Ohbijou Farewell - Great Hall (Sept 7/13)

The current Ohbijou lineup consisting of six members who will go down in the Toronto music scene history books began the night with a standout set of Ohbijou's better known songs. To be frank, I am a discriminating fan who enjoys a number of singles but has also fallen asleep at previous shows (mind you they were in the grassy sunshine). With hits like Black Ice, Niagara and St. Francis it wasn't hard to retain rapt attention for this initial 40 minute offering. From here we had a break to commiserate over the lose of the Toronto gem before a whole host of local musical celebs paid tribute to a band who had shown such grace and generosity throughout the years. It was a veritable who's who of Live In Bellwoods with Nils from the RAA, Evening Hymns (Jonas and Sylvie), Gentleman Reg, The Acorn lead singer, Kat Burns formerly of Forest City Lovers, Neil Haverty (of Bruce Peninsula playing drums in a threesome calling themselves Pumpkin Foot), Wooden Sky, and Snowblink. Casey and sister, Jennifer, watched from the balcony, beaming at the outpouring of love. Further showered by John O'Regan aka Diamond Rings, Lisa Bozikovic and Nathan Lawr each doing a different take on an Ohbijou tune.

It was bittersweet then when the band returned for a final set of deeper cuts. Personally I wasn't enthralled the entire time but it was nice and a few guests came through to join them. In the end ALL the guests came out for one final crescendo to close the Ohbijou chapter. We will see what life is like without them (and hopefully what other artistic endeavors the members are now free to pursue).

Notes

Niagara flaws
St Francis. Extra drumming
Black ice
Other side

Reg violin guitar and cello just 4
Evening hymns.
Moving lights background video
Snow blink
~

Nils, banjo
Acorn, surging urgent

Kat burns solo, Casey singing along
Wooden sky
Jonas Sylvie evening hymns. 6 years only playing music. Tumble weeds
Acorn 2
Neil haverty drums pumpkin foot
John o Regan, e looping
Lisa bozikovic, Sylvie
Reg looping vocals . Weird
Snow blink

Nathan lawr, barking at your door singalong.
~

Encore
Casey around the floor, clap and laying. Neighbourhoods.
Finale x everyone. Come on!

Toronto Bike Fest feat. Strumbellas, Wilderness of Manitoba (Toronto streets/parks, Sept 8/13)

It began, at least for us, in the park behind OCAD. A large, loose gathering of like-minded cyclists laying in the grass in the park with their rides splayed alongside them as a folky, bluegrass band, The Rucksack Willies, played on a quickly assembled stage. Considering the previous day had been scheduled it was prime weather with sun and warmth for the rain date. When the music stopped there were a few minutes for everyone to get everything together before the crowd amassed for the trek to Trinity Bellwoods to complete the day. With plenty of direction and safety in numbers we rode through the streets of Toronto all together, primarily on backstreets but also venturing onto Queen and Spadina on a couple of occasions. Most bystanders seemed happy to see us pass by and even the motorists didn't seem overly perturbed by the 70 or so two-wheelers moving along. The Toronto Bicycle Music Festival was an empowering ride.

The Wilderness of Manitoba played a set at T-Bells (ha!) which remains in the books as every other WoM set I've seen (besides their Sunday morning sessions at Hillside). That is to say that it's alright at the time, the female singer is fine and the backing male musicians also do a decent job but there is little of note or interest to me. That's not completely fair as they did perform an enjoyable cover of the "brand new roller skates" song. Perhaps it is just their music that doesn't strike a chord

Following a short female set on a side 'stage' The Strumbellas came on to end the day in good fashion. With their catchy, folk jams they had a couple of potentially inebriated guys dancing from the get-go while others were quick to join in after that without chemical encouragement. Playing mostly My Father the Hunter tracks they did include a song from the album they have been working on this summer. As an even newer addition Simon played a song he wrote especially for the festival just that weekend - so fresh, in fact, that he had to read the lyrics from papers spread across the keyboard. You know it wasn't a terrible song either despite the seemingly juvenile chorus of 'I love bicycles'. Nearing the end of the set they proposed a dance contest and curiously gave away what appeared to be a used skateboard to a young girl. Regardless of the gimmick it got everyone left in the park up and moving and kept them on their feet for their closing song, Pistol. That is until they had an all-natural curtain call and jammed out one last tune in the park before we pedaled away grinning.

Dodos, Cousins - Lincoln Hall, Chicago (Sept 19/13)

Cousins were already rolling to a small but forming crowd. The duo, male on electric guitar and female on drums, were giving it a good show as they ripped through some rock tunes. He held down the vocals which were were somewhat repetitive but otherwise alright; both took turns at the mic to banter with the crowd and explain the meaning of 'cousins'. Although the music wasn't exactly breaking new sound it was entertaining nonetheless and got the toes tapping and the head bopping of one enthusiastic young fellow who arrived, decided he loved it, showingly acted out his appreciation and realized it was the last song.

