Imaginary Cities - Drake Underground (May 28/13)

Imaginary Cities seemed dreadfully aware of the nearly empty room they were playing to for this essentially unadvertised, free, early, album release party. Opening with the first single from Fall of Romance the band did their best to soldier on, disappointingly utilizing a violin track as they were playing as an ordinary five piece. By the end of this tune many of the back of the room dwellers had sauntered up to become mid room dwellers (this is Toronto after all) and whoop their appreciation for Chasing the Sunset. From here the band confided in us about being nervous about playing songs for the first time live, and the first time ever with their new bass player, but this didn't detract from the performance. The room seemed to be filling in (relatively) as they polished off the acoustic album opener, All the Time. With that out of the way the rest of the set was a breeze as Marti's vocals hit the spot and played off or with Rusty's throughout the performance - even when he sang the role of Ewan from The Sheepdogs on Who's Watching You. The only Temporary Resident was a clear and confident version of Hummingbird which was appreciated by the crowd. Seeing as there was a time limit on the stage they told us to pretend the final tune was their encore and they played the album closer. As a first taste of the new record it was a small, yet sweet nibble.

The Burning Hell, Nick Ferrio, Eons - The Silver Dollar (Apr 29/13)

The Burning Hell

In the stripped down 5-piece configuration that has come to be the norm since leading man, Mathias Kom, uprooted to The Rock, The Burning Hell made a return to their former province's capital city. A moderately-sized, energetic Monday night crowd greeted them kindly in the intimate Silver Dollar venue - even if they opened with some more downbeat songs, including Grown-Ups and Kings of the Animal Kingdom. A healthy amount of new Peoplewas interspersed with older, beloved Burning Hell tracks through the night - the former including Realists and the latter Things That People Make (1) and more recent Nostalgia. The guitarist got to play us some licks, as did Nick Ferrio on bass, and the female clarinet also had a featured solo or two. Mathias was obliging to requests which fortunately added The Berlin Conference to the set list though My Name is Mathias seemed to be the planned closer. Also planned was the encore as there really isn't any backstage to go to in the venue, so they were soon back for the uke-free Amateur Rapper which saw Kom banging the drum set for the crashing ending. Furthering the requests they came back for a second encore to uplift us into the night with my favourite song, It Happens in Florida, for which we poured out the "Love".

Eons

Billed as Matt Cully of Bruce Peninsula he was joined by a lady on the violin and effect keys, though she wasn't fellow BP member Misha Bower who apparently features.prominently on the album with imminent release. We can likely expect similar sounds on that to this live show which was primarily composed of Matt"s deliberate electric guitar work, and occasional effect or reverb, under his signature baritone. This voice got especially gruff on the traditional cover he performed and changed again for somewhat familiar finale, Chair on Fire.

Nick Ferrio

Sans His Feelings he was playing an acoustic guitar in a way that didn't really command the hush of a crowd. Sandwiched as the middle set, he seemed to think he was clever in his abuse of the talkative crowd, but those who were talking weren't listening anyhow. For his final two numbers, including a Jennifer Castle cover, he was joined by a female vocalist but there still wasn't much dynamism to it.