Kevin Drew, Austra, Darcys, Reuben/Dark - Field Trip Saturday 2014 (June 7)

The Darcys
Catching most of their set it was.. a lot like their set that I've come to know. The dapper lads (one all in white) were playing their solid rock songs, Pretty Girls included while giving and getting some real Toronto love. They mixed some electronic drum into their tunes too and played us out with a slower synthy number that bordered on prog rock.

Megan Bonnell
On an acoustic guitar with curly hair she was backed by the standard electric guitar, bass and drums, plus backup singer. She had an Irish singing accent which makes the uneducated (me) go straight to the Cranberries. Only catching a couple tunes it was decent and her final track was upbeat as she sang "you are the one!"

Reuben and the Dark

Probably pretty obvious by now but that Reuben sure does have a great voice and it was coming through clear - really good sound off this stage. Only able to stick around for four songs, plus the bonus Rolling Stone that had Reuben climbing up on the drum set as I was walking away.

Austra
I remember being heartily disappointed in being out of town for Austra's big show after the release of Feel It Break and now I would finally got to check her, and the band out. As it turns out I needn't have been so broken up as despite her obviously far ranging vocals the live show was not that explosive. Really unfortunate was that by the time I arrived the lady, all in red, was packing up her keyboard which is what I would have liked to have seen. They played the songs, key/synth/rumbling bass/female drummer but without a real wow factor, and over some pre-recorded vocals that were another letdown. She had a funny squat dance while decked out in sunglasses but her voice was really the redeeming factor, especially on the Lose It remix and strong Beat and the Pulse.

Kevin Drew
His latest release, a first sans Broken Social Scene and not even with a 'BSS Presents..' label (but backed by 6 members including Spearin and others) had come out only days earlier but was an expectedly solid album. Here he got to showcase a good chunk of these new tunes to his friendly hometown audience. Ever the on-stage controlling master he made us get rid of the beach balls bopping around this welcome-to-summer festival - 'I don't dig beach balls' - and even voiced his discontent with a certain musical selection repeatedly made by the new local radio station (perhaps rightfully so, but still.) This was all during Body Butter and Good Sex. It really wasn't a huge surprise to anyone when Feist joined him halfway through his Zack Galifinakas featuring music video tune, You in Your Were. But once again when they lost their spot he made the whole band go back through the latter half of a song they'd just completed to get it right - "don't screw it up this time." He tried to roll with it, saying things like "messy" and "crazy" while smiling but was obviously not so impressed (especially with the techs sidestage). This was before the failed vocal loop where he decided to just keep going - "I'm getting beat up up here." This was before he ventured into the crowd for a ballad to Toronto. The outro to Mexican Aftershow Party really has a familiar feeling as he just keeps repeating it differently - not unlike It's All Gonna Break but without the massive crescendo. In the end he did some straight BSS with Fucked Up Kid which got cut off but at least it was done semi gracefully.

Reuben and the Dark - TIFF (Sep 5)

Oddly the security wouldn't let us off the street and into the parking lot while they sound checked for a half hour after they should have been playing. Finally the couple dozen of us entered and as they began playing more were drawn in from the TIFF walking street. The band sounded good, booming their drums with cotton ball tipped sticks, under their conventional indie band instruments. Reuben strummed an acoustic guitar for much of the set but also utilized his strong voice without instrumentation in more than a few cases. They were all mic'ed, including the lone female who also played guitar. Nearing the end of the short set they broke out a couple of the more bombastic tracks and really got things going, swapping in a banjo on Rolling Stone but unfortunately, as they were already running behind, this set that the band came from Calgary to play was limited to well under a half hour.