By David Topping

Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak of the Dears, at the 2007 Polaris Prize ceremony. Photo by David Topping/Torontoist.

The Dears are still rolling into town tonight for their concert at the Mod Club, but they’re running a little late, and they won’t be arriving quite how they planned: the rented bus that they’d planned to make the trek in—the forty-five-foot long bus—was stolen last night in the band’s hometown, Montreal.
Lead singer Murray Lightburn told Torontoist over the phone this morning that he found out at dawn today from fellow bandmember Chris McCarron that the bus was gone, stranding behind not only the band but the trailer that was to be attached to it and the driver that was supposed to be returned, with the bus, to Toronto. (As McCarron first put it to Lightburn when the guitarist dropped by the singer’s house in Montreal to break the news, “we’ve got big problems.”) “It’s a strange way to start a tour,” says Lightburn, sounding pretty happy in spite of it all; tonight is the first date in a month-long North American trip. “It’s like when people say break a leg. This is us breaking a leg.”
As far as omens go, Lightburn thinks this one could go either way. It could’ve, after all, been much worse: none of the band’s gear or “personal stuff” were on the swiped bus. All that’s missing is a massive, empty, rented bus. “It sucks for the bus company,” says Lightburn. “It totally sucks.” But that’s not stopping anyone, and a significantly smaller vehicle—a van filled with the Dears, their gear, and the poor abandoned bus driver—is currently on its way into town. “The show,” Murray told us, with just enough sarcasm in his voice to pull the cliché off, “will go on.”