Today Fri Sat
It is forcast to be Fog at 11:00 PM EDT on May 24, 2012
Fog
29°/18°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Rain at 11:00 PM EDT on May 25, 2012
Chance of Rain
31°/18°		 It is forcast to be Overcast at 11:00 PM EDT on May 26, 2012
Overcast
26°/15°

15 Comments

events

Show Notes: Broken Social Scene at Parts & Labour, October 31

By Carly Maga

There’s usually something for everyone to do on Halloween in Toronto: partiers can hit up one of the many clubs downtown for a night of devilish dancing, people-watchers can traverse through the masses and extravagant costumes on Church Street, family-types can partake in some good old fashioned trick-or-treating, and homebodies can rent a good horror flick and curl up in front of the TV with the lights on.
But for those who don’t fit into any of these scenes, there was one more this year.
Parkdale’s Parts & Labour hosted the grand prize for Virgin America’s Hometown Hideouts Contest on Sunday night for its four winners and their friends: a private concert performed by Canada’s indie-rock gods (or on this night, devils) Broken Social Scene. Torontoist and SFist hosted the contest, so we got to come, too.


Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning formed the base of Broken Social Scene in Toronto in 1999, but when they began recruiting friends to contribute to a melody here and some vocals there, the band eventually snowballed into one of the biggest and most influential musical forces in the national music scene. Since then, countless indie icons have at one point called themselves a member of the constantly evolving collective: artists like (Leslie) Feist and Jason Collett were involved in the band’s early days; Emily Haines and James Shaw from Metric are also BSS alumni; and so are Amy Millan and Evan Cranley from Stars, K-os, Jason Tait (The Weakerthans), Murray Lightburn (The Dears), and Sebastien Grainger (Death From Above 1979).
In fact, Broken Social Scene’s transformation of Canada’s indie scene from neglected to nurtured is almost impossible to sum up in a short introduction—it’s far better encapsulated in a book like Stuart Berman’s This Book is Broken or in a film like Bruce McDonald’s This Movie is Broken.
With their latest release Forgiveness Rock Record, the twice-Juno-Award-winning, twice-Polaris-Prize-nominated lineup of nine can handily sell out venues like Sound Academy, and more. So even though there was no candy for us this Halloween, we still got one pretty sweet treat.
Photos by Harry Choi/Torontoist.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE, NOVEMBER 3: This post originally contained a timeline of the show. In the interest of a full recounting yet to come of the show, that timeline has been removed.

Filed under: , , , , ,

Report error Send a tip

Comments

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    “In the interest of a full recounting yet to come of the show, that timeline has been removed.”
    This statement is confusing (i.e., the timeline did appear to be a full recounting of the show). Could you clarify what you mean?

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    Also, isn’t the timeline the entire point of the “Show Notes” column?

  • http://piorkowski.ca/ qviri

    Dear Torontoist, I like you and I respect you. I also read the original timeline. If a sponsor asked you to pull or significantly rephrase an article, you are better off saying that outright. If not, please tell us just why you mysteriously disappeared that article, as it originally existed, for 24 hours, then restored it with your opinions missing.

  • http://undefined GraphicMatt

    Mysterious edits to articles after they’ve been posted? Am I on the right Toronto-based blog?

  • http://undefined rek

    Scannnndal!

  • http://undefined caron

    And that’s what happens when you run a contest that way.
    People lobby/trade for votes that in no way represent anyone’s true opinions of the entries, to win the trip. And then that same group of “internet pro’s” and their asshat friends get into an amazing concert, and ruin the experience for everyone who had a genuine interest in the band.
    And what happened about the promise of tickets for the Sound Academy show to entrants that didn’t win the grand prize??

  • http://undefined Cereal

    Ya, some serious edits happened here. The winners and their friends sounded like knobs. What a waste of a BSS show. Next time, seperate the trip prize from the concert and let some real fans attend.

  • http://undefined Rochelle

    It’s a shame that the original post was taken down. It was really funny and seeing as I was there I can vouch for most of the facts in the article.
    For me personally I actually really enjoyed BSS’ set. I thought that it was a great balance between newer (and in my opinion sub par) material and better known and older material. Sure I was one of a handful of people in the room there for the show not just the party, but it’s all about your attitude. I also showed up at 9 expecting the band to play right then, but I made the best of it.
    People keep going to BSS shows with the expectation that the magic will be the same that once was. The reality is despite having the same membership BSS is not the same band. Like it or not all bands change over time.
    I understand why the article was pulled,but it is also in poor form. You should have thought of the repercussions before posting the timeline in the first place. I’m sorry it got taken down because it’s one of the better pieces Torontoist has put up in a while.

