Broken Social Scene. November 13th, 2007 at Paradise in Boston, MA.
The members of Broken Social Scene have said that every single member of the collective will not be able to be at every live show. It is not expected for everyone involved to be at a "Broken Social Scene" show. Tuesday's show at Paradise was no exception to this rule, as it featured only a six person band, as opposed to the fifteen-plus group I saw at Lollapalooza last year. Nevertheless, they put on a show up to par with any Broken Social Scene performance. Translation: that means they were stellar.
The set list was pretty varied as far as newer and older material goes. They played many songs off You Forgot It In People and Broken Social Scene, with about two-thirds of the set coming from Kevin Drew's Spirit If... . While I do enjoy the new album, I still have to say that the older Broken Social Scene records are my favorite. And likewise, the songs that came off of those albums were among the best of the show. But that's not to say the newer material was lacking. Really, there were no low points in the show, as far as songs are concerned. There were a few moments where the talking segments went on a little too long and got a little too tired, but musically the whole show was great. They were clearly having a great time, filled with boundless energy. Even when they got towards the end of their two-and-a-half-hour set, they didn't seem to want to leave the stage, playing what could be considered 2 or 3 encores.
It should be noted that their stage presence was excellent, with all of their goofyness and humor adding to the show. For instance, after being heckled constantly for some old BSS material, Kevin Drew commented that they would indeed not be playing "Lover's Spit" or "Shoreline", sorry. Later, a man in the back yelled out, "Play 'Shoreline', you hacks!", to which Kevin and Brendan Canning laughed and replied, "Well, we're not going to play it. It's 'cause we're hacks, remember?" Then they discussed the possibility that the man in the back resembled their old manager, "Are you our old manager? The one that got really weird towards the end? You look kinda like him." It was this mentality that kept the show rolling smoothly through most of the night, including the silly moments, such as when Kevin asked for audience members' clothing to wear during "Major Label Debut". "Don't worry, you'll get them back!", he assured as he piled on sweatshirt after sweatshirt and coat to make an enormous clothing blob -- which, of course, he tore off little by little throughout the song. However, this same "anything goes" attitude also contributed to the show's few slow moments. These included a lulling, ambient, heavy-on-the-guitar-effects jam to end the show. After playing "It's All Gonna Break" as an encore, Brendan stayed on the stage making noise/ambiance until others came back and joined him to fill in with more noise/ambiance. I could have done without this -- it would have been a much better move just to end with "It's All Gonna Break" and walk off the stage. But I don't have too much to complain about -- every single song was phenomenal, and the energy was top notch. As for the slow moments of talking, I think it can be allowed when the show is two-and-a-half hours and when it's as much fun as this show was. The performance was certainly one of the best I've seen this year.
Photos and videos below. More videos here.
Kevin Drew - Tbtf (from Spirit If...)
Kevin Drew - Gang Bang Suicide (from Spirit If...)
Broken Social Scene - It's All Gonna Break
Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut
The members of Broken Social Scene have said that every single member of the collective will not be able to be at every live show. It is not expected for everyone involved to be at a "Broken Social Scene" show. Tuesday's show at Paradise was no exception to this rule, as it featured only a six person band, as opposed to the fifteen-plus group I saw at Lollapalooza last year. Nevertheless, they put on a show up to par with any Broken Social Scene performance. Translation: that means they were stellar.The set list was pretty varied as far as newer and older material goes. They played many songs off You Forgot It In People and Broken Social Scene, with about two-thirds of the set coming from Kevin Drew's Spirit If... . While I do enjoy the new album, I still have to say that the older Broken Social Scene records are my favorite. And likewise, the songs that came off of those albums were among the best of the show. But that's not to say the newer material was lacking. Really, there were no low points in the show, as far as songs are concerned. There were a few moments where the talking segments went on a little too long and got a little too tired, but musically the whole show was great. They were clearly having a great time, filled with boundless energy. Even when they got towards the end of their two-and-a-half-hour set, they didn't seem to want to leave the stage, playing what could be considered 2 or 3 encores.
It should be noted that their stage presence was excellent, with all of their goofyness and humor adding to the show. For instance, after being heckled constantly for some old BSS material, Kevin Drew commented that they would indeed not be playing "Lover's Spit" or "Shoreline", sorry. Later, a man in the back yelled out, "Play 'Shoreline', you hacks!", to which Kevin and Brendan Canning laughed and replied, "Well, we're not going to play it. It's 'cause we're hacks, remember?" Then they discussed the possibility that the man in the back resembled their old manager, "Are you our old manager? The one that got really weird towards the end? You look kinda like him." It was this mentality that kept the show rolling smoothly through most of the night, including the silly moments, such as when Kevin asked for audience members' clothing to wear during "Major Label Debut". "Don't worry, you'll get them back!", he assured as he piled on sweatshirt after sweatshirt and coat to make an enormous clothing blob -- which, of course, he tore off little by little throughout the song. However, this same "anything goes" attitude also contributed to the show's few slow moments. These included a lulling, ambient, heavy-on-the-guitar-effects jam to end the show. After playing "It's All Gonna Break" as an encore, Brendan stayed on the stage making noise/ambiance until others came back and joined him to fill in with more noise/ambiance. I could have done without this -- it would have been a much better move just to end with "It's All Gonna Break" and walk off the stage. But I don't have too much to complain about -- every single song was phenomenal, and the energy was top notch. As for the slow moments of talking, I think it can be allowed when the show is two-and-a-half hours and when it's as much fun as this show was. The performance was certainly one of the best I've seen this year.
Photos and videos below. More videos here.
Kevin Drew - Tbtf (from Spirit If...)
Kevin Drew - Gang Bang Suicide (from Spirit If...)
Broken Social Scene - It's All Gonna Break
Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut
Labels: Show Reviews
so i checked your blog, read the review, and watched the videos. i envy you, keith nelson. why wasn't i born one month earlier! damn metro...