Intentional or not, celebration of family and friends was the underlying message of this holiday season timed Broken Social Scene event. During their supporting set, Brooklyn based 5 piece Here We Go Magic started the love-fest by expressing a sincere appreciation to their Broken Social Scene buddies for their ongoing help and support. The band’s psychedelic-folk-post-rock mix provided the perfect balance of weirdness and dissonance over rolling rhythms and 5-piece vocal harmony, creating an attention-sustaining brand of indie rock. Surprisingly the crowd, though packed to capacity, were subdued during this impressive set. This mood continued on into Broken Social Scene’s set; the applause was thunderous yet dancing, singing or energetic output of any degree during songs was hard to spot. Maybe it was the mammoth 2 and a half hour display BSS put on, maybe it was the mellow and relaxed vibe of the song choice and set itself. The energy emanating from and between the band members was hard to miss at least, even if this was the second last date on a 9-month tour. Certain songs did evoke encouraging cries or sing-a-longs from the crowd, like Canning’s up-beat rocker Water In Hell and the instrumental Meet Me In The Basement complete with horn section. True to form, guest performances saw BSS pulsing between 7 to 12+ members. At one point during the show there was a woodwind and horn section of 7 members in itself, and vocal appearances on many songs from core BSS member’s wives, Here We Go Magic constituents and Stars’ Amy Millan also helped to augment the collective’s stage numbers. After about one and a half hours, a slow trickle of crowd members started to make a subtle exit, but those who stuck around were treated to a virgin Montreal performance of his 60s hit How’d We Ever Get This Way from locally-bred musician Andy Kim, and a heart warming spread-the-love, go-forth-and-be-happy-in-your-life closing speech from Kevin Drew. Though long, this performance was an appreciative holiday present to fans and a celebration of the friendship between the band’s contributors. It seems the forgiveness of their most recent release really has permeated the BSS family, and I for one felt the love.
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