Culture Blues

NXNE 2010: The Weekend Part Two

As a very late Friday night in Toronto came to a close, I went to bed dreading the fact that I would be getting up before 9:00am on Saturday. I hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in a week, my body ached in all sorts of unfortunate ways, and I had an annoyingly persistent headache that I could only assume was a result of the excessive amount of greatness I was exposing myself to. So I will be honest with all of you; when that alarm rang, I basically hated everything in the Universe.

There were many facets to my diamond of loathe aside from the aforementioned physical ailments. For one, I'd been keeping up with the weather all week (I had to be outside a lot), therefore I fully anticipated a monstrous downpour. My further concerns revolved around the logistics of the all-day Island Festival where I was going to be spending my day  (thus I had to miss Iggy Pop)- there were thousands of people involved, and the ferries only left one at a time about 15 minutes apart. Essentially I feared I would be miserable, soaking wet, and trapped on an island in the middle of Lake Ontario away from the action in downtown Toronto... did I mention it was my birthday?

After bargaining with some deities, I got myself square (whatever that means), "Rode the Rocket" (that is their Subway slogan), and stood in line for a ferry, only to have to stand on an even larger line once I arrived at Centre Island. Upon entering the actual concert area I was actually very surprised by how large a space it was. I quickly got my concert provisions (whatever that means), and found myself a decent spot to catch the first of six bands that I will be writing about today.

The opener on this not-yet-raining Saturday was a four piece from Toronto which goes by the supremely subtle moniker of Zeus. I know what you’re thinking... this has to be some kind of metal, or noise-garage outfit. Mmmm, no. Zeus was actually somewhere in between straight indie and Kings of Leon, though they never veered far enough into either genre to get the full classification. Their songs moved pretty well, but its obviously hard to connect with your audience when most of them are on line for water; they tried their darnedest and totally managed to grab the crowd's attention with a great cover of That's All by Genesis.

While waiting to get my bag checked by security, I struck up a conversation with a couple in front of me about the next band; they seemed to be big fans of Timber Timbre, and I had only a vague awareness of the group. They proceeded to tell me about how singer/songwriter/guitarist Taylor Kirk was a highly eccentric fellow who held his last album release party in a church, where the only light was provided by 200 lit candles- needless to say I was intrigued. As the three piece took the stage (Kirk was accompanied by violin player Mika Posen, and lapsteel/autoharpist Simon Trottier), I was expecting something gloomy and maybe a little bizarre, and Timber Timbre did not disappoint. Their sound was like The National except, with a way heavy blues overtone, it was gloomy as hell. It was subtle at times,  and it was terrific. If you like folk, blues, and sitting in the dark, you have to check them out.

As roadies scurried around the stage, setting up for the next group, I looked up at the sky and noticed it was getting downright glorious. A smile began to force its way onto my face and I made a quick refreshment run so that I could be back in time for Beach House... Wait, did I not mention Beach House was playing?

I have now been lucky enough to catch Beach House twice, in two countries, in the last three weeks (I checked them out at Primavera Sound in Barcelona as well), and as I am sure you can guess they were fantastic each time! I have already expressed my adoration for their January release on this website, and to be able to hear Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally sound even better than the record in concert (that’s right, I went all the way there) is an utter treat and something that needs to be atop your list of priorities. They played every song a fan could want to hear; opening the set with a sparkling rendition of Norway, a precious version of Used To Be, Silver Soul at its absolute finest, and obvious crowd favorite Zebra (with very cheerful Canadian clapping accompaniment). I could go on and on about Beach House, but you know they’re great, and there are still three other bands to get to on this Island bill.

Band Of Horses is one of those bands that I enjoy, but I wouldn’t quite say I love. I am familiar with their catalogue and, like everyone else, I am a fan of songs like Is There A Ghost and The Funeral, but I rarely (if ever) actively seek them out in my iTunes for a listen. Having never seen them in concert, I figured that this would be a way to get myself more into the band; after having seen them, my opinion has not changed all that much. Maybe it was the fact that they played about half of their new record (which does not really do it for me), or maybe it had to do with the fact that they didn’t bring anything to the table that I have not seen others do; either way, I found myself glancing at my watch a couple of times in an effort to speed up time somehow (it didn’t work). I will be fair, and say the fans were totally into it and the band played well, it just fell a little short for my tastes.

