After Stars faded out, Broken Social Scene took the stage at just around 8:15 to, as expected, a legion of screaming and enthusiastic fans. From their beginnings as a predominantly instrumental, non-vocal based band, Broken Social Scene have blossomed into a pop orchestra with 19 members on paper, although only six members took the stage, if you're not counting the double timing Campbell, Milan or bassist Evan Cranley of Stars.
Whenever Broken Social Scene perform, there are always high expectations: Who will be on stage? Will Feist be there? What songs will the play? But regardless of an endless list of possible questions, the over 90 minute performance didn't disappoint. Opening with "Superconnected" off their latest record sparked the magic in club although the upbeat and commanding rhythms were momentarily frayed with a technical difficulty- vocalist Kevin Drew's microphone went dead. Nonchalantly, towards the end of the song, Kevin Drew managed to improvise an outro with delay and echo effects while the rest of band filled time as the stage tech replaced the microphone. After a few music-less moments, the band decided in jest to walk off stage and re-do their introduction and right into another crowd pleaser, "7/4 Shoreline" which brought out Amy Milan on vocals for the second half of the song. With their pop orchestration and performance seemingly so chaotic, its mysterious how Broken Social Scene makes it all work on stage. Whether overlapping three guitars or two basses, playing them in and out of rhythm or fuzzed and delayed by effect pedals, there's the assurance that somewhere in that cacophony is a pop hook holding it all together. 
A shoegaze track on disc, the upbeat rock version of "Cause=Time," loaded with heavy bass rhythms and layered guitar work was better than the studio version. Throughout the set, it seemed that all of Broken Social Scene's songs translated so well into dramatic and spontaneous live versions which ultimately, make it harder to pigeonhole the band into a single genre. Even the quieter moments of the live set like "Fire Eye Boy" or the classic "Looks Just like the Sun" and "Stars and Sons" were captivating and slightly adulterous to their album versions. And while their impulsive renditions peaked the crowd's interest, there's also something to be said for the band's charm.Their air of laid-backness and lack of pretension allow Broken Social Scene to put on a blue-ribbon performance replete with a big bag of stage antics, the likes of 80s air guitar jumps, jump kicks, karate chops and even moonwalks. And when the crowd thought they'd had enough, it was time for the encore. Kevin Drew checked the crowd's pulse asking, "are you alive?" before going into the over-night anthem, "Ibi dreams of Pavement (A better half)" ratcheting up the audience's adrenalin level up to 11. With the crowd having waited to hear the catchy song all night, it was the perfect closer and when the horn section came out to blast out the melodic outro, it seemed only thing missing was falling confetti. |
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--> Stars (review(ENG) / photos) report by vicente and photos by hanasan
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| photos : Stars | Broken Social Scene |
 mag files : Broken Social Scene Dim Stars, lit up by Broken Social Scene : (08/03/06 @ Liquidroom Ebisu) : review by vicente, photos by hanasan音が光を越えた瞬間 : (08/03/06 @ Liquidroom Ebisu) : review by kemji, photos by hanasanphoto report : (08/03/06 @ Liquidroom Ebisu) : photos by hanasan |
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The official site Broken Social Scene http://www.arts-crafts.ca/bss/ check 'em? -->My Space / iTunes The latest album  "Broken Social Scene" (国内盤 / UK import / UK import - Limited Edition / UK import - '12analog / US import / US import - '12analog / iTunes) |
previous works "Feel Good Lost" (国内盤 / US import / UK import / / UK import - '12analog / iTunes)
"Live at Lollapalooza 2006"(iTunes)
"Live At Radio Aligre FM In Paris"(iTunes) "7/4 (Shoreline)"(UK import - '7analog) "Spirit If"(UK import / UK import - '12analog / iTunes) "Bee Hives" (US import / US import - '12analog / iTunes) "You Forgot It In People" (国内盤 / US import / US import - '7analog / UK import / UK import - '12analog / iTunes) "Cause = Time [Single]" (国内盤) check the albums? |
 2008Dim Stars, lit up by Broken Social Scene : Stars & Broken Social Scene (6th Mar. @ Liquidroom Ebisu)Raise your hands for trash techno : Boys Noize (29th Feb. @ Shibuya Womb)San Diego invades Tokyo : The Album Leaf & Pinback (28th Feb. @ Liquidroom Ebisu) |