i don't know if you've ever heard of broken social scene, but if not, here's a quick rundown. broken social scene was formed in toronto in 1999 by kevin drew and brendan canning and rose to prominence in canada's independent music scene.
there's a word that gets thrown around a lot in the music biz, 'superband' or 'supergroup' which is, a musical group that was formed from members of previously successful music ventures. while broken social scene certainly includes talented members from previously successful bands including but not limited to; feist, metric, jason collett, amy milan, the new pornographers and stars, they have all found varying degress of success parallel with the scene itself. was broken social scene famous because of its talented musicians, or were the talented musicians famous because of broken social scene? a difficult relationship to analyze, but without a doubt the members of broken social scene are some of the greatest musical minds this country has to offer.
we arrived at the harbourfront centre in toronto's downtown 2 hours before showtime. we were also some of the last people to find seats! the stage had near-perfect placement near toronto's waterfront and had a perfect breeze blowing through it to cool down the otherwise hot day. after patiently waiting (by that i mean drinking 7$ heinekein tallboys) we were greeted by this:
i saw this song once performed on the tonight show with jay leno and i thought it was impressive then. what a GREAT song to demonstrate the musical abilities of this group. one of my favorite things about broken social scene is the fact its a near indie-rock orchestra. fire-eye'd-boy was a great way to remind us all of that.
this - is musical - bliss
7/4 shoreline is one of those few... a handful, maybe less than five, perfect songs. to see broken social scene in its entirety, including the wonderful leslie feist, perform this song was one of those few great earthly pleasures i'll ever get to enjoy.
as i said previously, broken social scene is home to acts such as feist and metric and you better believe they were both representing their non-bss success!
kevin drew also showed off some of his own solo stuff! like this absolute beauty that's been thrown around in circles under the title 'untitled 2' or 'MTV'. when it came on i was immediately entranced by the tune and wondered why i wasn't familiar with it (as a devoted broken social scener) - but as it turns out i was introduced to a new tune by an old favorite.
kevin drew himself called this their themesong! i have only this for commentary: "oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh-oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh-oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh-oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh"
the real reason i love broken social scene comes down to a few select words.
park that car.
drop that phone.
sleep on the floor.
dream about me.
it was a wonderful concert. the greatest thing about seeing a band like broken social scene is i think they genuinely want to be there as much as their audience. never before have i seen such comradery on the band's behalf. it looked more like a reunion between close friends than a band's first time on stage in its entirely in more than five years.
thank you broken social scene, if this ever reaches you, thank you. it takes a lot of brass to put on a free concert these days and you definitely know how to bring the goods.
i'd also like to thank the following youtube users for allowing me to link to their videos.
fcharlesuck, harbourfrontcentre and phantium
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