Silversun Pickups W/ Against Me!, and Henry Clay People @ The Sound Academy, June 29th

Silversun Pickups seem to have grown slightly attached to Toronto, as this has been their 3rd time playing here in the last 8 months. Although they're not my favourite band ever, there's no denying that they have a super tight sound. They also always come to town with other notable bands, and in the last year they've played shows here with bands such as Cage the Elephant, and Against Me! as support, and have even opened for Muse.

It's good to see that Silversun aren't still touring off their uber hit song Lazy Eye which was voted the #1 song on 102.1 The Edge's top 102 songs of 2007. Their Latest album, Swoon has done really well, as the first single, Panic Switch was actually #1 on the top 102 songs of 2009. Last night they returned to Toronto for a sold out show at the Sound Academy with support from The Henry Clay People, and my 2nd favorite band, Against Me!

The first act was LA pop rock group, The Henry Clay People. They served the crowd half an hour of fun rock n roll, and really took on the role as a "warm up act," getting the crowd excited. The singer had a voice that was fairly shaky, yet controlled, as if he we was just about to explode. It seemed that the rest of the band's energy was at an equal level. They were constantly moving around the stage, unlike a lot of bands that just stay on the same spot for the entire show. Even the drummer was moving as much as he could, flailing his arms intensely.

Instead of having a synth player like all the other indie rock bands, Henry Clay People had a keyboardist popping down some really quick and catchy notes that worked well with the band's energetic sound. They closed their set with an attempt at Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run. Before they played it they told the crowd that they just learned it, and to bare with them. I asked my dad, who went to the show with me, how he liked them and he said he thought they were pretty good until they totally tore apart Born to Run. At least it was a song that millions of bands have covered, which made it hard to take too seriously. I bought their record and when I got home I played it twice in a row. I think the songs themselves would be more enjoyable if you heard them recorded first. But their energy made for a really fun performance.

http://www.myspace.com/thehenryclaypeople

The main support act was the almighty Against Me! (the exclamation mark is actually included in their name). AM! just released their 5th full length, White Crosses, a couple of weeks ago, and although it obviously doesn't live up to their earlier material, it's still a great rock album full of catchy sing along anthems. Just like their earlier material, their live shows in their earlier days were a lot more energetic, but AM! still put on a great show and pulled out a great crowd that was clearly their just for them (including myself).

A great surprise was the presence of their newest touring member, Franz Nicolay. Franz was one of the original members of The Hold Steady and left the band a few months ago. Since then, he has kept on playing solo shows, promoting his own material, and lately has been adding raw talents to AM's live shows. He was originally only supposed to play with them on their European tour in May, but when AM came on stage in Toronto, there he was. They opened with the title track off their new album, White Crosses, with accordion played by Franz. Even though it was really cool to see him play the accordion, I could barely hear it--probably the sound guy's fault.

Their set was made up of half new songs, a quarter from new wave, and fan favourites from their earlier albums including Sink Florida Sink, Dont Lose Touch, and Pints of Guiness make you stronger. Their bassist Andrew was absent because he just became a father a few days ago, so he was replaced by a friend of theirs, Adam Traschel. He looked like he was just out of his teenage years, but he played with a lot of confidence for someone who most likely hasn't had a lot of experience playing for such a big audience. The lead singer Tom Gabel looked happier than I've ever seen him before. He was smiling and jumping from start to finish.

Silversun pickups have been building a pretty large fan base over the past few years. As I watched most of their set from the back of the venue, there was still hardly any free space. For their banner they had nothing but a blank white curtain behind them. They wasted no time before getting into their thick bass lines, synthesized echoes and fast drum beats. For almost all bands, the leading instrument seems to be guitar, but for Silversun Pickups, their bass lines add the most to their songs, for me anyways.

It was my first time hearing the bassist (who is the only female in the band) sing by herself, and she has a really nice voice that works for their sound. I also noticed for the first time how great the voices of the lead singer and the bassist sound together. I've given their records a listen once or twice but I just couldn't seem to dig the songs other than the singles. Now, having seeing them live, I think I have to keep trying, and I'll be able to hear what I heard at the show.

Band of Horses @ Toronto Island, June 19th

Band of Horses, The Alt-Country rock band based out of Seattle has been having a pretty busy year, with their new album, Infinite Arms, just dropped in stores in May. Not to mention that they supported Pearl Jam on their US tour a couple of months back. Now they're still touring all over, performing at a handful of festivals this summer, including the Reading and Leeds Festival in England, and the Summersonic Festival in Japan.

They just played the big Toronto Island Concert on Saturday, which also featured Broken Social Scene, and a recently reunited Pavement. Their slot was right before BSS, and they had a nice 10,000 people strong audience. They rolled through a 14 song set which contained just about a 3rd of each of their 3 albums. It was great seeing how much fun the band was having. Even their roadies were singing along. They looked just like 5 guys having the time of their lives, doing what they love to do. They faced the sun with smiling faces spreading their joy among the crowd.

The band's singer and core-songwriter Ben Bridwell spoke graciously to the crowd, introducing all of the band members, and even one of the roadies. For one of the songs he introduced the key player Ryan Monroe, and said "Ryan's gonna sing this sing he wrote for our new album. Take it away Ryan!" You can tell how big a difference it makes on the band from how strong and modest their leader is, just like Ben. Band of Horses is an amazing rock band, and this performance has gotten me stuck on them. If for some reason you haven't heard any of their songs yet (even if you don't think you have, you probably have), go check out their myspace, or search'm up on youtube.



Here's a video from the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvBisUuWFVI&feature=related



and here's the set list:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/band-of-horses/2010/toronto-island-park-toronto-on-canada-13d415ad.html