The National, Neko Case, Wye Oak @ Air Canada Centre, December 8, 2011

  The National @ Air Canada Centre: photo by Michael Ligon

Just taking a moment to post a link to my photos from the fantastic triple bill of The National, Neko Case, and Wye Oak which happened down at Air Canada Centre near the beginning of the month. By all accounts, it was a fantastic show. Part of me was dreading having to see the show at Air Canada Centre, but the "theatre" configuration that the venue was transformed into, combined with my fantastic seat which was just about dead centre in the 100's section, gave me a terrific view for the show. First openers, Baltimore indie rock duo Wye Oak, did a fair job entertaining the sparse audience on hand with their moody, melodic, indie rock. For a duo, their sound sounded quite full, making a lasting impression on the audience. Vocalist Jenn Wasner, gave thanks for being on this great bill with The National and Neko Case, and humorously expressed that the all thing bad about playing these shows was getting drunk too early in the evening.

The last times I'd seen Miss Neko Case live was back in 2009, having seen her twice, first at Trinity St. Paul Church in April of that year, then later that summer making her debut at Massey Hall. For various reasons, both shows weren't in my opinion the best I'd ever seen Miss Case, surprising when given those venues, one would hope those shows would have knocked me off my feet. Even more surprising is that Neko's most recent local show, this time at Air Canada Centre, ranks as one of the best sets of hers I've ever seen. Paced well, many of the set's songs were taken from her last few albums (Middle Cyclone and Fox Confessor Brings The Flood) with a couple of new songs sprinkled in. Neko kept her humourous banter flowing throughout the set between songs, seeming giddier, and well naughtier than ever. Joining her on this tour was guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and for this tour specially, John Convertino of Calexico on drums. Musically tight as I've ever heard Neko, highlights included the pristine "Vengeance Is Sleeping" with Kelly on background vocals and Paul on guitar as well as the raucous "Red Tide" with particularly fiery background vocals from Kelly. As always when they're in town, a shout was given to our own The Sadies (who wrote the song "Hold On, Hold On" for Neko). Fantastic set all around. Hope I won't have to wait two years until I see her live again.

As 'indie' bands make the natural progression from the small stage to bigger stages when they tour Toronto, The National have been one of the few bands that has just gotten better. I'd not have guessed that The National could have outdone the last show I'd seen of them in Toronto when they played a fantastic show at Massey Hall (one show of a two-night stint) back in June 2010 but by all accounts, The National reached even greater heights. What The National accomplished was making the night an experience on a variety of factors - such as visually interesting and colourful screen projections, humorous banter from vocalist Matt Berninger throughout the night, and encouragement from the band to keep the audience engrossed and participating. On that last factor, the Dessner brothers at one point got the crowd clapping leading to a natural transition to most everyone in the audience to stand up. From there on, the show just got better and better. Matt would later on invite fans onto the floor which would soon lead to a virtual onslaught of many more fans to invite themselves onto the floor (leading security to cut off the access to the floor, and Matt sheepishly pondering his original idea and whether it was such a good one). But perhaps the icing on the cake in terms of Matt's efforts was when he ran into the stands singing and proceeded to navigate himself through the seats (literally crossing near me a couple of rows up from me) from one end of the stands to the other and then back onto the stage. Man, that was one long-ass mic cord. Local musical hero Owen Pallett was a surprise guest joining in with the band on violin for a few songs including a new one. Things had just about reached their peak as the main set drew to a close but reached even higher with the encore, featuring a non-amplified rendition of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks", with the entire band and including Wye Oak making their way to the edge of the stage, performing acoustically and singing without mics. Singing with passion to the audience, which in turn drew the audience to sing along as well, the performance, transformed the environment into a very intimate setting. It's such a rare thing to experience in a venue as big as that, and I am truly thankful.

Photos: The National, Neko Case, Wye Oak @ Air Canada Centre, December 8, 2011
MySpace: Wye Oak
MySpace: Neko Case
MySpace: The National

Sloan @ Coca-Cola Zero Fans First Tailgate Party outside Air Canada Centre (September 16, 2009)

The 'big' show no doubt was U2 at Rogers Centre that night but a few hours prior to Bono and company taking the stage, Sloan were outside Air Canada Centre playing the Coca-Cola Zero Fans First Tailgate Party. Sloan and hockey - how Canadian is that? Ok, so I don't watch hockey and I wasn't trying to score free tickets to the pre-season Leafs vs. Bruins game (which the Leafs ended up losing), but rather there just to see Sloan play. Still, in celebrating the occasion it was funny to hear drummer Andrew Scott speak in an abrupt hockey-coach voice and tell the fellas, "ok, we got to step it up". Seems Chris Murphy's had at least semi-recovered from his recent injuries, back playing bass at least part of the set, although he'd relegated himself to tambourine and background vox for "Everything You've Done Wrong" and at one point sat out a song which I believe was during one of Andrew's songs. Still with Chris not entirely healed I'm assuming, keyboardist Gregory MacDonald and drummer Taylor Knox (to take over Chris' occasional drumming duties) were still along for the ride since the last time I'd seen them play with Sloan at the Virgin Festival at the end of August.

