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Free Olympic Concerts: Broken Social Scene

This is my first post on NxEW, and I wanted to share some of the joy the Olympics have brought to Vancouverites who dig their Canadian Indy tunes.

I’ve mapped out concerts for each day of the Olympics (well, not really, Brenda did), and have tried to catch a few of the big one and as many fun ones as possible in the day. I had a star in my agenda for “Special Surprise show” at the Ontario House for a while.

When I saw on twitter that it was Broken Social Scene, I jumped out of the house and went straight there. To my shock, at 3:30 pm on the Saturday, there was NO LINE to get into the venue (instead, everyone was lined up for the 4D movie and every other pavilion). No line for the bar, reasonable priced food, $6 beer, free concert, and 5 huge screens to view all the sports? I was in heaven.

The Olympic experience for me has been very Broken Social Scene-ish. Every day, it’s a different assortment of friend’s, acquaintances, events and venues. It’s the joy of doing it that brings you together coming back day after day with a different cast of characters and acquaintances.

Waiting nearly 6 hours for a concert sounds terrible, but it’s not. You make a few new friends chewing the fat with complete strangers as you wait. Even Gordon Campbell walked through and met some folks. Plus, it’s a bar, not a line.

I txted everyone I knew to get down there, but they closed the doors at 5ish I believe, not letting anyone else in - weird, there was ton of space. But then it came clear to me, they still needed to do sound check. This certainly built anticipation for the people in the know about who was coming, as about a hundred of us waited in the back of the bar watching Olympic events.

As for the show, just to clear up a couple of rumours:

• The blonde girl was not Emily Haines from Metric, it’s their current (and cuter) female lead singer Lisa Lobsinger.

• The brunette girl was not Feist, it was Julie Doirin.

• For once, Broken Social Scene played a phenomenal show in Vancouver, its true! Both of their previous shows in Vancouver that I've attended have not lived up to the hype - but their Olympic show was phenomenal.

I was right up against the stage until needing the bathroom right near the end of the set. (Note, pretty much every other Vancouver blogger on this site has better camera, training, and credentials than me). I was so close I could lean over and take a picture of the crazy peddle setups. For a larger show in a larger venue, it felt more intimate than Sloan’s Atlantic House concert that housed maybe 250 people (write that up next).

The event didn’t have a mosh pit and people scrapping it out for space, which many of the free shows have turned into (including a mosh pit for Bedoiun Soundclash, who’d thunk that?) Just a great vibe, and great timing as I just finished reading “This Book is Broken” a few months ago.

While I have a tough time putting sound into words, I hope these videos satisfy your curiosity.

Set list (very much a Best of, with little new material):

• Superconnected

• 7/4

• Backed Out

• Churches Under the Stairs

• Love is New

• Stars and Sons

• Out on the Weekend

• Anthems For a 17 Year Old Girl

• Flives

• Sweetest

• (Some song by Julie Doirin)

• It’s All Gonna Break

• Encore: Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.

Kevin James (and many Olympic performers) have been told, no encore. He came out to reiterate that point, and when the crowd still wouldn’t leave, he broke into a cappella version of U2’s Still Haven’t Found what I’m Looking For.

How perfect did the evening play out? Afterwards, it was drinks on the town with a couple of my best friends. As I walked out, I passed a tank at the Armoury with kids climbing all over it. And my beer night cap, I’m at the Irish Heather under a 20 foot wide U2 War poster.

Kids on a tank singing Canadian National Anthem

Night cap beers under Giant U2 poster board

The universe ties itself together and takes care of its young social scenes.

I have some pictures as well on my blog at http://chadleaman.wordpress.com, but this post is already long, especially for my first on the site.

40 Canadian Artists recording 'Waving Flag' for Haiti

According to the Globe and Mail more than 40 Canadian artists came together in Vancouver (where many are performing at the Olympics, to record a new version of the K'Naan song "Waving Flag" to benefit Haiti:

"Although details are still sketchy, she confirmed that about 40 Canadian vocalists and performers had gathered to record a new version of the song Wavin' Flag .

Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, Feist, Nickleback, Emily Haines, Ron Sexsmith and Colin James are just a few of the Canadian performing artists currently in Vancouver for the Olympic Games who may have lent their voices to the super-group recording which sounds similar to We Are the World , the 1985 charity single for African famine relief. Diana Krall is also in town, as is Broken Social Scene."

Full Story at the Globe and Mail.

Olenka and the Autumn Lovers Go West: One Show Only in Vancouver

Olenka Krakus & co are apparently spending part of the holidays in warmer climes and have been added to a Dec. 29 show in Vancouver. They aren't the headliners the Belle Game are but Olenka and the Autumn lovers hold a special place in the hearts of people from Ontario who contribute to NxEW.ca. They were one of the first bands we really jumped on when this site started and Olenka & co jumped back (Patterson, who plays Cello for the group sometimes contributes here.) When we first started talking about them the typical response was 'who?'. Later there were a few 'yeah I've heard about them's mixed in with the 'who?'s then, suddenly they came in at #27 on I (Heart) Music's I (Heart) Music's Hottest Bands in Canada poll. Shortly thereafter their name came up as a possibility in a show that NxEW may be doing next year (stay tuned) and they had gone from 'who' to 'they're too big, you'll never get them'.

So seriously go see what all the fuss is about now because next year you are going to hear alot. Olenka & the Autumn Lovers are playing with The Belle Game, Aunts and Uncles and Unreliable Narrator

Start Time:
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 8:00pm
End Time:
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 12:00am
Location:
2096 Commercial Drive

The Facebook event page is here

OLENKA AND THE AUTUMN LOVERS - Mama's Bag from Mitch Fillion on Vimeo.

Mint Records Seeks New Intern

Via Twitter. Mint records says "Oh noes! @aprilknunchucks (who is AMAZING) is almost finished her practicum placement. That means we're hunting for a January Mintern..."

What that means is that Mint's current intern is leaving and they need a new one for January. If you live in Vancouver, and are looking for experience in the music industry this is your shot. Contact info for mint is here.