RAA
It seemed a toss up double bill but the Rural Alberta Advantage were up first and were understandably psyched to be playing at the historic Massey Hall. They made the most of it too with a solid set of favourites from their first two Alberta-entrenched records plus a smattering of cuts from the upcoming autumn release. Muscle Relaxants struck early but there were plenty more; Drain the Blood, Tornado '87, Barnes Yard, Four Night Rider to name but a few. Amy had plenty of room to wander around the stage when not perched on one foot playing her synths, xylo and drum, or complementing Nils' distinct voice with her soft coo. That is excepting the rendition of Two Lovers that he laid down solo mid-set. After their return Paul laid down a wicked new drumline on the second of three new songs - the first being the released-that-day Terrified. Of course the songs aren't a huge departure from their signature style but it's always nice to hear new material.
Naturally they played Summertime to a nice response but it was actually a technical malfunction that roused the biggest reaction. Despite his best efforts during a song to rectify his cut-out guitar amp Nils was unable to get it going - rather than crash and burn he just started clapping and yelling out the chorus over and over. Realising his conundrum the crowd joined right along and when it wrapped we organically stood to applaud - which he didn't even notice for a full minute as he was so engrossed with fixing the problem. As he mentioned this could have been a closer but who wants to rush off the Massey stage? They finished off the set as planned and left us all happy by closing with the single, Stamp.
Great Lake Swimmers
First from the darkness appear four clad all in black - alongside Tony and the gang would be a four-piece string section (three violins and a cello). This group who were on and off stage throughout the set helped to fill out the already layered song and brought that extra something to the large, lovely space. The Great Lake Swimmers for their part broke right into song and in many cases jammed right through from song to song with incredibly dense instrumental breakdowns before clearing up into the recognizable melody of the next song. This definitely was a positive and moved the set right along from tunes like Pulling on a Line to Easy Come and Changing Colours, Put There by the Land. As always the break out of the banjo for Your Rocky Spine was a standout (while Moving Pictures didn't play this time around.) Being in the acoustic haven of Massey they trooped out to a solitary freestanding microphone at the front of the stage to close their set by harmonizing into it and even dropping a banjo and fiddle single. That is before they returned from a short pause for a one-song encore recalling their long travels together. Though the upper balcony may not have been completely full some 2,400 people stood to show their appreciation at the end of the night.
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