ELLIOTT BROOD at the Horseshoe, Saturday, March 26. Rating: NNNN
In the eight years since Elliott Brood’s debut EP came out, they’ve released two full-length albums and attracted an enthusiastic throng of fans. Playing the penultimate slot prior to secret headliners Hollerado, the Toronto alt-country trio had the full house going apeshit from the moment they walked onstage. The crowd frequently sang along to the Brood’s story-songs, which sound jubilant even when treading dark waters.
Drummer Steve Pitkin keeps up a rollicking pace, while Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet deliver the melodies on acoustic instruments played at full volume. And though their records feature greater subtlety and more diverse instrumentation, their live show’s as energetic as a kitchen party. Continuous touring has turned Elliott Brood into an exciting live band ready to take on larger venues.
JOANNE HUFFA
RED MASS with TEENAGER, BRADLEYB0Y, ACTION MAKES and the SPHINXS at the Silver Dollar, Saturday, March 26. Rating: NNN
Though a JunoFest banner covered the Silver Dollar’s familiar logo, Saturday’s show had the look and feel of a typical Dan Burke barnstormer. Not only were none of the bands on the bill nominated, but it’s doubtful any of them even watched the Junos.
Red Mass, once literally the biggest band in garage rock, have slimmed down to a quartet. The newfound economy diminished their ramshackle spirit but also gave frontman Choyce a chance to show off his psychedelic guitar chops without bells, whistles and glockenspiels.
Locals Teenanger delivered a typi-cally raucous set of amped-up, stripped-down garage punk heavy on new material, including what sounded like a new entry in the growing sub-genre of Rob Ford dis tracks.
If the show benefited at all from its festival status, it was for the 4 am last call. There was a much bigger, rowdier turnout for blustery late-night sets by Action Makes and the Sphinxs than for one-man blues band Bradleyboy’s early showcase.
RICHARD TRAPUNSKI
EGYPTRIXX, POIRIER, BONJAY and HOLY FUCK DJS at Wrongbar, Saturday, March 26. Rating: NNNN
The Junos added an electronic music award this year to honour the kind of albums that usually get overlooked in the dance category, and they celebrated with a Saturday party at Wrongbar featuring two of the nominees. Caribou ended up taking the prize at the non-televised gala, but neither Poirier nor Holy Fuck seemed too disappointed.
As always, Bonjay played a strong set of futuristic dance-hall pop. As much as electronic music is supposed to be all about the music, having a strong singer with lots of stage presence really helps live. Poirier’s techno-soca also went over well with the crowd, and he made good use of his air horn to get the dance floor hyped.
Holy Fuck’s DJ work isn’t nearly as experimental as the band’s, but they played good tunes and didn’t pander to the audience. That said, Egyptrixx has a better handle on rocking a party, and his live techno set would’ve been more effective in the earlier time slot.
BENJAMIN BOLES
2011 JUNO AWARDS at the Air Canada Centre, Sunday, March 27. Rating: NNNN
Most Canadians approach the Junos with understandably low expectations. Awards shows are by nature cheesy, Canadian ones even more so, which makes it all the more shocking that the 40th-anniversary edition was actually entertaining and easily the best so far.
Drake effortlessly pulled off hosting duties and showed no signs of disappointment over not winning a single trophy. (See nowtoronto.com/daily/music for more analysis of the snub.) Most of the performers sounded great, especially Arcade Fire, who dominated the winners’ circle, and Broken Social Scene, who picked up an award for packaging. Even the CanRock supergroup medley was impressive, and those things usually fall flat. Having the Sadies provide the backbone definitely helped.
It was odd to see a mostly empty floor level (thanks to fire regulations), and normal concerts aren’t constantly interrupted by commercials. But overall the night was a pleasant surprise.
BB