I literally had to sprint to get my last batch of necessities in order to not lose my spot for the last two groups, because the crowd had become fucking enormous. After a trip to the Montreal Smoked Meat stand (I think I developed a problem out there), and a final round at the beer tent, I had to squeeze, crawl, and connive my way through the masses in order to take the spot I was not going to leave for the next four hours, because Broken Social Scene and Pavement were about to take the stage... did I mention it was my birthday?

I watched in awe at the setup that B.S.S. had their roadies assemble. I lost count of the microphones, the number of amps was incalculable and both drum sets had more pieces than anyone but Neil Pert himself. Then Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Pieroff, and Jason Collett took the stage, got behind their instruments, and started the opening bars to World Sick, much to the crowd's, and my, delirious delight. As the song progressed, and parts would call for more musicians, they would just jump on and off stage in a choreographed order that was hilarious to watch.

The crowd was enormous (by far the biggest I saw any band have all festival), and they were so ecstatic to be in the presence of their musical demigods that the atmosphere felt like church in the best possible way. To say that we were all captivated would be an understatement of the highest accord; as the set progressed and they played songs like Chase Scene (complete with five piece brass section), Art House Director, and Ungrateful Little Father, my eyes and ears marveled as up to 17 (17!!!) musicians took the stage at one time, filling every frequency that you could interpret and transporting you to the core of sublimity. There were some cameos; Scott Kannberg of Pavement came to add some vocals to a couple of tracks and, to quote lead singer Kevin Drew, “Because we live in Toronto and so does she,” Feist took the stage to join in on the fun for some tracks from You Forgot It In People (AWESOME). Just about everything about their set was flawless (the fact that there were a couple of technical difficulties meant nothing). Drew is an engaging and charismatic front-man, the band was phenomenal, the set-list was perfectly balanced and the crowd loved it more than life itself. I was so happy to be there.

For one reason or another, most of the Canadians I spoke to over the course of the day were not particularly familiar with Pavement (I couldn’t believe it either... I think it means I am getting old). I, on the other hand, was more excited to see Pavement than B.S.S (I kept that to myself on the Island). The whole world became a blur to me as Steve Malkmus and company walked onto the stage. I watched as he picked up his Strat, in slow motion, strummed his D5th, and blew out my brain with a blissfully loud version of Cut Your Hair. When they made the transition from that to Trigger Cut, my smile was the only thing I was aware of beyond the music, and the fourteen year old inside me was going insane. There were many other amazing moments. At one point, the band went from Silence Kit to Elevate Me Later. Kevin Drew and other members of B.S.S came out for Two States. And screaming along to Unfair was as fucking cathartic as anything has ever been in my life. Gold Soundz, Stop Breathin... everything was perfect. My personal favorite moment of the unbelievable Pavement set was the tender, almost whisper-quiet rendition of Here (my all time favorite song; check out the alternate mix on the Deluxe Slanted and Enchanted), where I had a real life "pinch yourself" moment. Oh, and I got to sing along to Summer Babe! The band was in top form, the songs are timeless, and though Broken Social Scene was the best thing I saw at all of NXNE, Pavement was my favorite by light years. Did I mention it was my birthday?

After the last note rang, and LONG after the sun had gone down, it was time to leave Centre Island; while the exodus was a drag, nothing could bring me down from the high I was on. I boarded my ferry, and made my way back to the mainland, still reliving countless moments back in my mind and no doubt grinning like an exhausted, yet satisfied, idiot. You’d think my evening would be done but I still had to meet up with Jeff "The Hitman" Hart, for one last trip to the Silver Dollar, to catch a band he had interviewed earlier in the day, Comanechi.

The transition I was going through could not have been more abrupt; I went from being outdoors and listening to a mixed bag of alternative to being in a club and checking out a garage-noise detonation, but in the end I totally dug it. Comanechi are a two piece from the U.K. (Simon plays guitar, and Akiko plays drums and “sings”); they're raw, they're loud, and they totally got the crowd amped with blistering tracks like My Pussy, On n On, Two Tea Bags, and their best tune, Death Of You (do yourself a favor and google the lyrics, though preferably not at work). Comanechi was a very entertaining duo, and  a perfect way to end a wonderful day.

Once we left the Silver Dollar, it was time for one last walk back to the CN Tower, one last trip to the hotel. I was oh-so-many things by this point in my day, dear readers, but without  a doubt chief among all of my feelings, was jubilation. Happy birthday to me.

Tagged as: Band Of Horses, beach house, Broken Social Scene, Centre Island, Comanechi, NXNE, Pavement, Silver dollar, Timber Timbre, Zeus