 City Hall, Nashville, TN
October 22, 2006
Broken Social Scene is one of only a handful of bands to stake
out a truly unique place in modern music. A lot of bands claim to be
unique, but their roots are easily traced back to some long-forgotten
but easily recognized forbearer. With Broken Social Scene, it’s not so
easy.
Broken Social Scene played City Hall on Sunday, Oct. 22 in
Nashville. They hadn’t been around these parts in some time, and were
more than willing to let everyone know why: After their last show a few
years back, someone apparently walked off with their effects-laden
laptop. Though the band claimed to have gotten over it a while ago,
they sure liked to bring it up between songs. Luckily enough for those
in the crowd, they still made the trip.
The spirit of the pop collective is alive and well so long as Broken Social Scene keeps up the good fight. At any one time, as many as nine or as few as four musicians were on stage, switching from instrument to instrument, depending on whether a song needed more keyboard, more guitar, or more coronet. Though the set clocked in at just under two hours, the band kept the energy ebbing and flowing with grace all night. The few lulls in the action the band allowed were necessary, both for us and themselves. The manic drums and intensity of the first forty minutes could not be sustained without much of the crowd and at least a few band members dissolving where they stood.
Lead guitarist Andrew Whiteman took band MVP honors for the evening, playing like some sort of snake charmer/conjurer. He spent the duration of the set dancing with and making love to his orange Chet Atkins guitar, coaxing remarkable fills and lead lines from the instrument. Bassist Brendan Canning kept things lighthearted between songs, bantering about everything from his imagined boyhood in Nashville to Flava Flav to the fan who hitched a ride with the band from Knoxville. Lead singer Kevin Drew used his rangy voice and affable earnestness to keep the aura of pervasive positivity going all night long. At the end of the show, he did a solo sing-along with the crowd, telling the audience he wanted to do a full encore but the band, not surprisingly, was dead. After thanking the crowd for singing along with him one last time, he urged everyone to, “Lead good lives, be good people, and keep fighting that good fight.” As long as Broken Social Scene heeds that same advice and keeps up their free-wheeling, optimistic brilliance, we’ll always have the inspiration to try and do just that.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
