Basia Bulat, Destroyer - Massey Hall (July 10/14)

Basia Bulat

With excited energy Basia burst onto the large stage, clad all in white atop her shiny silver clogs and nearly tossed herself onto that very stage in her shimmying and twirling. Fortunately disaster was averted and the night started with a plucky uke tune filled in by her six piece backing band in black. This group included her brother Bobby on drums, Ben Whiteley on bass and guitar, Ian Koiter - another London based musician and Shad collaborator - a second stand up drummer, plus two lovely females filling in the backing vocal touches plus the odd extra instrument. Soon Basia picked up her signature instrument and played that autoharp like she were a rockstar with an electric guitar. Speaking of which, later she swapped her acoustic for an electric and joked about this being her 'goes electric' moment. Though she wasn't joking all night she was obviously giddy just to be there, respecting the space in a number of ways. For one she excused the band for a few solo numbers to fill the air with her hauntingly strong yet soft voice and even referenced Neil Young by given name before launching an unheard song akin to his famous Live at Massey Hall debuts. Everyone returned and the exuberant feeling continued with the leading lady setting aside her guitar to slip into the crowd and take a front row seat, all the while singing into her effect mic, only to make it back in time for the next chords. The set closed on a high note and the musicians lined the stage for a deserved bow as the crowd spritely hopped to their feet. She proved me wrong by returning with just the gals to sing into a single mic together before she left the mic behind altogether and played sans amplification at the stage edge into a dead silent crowd. She was emitting magic into that air. Earlier in the set she warned that we were going to have a hard time getting her to leave the stage and she did seem hesitant to depart, loitering to collect her bouquet and sop up the outpouring of love that we bestowed. Saving her best for the big stage shone clear.

Destroyer

What would a Destroyer show be like? Even more curious, what would a solo Destroyer set consist of? It was about all that can be done with a man on a big stage with an acoustic guitar. His voice was controlled and bold, his picking quick and polished, the evidence of a man who has been plying his trade for a long time. A relative newcomer to his work I recognized a number of songs from Rubies and Kaput but they obviously were stripped down versions, especially compared to the involved instrumentation of the latter. At the completion of each song he would raise his guitar and flip that mop of curly hair down in front of him in a bow to the delight of his fans, while fairweather observers and newcomers seemed to yearn for more, with more than the odd person leaving partway through to grab a beer. To me the attempted standing ovation seemed completely unnecessary but I've been losing the over-ovation fight in Toronto for years and in a venue such as Massey there's no point in even trying.

Rural Alberta Advantage, Great Lake Swimmers - Massey Hall (July 7/14)

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.

Patrick Watson, Barr Brothers - Massey Hall (Dec 6/13)

The Barr Brothers

The four Barr Brothers (including one Barr sister) claimed the three-way privilege of playing Massey Hall: first of all the amazing room, secondly opening for Patrick Watson and lastly that they were able to end a year of touring in such a place. As a few stragglers found their seats the band looked like visitors to a hoarder audiophile's basement as they were tucked amongst all of Patrick's equipment. However they had brought some neat stuff of their own as well. Prominently featured was the female on a full-scale harp while her brethren had what looked to be a micro organ. Along with his regular drum set there was also a bike tire for bowing of the spokes, along with a number of shaking instruments and some fancy claps. With all that to play with there was no 'regular' drumming until the latter half of the last song. Opening acoustically they performed a few more well-known songs including Old Mythologies. The singer's guitar was equipped with a string of sorts that he would pull away from the instrument with his strumming hand while continuing to play with the other hand producing an interesting scale effect as he reached to the hall's ceiling and pulled himself onto his toes. The same apparatus was not present on his electric guitar that was also featured. One song saw three of four huddled around the communal mic with an acoustic and a uke for a warm sound. With all of the varied sounds and instrumentation, coupled with the venue, it would seem like it should be a stellar set yet I didn't find myself thoroughly engaged thoughout the set. Perhaps I was simply tired considering the rest of the audience further negated the significance of a standing ovation by offering one to this fully-capable band for what I felt wasn't a completely captivating set.

Patrick Watson
The circle closed as the tour that I'd caught in its warm-up days was now nearing its end. The previous show had been in the wonderful Koerner Hall and this one was in the equally beautiful, albeit larger, Massey Hall. The similarities didn't stop there as the group once again entered to Lighthouse however this time not only was I familiar with the song (the album hadn't yet been released before the previous show) but every audience member now had a finger light to match the darkened stage for a beautiful effect. Despite the excitement and lights the crowd was respectfully hushed as the band built up from Patrick at the piano to a full band arrangement. There was an emphasis on new material which was fine by me as they've been only improving on it with this tour. The lighting was great last time around and this time the production was even more elaborate and well executed, from the projections and lights to the arrangements and musicianship. 

Once again partway through the set Patrick and co. crowded around a centre stage mic to swoon into it. The song following this was Into Giants where they were joined around the mic by the female vocalist from the Barr Brothers and about halfway through Patrick returned to his piano and the rest of the members picked up their instruments. Older tune Luscious Life had a new sound to it versus the record, and Beijing was mind-blowing once again. Returning to the accolade-earning Adventures in Your Own Backyard Step Out for a While hit the mark and Morning Sheets came to a satisfyingly full ending. 

As if the horn and female violinist (making her mark with some excellent plucking) weren't enough, another differentiator was the choir who had offered to join them all the way from Montreal. They came out partway through a song to lend their voices without introduction (until after the fact).
Everyone was excused for the Big Bird in a Small Cage that Patrick tackled by himself from the piano bench with a drawn out story and much goading of the audience to participate, all the while chuckling to himself. It sounds odd but it was strangely endearing. 

Everyone was once again invited back out, even all the Brothers - one of which got to share the keys with Patrick as he went back and forth from there to the center mic. Altogether they brought it down in a crashing finale of Where the Wild Things Are. That didn't negate an encore however, as they reemerged to a standing ovation and played two songs followed by a voted-by-applause (over the Great Escape) rendition of To Build a Home by a solo Patrick. Although many aspects were similar to the last time out, the show has in fact improved - who would have thought it possible? It's not simply a concert of excellent songs but a production of an amazing spectacle that draws you in and engages the entire time. Hell, I'd see it again!