The Goods on the Broken Social Scene Show: The Day the Main Stream Media Died
Jello Biafra, lead singer of the Dead Kennedys and founder of Alerternative Tentacles (amoung other things) once said "Don't hate the media, become the media". It is one of the founding principles of this site. The reality is that the internet has been 'becoming the media' for more than a decade, but today I think marks the turning point. Last nights Broken Social Scene show will likely turn out to be one of the most significant Canadian concerts of the decade yet there was no coverage at all from the main stream media. There was, in fact, very little coverage at all and what there was clearly demonstrates the shift.
According to Google, as of this hour there have been four blog posts about the show, including one from this blog. One of the blog posts was from a photo blog and there were, in addition to a horde of posts on twitter - three pages of videos on YouTube already - by next week you will probably be able to watch the entire show from several different angles.
As I said at the outset though, according to Google News there has been to date no mainstream press coverage at all no stories from the CBC, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, CTV, City or anywhere else for what will be remembered as one of the most significant concerts of the decade. Even CBC Radio 3 didn't list it in their top 5 gigs of the weekend - granted it was a busy weekend, but this show should have warranted making it a top 6 - just for the day.
Regardless of the main stream media ignoring the story though here are the goods:
Roundletters on the Harbourfront Broken Social Scene show.
Ryan O Photo has the pics from BSS @ Harbourfront
More Notes From Underground (usually a political blog) on the BSS show.
Broken Social Scene - Bandwitch (LIVE)
Broken Social Scene: KC Accidental. Harbourfront. Toronto. July 11.
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline) ft. Feist (Live) @ Harbourfront Centre 7/11/09
Broken Social Scene - Gimme Sympathy LIVE @ Harbourfront
Feist & Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene) Duet - Medley (Live) @ Harbourfront Centre 7/11/09
and much much more
Labels: Amy Millan, broken social scene, Feist, Harbourfront Centre, kevin drew, Metric, Stars, Toronto
posted by Justin Beach at
10:28 PM
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5 Comments:
FYI, the Toronto Star actually did try to get an interview with BSS a week and a half before the show for an advance article on it, but the band was busy at Rothbury fest. Of course, that doesn't explain why there wasn't a concert review.
Hey, thanks for the link and for sharing the videos from the actual night. Given that the various other projects of BSS members are so successful (especially Feist and Metric) I feel like there will be fewer and fewer times that we will get to see all of them one stage, especially for free.
I wasn't at this show 'cause I was at work, but I saw BSS less than a month ago in Toronto and it was a great show. I have no doubt this was another fantastic show, made even better by having even more original members on stage. I'm sure everyone in the audience experienced one of the greatest shows they've seen and it'll definitely be a highlight of the summer and something they'll look back on for years to come.
But when it comes down to it, it's just another gig. They happen all the time, and the reason they usually get press is 'cause there are publicists working to make sure whatever newspaper or blog in the town that the band is playing knows about the show and gets to interview the band if they chose to.
I don't think BSS were really expecting a ton of press for this, nor did they need it. They regularly get coverage in many of those outlets that you mentioned. This was special treat for the fans and from all the reports I've heard, it was a huge success. So who cares if the media covered it. They didn't need to cover it. I'm sure many of the journalists who usually write about them were in the audience enjoying the show.
Anyway, I didn't mean to make this such a long comment. I just think it's a silly post, that's all.
What I meant to say is, great things happen all the time that might seems really important and interesting to us, but for which 95% of the rest of the population could care less about. I mean, I have a music blog too and I write about bands that matters to me, but I don't sit around and say, "Why isn't the Toronto Star writing about this!? Outrageous!"
I understand what you're saying Colin, for me I think it's a matter of my approach to media. This event warranted special attention because the original lineup which now represents several successful bands was back (possibly for the last time) but more than that because of the film. Fictional or not this will be THE Broken Social Scene film - the "Last Waltz" of this decade - up there with films like "the Wall" and "Stop Making Sense." It will be, I think, watched and talked about for decades and, when looking back, the media outlets that chose not to cover it will have to say "and we didn't cover it at all, we have no archival footage or reporting to give you but we found this cool clip on YouTube".
The test of a credible, reliable news organization (including arts news) is the history they were there for - not the history that they took a pass on.
That's my take anyway.
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