It seems as both Sloan and their fans have gotten older, Sloan's shows have become mellower. They're no longer the snotty kids they were back in Halifax in 1991 (by my vague recollections of their earliest interview appearances on Much Music back in the early 90's) even if Chris Murphy seemed like the same likable smart-ass he's always been. Sloan still rocked as they pulled out a bevy of hits like "Everything You've Done Wrong", "The Lines You Amend", "People Of The Sky" and "Money City Maniacs". They haven't approached full-on "dad rock" just yet". But in the literal sense of those words "dad" and "rock", the band brought out two young children, a boy and girl, who I presume were the children of someone in the band(I think they're Andrew's kids) to shake some toy maracas and provide some handclaps for their last few songs. Like the funny uncle, Chris Murphy pretended to unknowingly back into the boy while he was playing bass which had the boy in giggles and then proclaimed jokingly to the crowd that their next song "The Other Man" wasn't for kids, and that the kids should get off the stage which they didn't. A strange but ultimately unique and enjoyable ending to any Sloan show I've ever seen as guitarist Patrick Pentland positioned the mic lower for the children as they took turns, with their unlimited youthful abandon, shouting into it. Future rock stars in the making.

Photos: Sloan @ Coca-Cola Zero Fans First Tailgate Party outside Air Canada Centre (September 16, 2009)
MySpace: Sloan

Ragged Glory

concert review: Neil Young, Wilco, Everest @ Air Canada Centre (Toronto, Ontario), December 4, 2008

Neil Young @ Air Canada Centre (December 4, 2008)


The large arena/stadium concert is something I haven't experienced very often in my years of going to shows. I can only two large arena shows I've gone to - The Cult at Skydome in the late 80's(my 1st concert ever), and U2 at Exhibition Stadium during their Zoo TV tour in the early 90's. (I guess you can also count Sloan at Varsity Arena in the mid-90's in promotion of "One Chord To Another" but that was a smaller arena from what I recall.) I guess I was only waiting for the right artist to come along before I'd venture back to hockey arena or stadium for a concert and that artist was Neil Young. Who better else.

Whether there was any sort of egoistic element in picking the openers remains to be proven, but it's hard to deny Neil Young's influence in the music of Californian Americana outfit Everest nor his sonic influence that runs through at least some of the music of Wilco. In the end, both bands were deeply happy to be playing with one of their musical heroes. Although Everest were completely unknown to me except for the fact that their debut album "Ghost Notes" was released earlier this year through Mr. Young's boutique label "Vapor Records, that managed to convince me of their talent wit their lovely, robust folk rock melodies, jammy at times, but completely enjoyable. It's a shame they only played to only a 1/3 full arena. In the excitement of the anticipation of getting to see Neil Young for the first time, it was easy to forget that one of my faves Wilco were also on the bill. My previous times see Wilco were at the much more intimate(and hence better) venue Massey Hall and it was a discombulating experience to see Wilco play an arena with me sitting in the nosebleed section. Of coure there was a little bit of a disconnect, added to the fact that Wilco weren't playing a full set. However with Wilco's setlist leaning towards some of their most soothing songs("Via Chicago", "Jesus, Etc", "California Stars", "Impossible Germany"), in some respect, sitting in the 300 section was an ideal way to experience some of Wilco's loveliest melodies as they wafted through the arena. I don't mean to give you the impression they were slick as say The Eagles(no we don't want that)....guitarist Nels Cline tore up the guitar solos with fiery skill and the sudden noisy collapse of instruments that occured during points in "Via Chicago" (like Neil's excursions into feedback) showed that Wilco have an edgier side to them.

I've had an on and off relationship with Neil Young's music over the last 20 years, my earliest introduction probably being a cover of Neil Young song by another artist but through the years, as a music fan, it was almost impossible to ignore his influence on popular culture nor let his songs seep into my musical concsciousness. Whether as a forebearer of grunge and alternative music (going so far as to tour with the likes of Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam in the 1990's), or bringing his acoustic folk to a new generation with his appearance on MTV's Unplugged, or bridging the gap between music fans(particularly youth) and noteworthy social or political issues with his songwriting and involvement with causes like The Bridge School and Farm Aid, his influence is far-reaching. But now seems like the time where Neil has nothing else to prove and he feels comfortable looking back his career as his two shows at the Air Canada Centre last week (the first of which I attended) in Toronto showed him to be.

With his wife peggy and his Electric Band, the Mr. Young played a setlist stacked with many of his most well known songs, coming off like a rough and tumble aging rocker who hasn't lost an ounce of grit since his younger days. Though all my previous times at the Air Canda Centre have been for Raptors games, and in better seats, it wasn't until I ventured to my seat in the 300 section, row 16 (practically near the ceiling), that I realized how large Air Canada Centre is. Looking down upon the mass of people that had filled the venue for Neil, when Neil and company finally filed onto the stage, it was a jubilant response that greeted them, not only as a sign of respect but also of appreciation for his contribution to popular music over the years. Granted there was almost no possibility of the 300 section feeling the electricity that the crowd on the floor must have been feeling during Neil's set, but a few rounds of handclapping and pockets of people standing at times kept the spirits up in the nosebleed sections. Taking the 'greatest hits'(with a few detours) approach he touched on various aspects of his career playing electric ("Powderfinger', "Hey Hey My My", "Cortez The Killer")), acoustic ("The Needle And The Damage Done") and almost bordering on accappella(if not for the sombre pipe organ accompaniement) with a serene reading of "Mother Earth"(off of "Ragged Glory"). I'm reminded of a day back in my youth(man, do I feel old) when my family and I were at the Canadian National Exhibition and I could hear Bruce Springsteen playing live from within Exhibition Stadium, the enormity of the experience as The Boss' vocals echoed through the grounds, but on the other hand the music was deeply invigorating and personal. Really, that was exactly the same experience I had seeing(for the first time) Neil Young play live and one I won't soon forget.

Photos: Neil Young, Wilco, Everest @ Air Canada Centre (December 4, 2008)

MySpace: Everest
MySpace: Wilco
MySpace: Neil Young