City & Sara, Ra Ra-Sleep (+Special Hip Guest)

Ra Ra Riot

Ra Ra Riot have a dense sound with a lilting vocal delivery and that is exactly what came across at Toronto’s amphitheatre on Saturday night. The six piece began a stellar night of music to those patrons that knew about their excellent sound and specifically showed up for it, and those that were just early enough to be introduced to it. The ever-prompt amphitheatre had them mid-set as I found my seat, perfectly coinciding with my most favoured track Too Dramatic from this year’s The Orchard. This upbeat tune pulsed its way throughout the gorgeous early evening shadows. With the skeleton of an electric cello rumbling and the violin streaking overtop they won people over in short time.

Wintersleep

Returning to past Wintersleep albums is a reminder of their strength as songwriters, managing to craft catchy songs while incorporating exquisite guitar work. That being said their live show has yet to translate that as well, at least in the situations I’ve seen them. Opening this set they treated us to new New Inheritors such as Mirror Matter before dropping that catchy as all get-out Oblivion. It appeared a difficult task to translate to this huge venue that was slowly filling with mostly non-fans. Even a blistering version of recent single Black Camera wasn’t enough to draw people in as the amazing guitar breakdowns were being lost in the ether. Miscommunication led them to rush into finale Weighty Ghost, which they put a slightly new spin on as they do to most live songs which may have disappointed those radio fans who yelled in recognition off the top. Realizing they actually had time for two more songs after this was a blessing as they rocked Archaeologists with loose vocals, leaving them with the somewhat synthy, tempo-changing Trace Decay as their strongest performance in finale. Give this band a headlining spot in a moderately sized club and I bet they’d have the power to floor ya.

Tegan and Sara, City and Colour after the jump..

Tegan and Sarah

Tegan. Sarah. Admittedly nervous at the start (massive crowd? opening for Dallas?) it took a few songs before they really began to translate, despite the hearty response to them off the top. They shine at their most vulnerable and so it was songs with revealing lyrics like The Con, and numbers such as the slowed down Back in Your Head – laid out over acoustic guitar and synths - that really hit their mark. In fact there was a midset section that removed much of the presence of the backing trio (drum, bass, keys/guitar) and put the focus on the band’s namesakes to great effect. Teegs and Sassy did So Jealous ‘classics’ such as the title track, Walking with a Ghost, Speak Slow and Where Does the Good Go? There was also a neat version of Nineteen that had the mid-song vocals over just an ethereal guitar. To close it out they brought everyone back for a rocking Northshore and after giving authentic, heartfelt thanks the two of them alone used The Con’s closer, Call It Off for an emotional singalong leaving a hanging T&S presence as they exited the stage.

City and Colour

City & Colour is Dallas Green and that's just how this show began, Dallas strumming a guitar in his suspendered Canadian tuxedo for 10,000 or so (mostly) screaming fans. Partway through opener Comin' Home he was joined by his backing band who were present for about half the set. "I said I wouldn't say anything... but 'Holy $h!t'" were some of the first words Dallas muttered to the audience a couple of songs in, and of course the crowd went crazy. Back and forth from acoustic to electric he mixed in cuts from both albums as well as a couple of new tracks to boot. A vocal-only outro to Hello, I'm in Delaware resounded, while Save Your Scissors had the crowd's voices in unison covering the chorus for him after the band had left again. A knockout was the harmonica-laden Body in a Box, which preceded the predictable Tegan and Sara accompaniment - at least it was for the oil spill response song freshly written by Mr.Green. The girls held their own with their vocals but didn't produce particular magic on their only song.

That Girl had the couples in the house (both gay and straight) reaching for each other's hands, while Sometimes was reworked as a rocker with legit electric guitar solos and everything. To close out the set he followed T&S' lead by closing with an album closer - the slow burn of Bring Me Your Love's As Much As I Ever Could.

Lights out, "I Love You Dallas'" drowned out by cheering for the encore. This eventually brought him back out alone to the piano to play an "almost cover" of Alexisonfire's Happiness by the Kilowatt. Euphoric right? But as the cry went all morning at Buskerfest - wait there's more!

To paraphrase the man of the hour's introduction to the next and final song of a rather solid evening of performances, "I brought my friends back out with me for this one," backing band strolls on stage as the lights shine on them, "and I brought another friend with me too. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Gord." The introduction by first name only was all that was necessary as speculation had been running rampant all day about this potential collab. Spontaneously the crowd went officially bonkers - the guy directly in front of me impulsively jumped in her lap and hugged the sh!t out of his girlfriend - as the reigning god of Canadian rock sang his verse and backed up the chorus on Sleeping Sickness. Gord Downie and Dallas Green embraced both before and after the song, as caught up in the moment as we all were. As Dallas pointed out - I feel sorry for those who decided to beat the traffic by sneaking out early.