but not bad, just not my thing. I think many people would like them… just not me.
Then came a surprise band… well, it was a surprise to me, as no one told me they were playing… yes the RURAL. ALBERTA. ADVANTAGE.
I haven’t seen then in, like, forever!
They were so fucking good. I was dancing like crazy, and singing along, and I was surprised at how well I knew all the new songs. Most importantly, from above, I had a great view to partake in Paul Banwatt’s drumming skills. He’s a fun drummer to watch, and I usually am not too interested in drummers.
Finally we had the headliners. You might have heard of them… Sloan.
They were playing their 1996 album One Chord To Another. Yes, the first album of theirs I ever bought, yes they were playing the complete record in sequence. So of course they started with…
I could list you the full tracklist of the album, but you can find that here… linky.
Sure they kinda fucked up “Autobiography” and “Can’t Face Up” but they also amazed me with nearly everything else. They also had a horn section for their hit “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” and fan-favourite “Take The Bench.”
For the encore they brought out Damian Abraham and then Leslie Feist. It was fucking awesome. Awesome? YES!
I ran into Martina… YES! MartyZ was in Toronto! She told me that she saw me in the balcony rocking out, and realized that since it was a set completely of 20th century Sloan, it was the perfect show for me. She was totally right.
Thanks Chris, thanks Jay, thanks Patrick, thanks Andrew, also thanks to Greg.