  • http://undefined Mark

    …I read the original timeline too. I was lucky enough to go, and that was not my experience, but in all fairness, ‘my’ winner and all her friends were all in front watching one of the greatest live shows we’ve ever seen.
    We somehow weren’t even aware there would be an open bar/free food until the night before.
    I admittedly was not a BSS fan (I went because I love taking concert shots), but I am now after seeing that set. Even for a show where they could just phone it in they were exceedingly professional, and just so damn good.
    The second half, where the opera singers joined the band, was utterly mind-blowing. Everyone together was incredible. Half our friends had tears in their eyes. I’m now even thinking I should be looking into opera, but I somehow think it would be lost on me without the backing indie aesthetic.
    Anyway, I’m sorry “true fans” didn’t get to see the spectacle.
    For anyone curious, you can see my photo-spew here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markosaar/sets/72157625173780445/
    I captured a bit of the opera part on video as well, but that’s going to take over two hours to get up on YouTube. Unfortunately I didn’t record the most amazing part of Queen of the Night, just the tail end: I was too stunned to react.

  • http://undefined Mark

    Here’s the YouTube clip:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsmsUm2NEuI

  • http://undefined elliot

    I was there and I read the timeline that was originally posted and I thought it had a very negative tone that was completely unwarranted. After reading it I actually felt a little offended and was in the process of writing a long comment right when the post was taken down. I assume it was taken down because someone realized the author did a terrible job of conveying the spirit of the event (maybe they have a bone to pick with the sponsor or BSS?).
    In its original state, the article made it sound like everyone was just there for the open bar and that the band was annoyed by the audience. This was not my experience at all. I’m a huge BSS fan, have been going to their shows since 2004 and had a great time. Most of the people I brought are not into BSS (or even rock music in general) but they also all had a great time and not because it was open bar but because the show was amazing. They played a version of Lakme that blew me away, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic- it was life changing.
    This night was probably the best musical performance I have ever witnessed. Yeah it was sweet that it was also cash bar but I know that I and most everyone there would still have had an amazing night even if the bar was cash. Yes, I like some others walked to the bar during the middle of their sets but the bar was about 6 feet from the stage so it’s not like getting a drink meant walking away from and ignoring the stage. Suggesting that everyone there was only interested in drinking is insulting to both the attendees and the band. /rant
    ***
    I want to thank the bartender for not getting annoyed with us for spilling jager everywhere but seriously, you don’t have to fill it right to the very top. I won’t mind if the top 1/8″ of my glass is empty. Also, huge thanks to everyone involved in making this event happen. The good people from goth/toronto/sfist, Virgin America, and of course the members of Broken Social Scene for still be able to rock my jaw to the floor after all these years. I had a great time so thank you all.

  • http://undefined caron

    Lame. The new post from Virgin about this show doesn’t even allow comments.. So much for a “full recounting” as mentioned above.
    And what ever happened to this promise??
    “Broken Social Scene is also giving away some tickets to their upcoming show on December 9th at the Sound Academy. So even if your itinerary doesn’t make it to the top, you’ll still have a chance to see Broken Social Scene in concert.”
    http://torontoist.com/2010/10/from_our_sponsor_spend_halloween_with_broken_social_scene.php

  • http://piorkowski.ca/ qviri

    Ahahahaha. So much for the “full recounting”.

  • http://undefined Mark

    Yeah that’s pretty hilarious. I can only imagine what behind-the-scenes business must have been going on. Now the site can at least say they’ve fulfilled their part of the deal.
    Oh well. I don’t agree that the original “full recounting” was fair or accurate, but the writer was entitled to her opinion.

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    In addition to the timeline being deleted, the second paragraph was quietly amended. It originally read: “But for those who don’t fit into any of these scenes, there was one more this year. But we should apologize—it was a little broken, and a lot exclusive.”
    Torontoist has way too much integrity to pull this shit. I blame the evil Gothamist overlords.