Between sets I took in the Lincoln Hall room in Chicago which was really fantastic in all regards. The floor was large but not huge and all spots offered solid sightlines due to the raised stage. To prevent reverberations and echoes the surfaces of the walls, pillars and even plentiful bar space were all made of anechoic materials while even the high ceiling was soft material for the same reason. It was high to allow for the upper floor balcony which also provided great views, not just for those in the short stools up on the rail but also the taller chairs behind and even standing behind that. Truly superb.

And The Dodos matched the room as they stepped out promptly at 10pm - before the house music even completely died away in fact. The trio took up their instruments and began straight into Confidence which hit. The lead guitarist sang into a mic and a reverb mic and did quite well, as did the newest member (and Illinoian) on his guitar while the drummer was excellent as they varied their pace often. He also employed an interesting upside down cymbal on top of a larger cymbal on a song for a different effect. Off the top the opening three numbers were great, though I did notice a small lull in the mid set before the longer haired musician reached to one of the seven guitars lined along stage edge and selected the acoustic. In my opinion they didn't utilize this weapon often enough (but who cares about my opinion that they should have played Jodi too?) After a scant time on stage that ended strongly but far too early they exited. Despite a relatively strong audience during the show, for a medium-sized crowd on a Thursday night, the response to urge an encore was weak. Maybe that is why they only did two more to wrap it up. A worthwhile venture out in a different city that could have lasted longer and pushed harder in the middle but still had more than a few outstanding moments.

AroarA, Alex Lukashevsky - St. George the Martyr Music Gallery (Sept 5/13)

AroarA have quickly won me over. They played a similar set to the one I've become accustomed to with a few additional tracks from the album being released on this evening. Andrew primarily played his electric guitar but was also in charge of queueing up the backing tracks and drums while Ariel started on her cigar-box guitar but after setting that down so it could slide into the hot, hot spotlight she rocked her electric for much of the eve. It was well into the set that that they both set down their instruments and just played the track so they could dance and sing (and kinda rap) on a tune that was quite peppy. Following this their lovely accompaniment in Leslie Feist and Danielle Gesundheit joined them to close out the set as has happened before and is akin to their Hydra formation. With all four of them rocking the guitar it made for a very strong crescendo, while on another track Andrew stepped back and allowed the women and their vocals to take center stage.

The encore saw just the original couple return and a song in French by Brigitte Fontaine before inviting the girls to return. Despite the similarities to previous sets I was still enamoured with the entire show and really enjoyed my front pew/center seating.

Things got going late with Alex Lukashevsky being introduced twice, the second time by Andrew Whiteman himself. It was rambling but glowing and so the potential was there but the set did not turn my crank. He played the guitar but seemed to lack any clear musicality for most of the songs - as if someone who had an idea of how to play just picked up a guitar at a friend's place and made an assortment of sounds with it for a few seconds. However it went on for quite awhile and was saved by Danielle (Snowblink) and another female (whose name I did not catch) who filled in the background with their voices. Mind you the song structure and timing of their input was also odd but not as odd as the assortment of sounds that they were asked to make - one sounded like we were in an aviary!

Born Ruffians - Harbourfront Centre (Jul 13/13)

It seemed a quiet night down at the waterfront for the local Born Ruffian show but the hardcore fan group at the front were determined to change that. Their enthusiasm had more and more people in the audience getting into the perky, indie rock band who were putting on quite a performance feeding off this energy. The set list was a great taster of the BR catalogue as they played plenty of throwbacks to earlier days, a highlight being Hedonistic Me, while also incorporating some strong and more recent releases. Not sure that it was going to be anything worth writing about I was soon swept into the set that just kept giving. Nearing the end Luke and Mitch revealed that their long-time drummer Steve would be departing, and not wanting to make a big deal of it this would, in fact, be his last show. This drew some groans and cheers from the crowd but it also drew a semi-streaker who was barely clothed and really broke up any sentimentality that was brewing by jumping on stage in his underwear. Unfortunately since this was a free Harbourfront show there was little security and this continued into the ensuing tune to the point where they had to stop the song in the middle. Once the yahoos were cleared off the stage the show went on and they closed out. The hardcore group cheered loudly and there was no question there would be an encore. Hummingbird led it and was fantastic as usual. In the end they kept bringing their final song down and then revving it back up again to the delight of everyone. A solid Toronto showing and a revival in the faith of a Born Ruffian show.

River Tiber - Drake Hotel (Feb 21/13)

It was perhaps an odd slot playing an opening set for a free (Rich Aucoin) show in a hotel restaurant but it didn't phase the local River Tiber. The set was successful in that it won over at least one new fan who had never even heard of them. My notes read 'ambient, rich bass, keys, dynamic drumming' where the last in the list was at least in part due to the integrated electronic drums. It's a little useless to liken a band to Radiohead, considering they are credited with pioneering a wide range of modern music from indie to electronica but it was in fact the vocals which also fell in line with Thom Yorke's. Despite the forward-thinking music some of the members were keeping it casual with backwards ball caps. Not an overly long set it was top quality and a great introduction to the River Tiber who have since followed it up with their equally compelling debut full-length. Keep your ears open and show this up and coming band some support for the 'I remember when's'.