ALLIE X at the Drake Underground, Wednesday, May 20. Rating: NNNN
The Drake Underground was the intimate setting for pre-fame concerts by now big-time pop acts M.I.A. and La Roux. Last week, it hosted another performer with star potential: Los Angeles-based Toronto expat Allie X.
Allie X is the alter ego of Allie Hughes, who played in many indie projects over the years but has now hit her stride as a pop star styled like Kelly Clarkson’s gothy little sister.
For her Toronto debut as Allie X, she performed all seven songs from newly released EP CollXtion I in order. While the studio recordings have a pristine quality befitting top 40, she and her two-piece band added enough raw energy to rev up the audience without overwhelming the material.
Allie X’s newness was apparent in her poker-faced stage presence. She removed her sunglasses only once to perform the introspective ballad Good. It was a rare gesture of vulnerability amidst carefully choreographed movement and rehearsed one-liners (“Are you feeling X?”).
Her stiffness contrasted with lyrics that are both emotional and acidic, and seemingly veer into personal catharsis. Such artifice might sink a less competent singer, but Allie X’s full-throttle vocals were the main attraction – a show of force that revealed the power behind those pink-framed shades.
Kevin Ritchie
PRINCE at the Sony Centre, Tuesday, May 19. Rating: NNNN
It’s been more than two decades since Prince released an album that’s come anywhere near the magic of his early work, but you’d never guess it from the excitement his two surprise shows at the Sony Centre generated.
At the first of his two Tuesday-night gigs on his HITnRUN tour, those who’d only heard about his mythic performance skills quickly found out that they’re still a mighty sight to behold. Few contemporary pop stars come close to matching the level of musicianship and old-school showmanship the Purple Wonder brings to the stage.
His current backing band, 3RDEYEGIRL, features Toronto’s Donna Grantis on guitar (Prince also has a home here), and the band plays up the soulful hair metal side of his personality. It’s a sound that hasn’t been fashionable since the 80s, but somehow they pull it off, mostly through confidence and sheer technical prowess.
It wasn’t till the first of two encores that the set list shifted away from new material to classic hits, and the intensity and energy stayed consistently high throughout that first hour and beyond. So high that it was mind-boggling to realize that he and his band were going to do it all again 40 minutes later.
Benjamin Boles
GRAVEYARD at the Garrison, Friday, May 22. Rating: NNNN
Graveyard have two speeds: tight, mid-tempo rockin’ that’s perfect for banging your head to, and psych-ballad slow, where you can get lost in jammy blues-rock guitar solos. The Swedish four-piece, in Toronto for the first time, constantly switched between those gears at a rammed Garrison, both from song to song and within songs.
That resulted in a set with tons of dynamics but a somewhat halting pace. The enthusiastic crowd didn’t seem to mind, and Joakim Nilsson‘s gritty, soulful howl sounded particularly fine during the quieter moments. Jonatan Ramm rolled out blues licks aplenty, drummer Axel Sjöberg established incredible groove, and bassist Truls Mörck (formerly Graveyard’s lead guitarist) had no trouble filling the shoes of Rikard Edlund, who left in October.
All of Graveyard’s tunes are kind of old by now – their last album came out in 2012 – but most of us had never heard them live before. Hisingen Blues was a knockout (no surprise), as was new offering The Shark, which lands on the head-banging end of their spectrum and subtly emphasizes their progressive rock affinities.
It left us seriously stoked for Graveyard’s fourth record, set for release in the fall.
Carla Gillis
JOEL PLASKETT, BAHAMAS AND OTHERS at Echo Beach as part of CBCMusic.ca Festival, Saturday, May 23. Rating: NNNN
CBCMusic.ca Festival felt more homegrown than it did in its Of Monsters and Men-headlined inaugural fest in 2013. Not that it was smaller. A sea of people came out, especially for Joel Plaskett and Bahamas, though the audience had thinned for Patrick Watson‘s mellow, lamplit headlining set.
Bahamas’s Afie Jurvanen is pretty damn confident musically. He’s been giving vocalist Felicity Williams an increasingly prominent role in the band, stepping aside numerous times to let her shine. His thorny love songs and twangy lounge music were imbued with even more magic when he brought up Choir!Choir!Choir! for Lost In The Light, and then got the audience to sing along to his guitar solos.
Earlier, Dartmouth’s Plaskett and the Emergency pleased the crowd with a set heavy on already classic-sounding songs from new album The Park Avenue Sobriety Test: the rambling, funky Alright OK, AM love song When I Close My Eyes, raggedly jangly Broke.
The East Coast had even more of a moment when Mo Kenney played to a packed tent (the fest’s tiny third stage), while Jenn Grant set up on the second one. Buck 65 joined Grant for the live debut of their duet, Spades, but he needed a cheat sheet for the lyrics.
Sarah Greene
