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Sizzling Tegan and Sara outshine sleepy City and Colour
Review: City and Colour, Tegan and Sara, Wintersleep, Ra Ra Riot at Molson Amphitheatre, August 28
BY Rob Duffy August 30, 2010 12:08
In a rough summer for music festivals that saw the untimely deaths of both of Toronto’s burgeoning cellphone-sponsored music traditions, Virgin Festival and Rogers Picnic, Saturday night's unlikely bill of (mostly) Canadian indie rock was the closest substitute in this late-summer season when V-Fest usually reigned supreme. If you avoid stepping in the goose droppings that litter the lawn, the Molson Amphitheatre is a worthy venue for any randomly assembled package event, like this one, starring screamo-god-turned-acoustic-troubadour City and Colour and charming new-wave sister act Tegan and Sara.
Current indie-pop darlings (and Vampire Weekend BFFs) Ra Ra Riot hail from Syracuse, New York, and since you can practically see their hometown from the shores of Ontario Place, it’s OK if we claim them as honourary Canadians. They spent their 30-minute opening set in the blazing afternoon sun mixing the weeping strings of "Ghost Under Rocks" with newer, faster cuts like "Too Dramatic.” Though the band’s string-laden sound makes a lot more sense at a smaller club like the Mod Club (where the band will play a secret show tonight presented by their label, Arts & Crafts), the blissful combo of jangle-rockers “Can You Tell” and “Dying Is Fine” (from their 2008 debut The Rhumb Line) filled out the big stage just fine.
Wintersleep singer Paul Murphy glanced around the massive, red-draped amphitheatre stage and casually mentioned how they'd never played there before, then launched into a string of snarling rockers like “Black Camera” and “Oblivion.” Though Murphy’s droning nasal yelp was, at times, made grating by the powerful PA system, the band charged their way through a collection of tracks that highlight the rich sound of recent release New Inheritors, but only got a true rise out of the capacity crowd with their 2007 hit "Weighty Ghost."
Unlike the majority of flame-out indie-rock upstarts, Canadian starlets Tegan and Sara are that rare breed of band for whom every album is better than the last. Trace their development from awkward teenage folkies to the amphitheatre-packing juggernaut they are today, and you'll find a stacked catalogue of hits.
After opening with arguably their best song — the banjo-driven "Living Room" from their 2002 breakthrough If It Was You — it was cause for dismay when Tegan joked she's too mature to engage in her trademark over-sharing stage banter: "I’m too nervous to converse,” she said. “Everything on my mind is too inappropriate — I'm an adult now."
But thankfully they broke down, and in between propulsive rockers like “Walking With a Ghost” and “On Directing,” the sisters found time to deliver monologues on subjects as diverse as the perils of Facebook stalking, bragging about their YTV Achievement Award (and the time they met Aaron Carter), and Sara's true life aspiration: to become a synchronized swimmer.
Like the Beach Boys before them, Tegan and Sara employ their sibling harmonies to great effect on melancholy ballads like “Where Does the Good Go” and "Feel It In My Bones." It’s only natural to assume a lifetime of practice has gone into those subtle vocal touches that complement each other’s songs. And the pulsating electro jam “Alligator” and jerky rhythm of "Northshore" are obvious clues as to why the twins are in the running for this year’s Polaris Prize for Sainthood. Perhaps arriving onstage 15 minutes late had something to do with it, but for a show this triumphant, the 50-minute set time felt far too short.
Clad in the getup of a 19th-century blacksmith (denim button-down, khakis and suspenders), Dallas Green cultivates a woodsy aesthetic to match City and Colour’s yearning, acoustic-based tunes, the feel of which is a far cry from the screamo vehicle that made him famous. Though to me the Alexisonfire sound always more closely resembled a dog barking over a super-charged metal riff, City and Colour trades more in angsty whining than angsty aggression.
Take set opener “Coming’ Home," for example, where Green quietly contemplates the many destinations he’s seen, everywhere from Halifax to Saskatoon. Blame it on the cringe-worthy lyrics, the soulful vocal affectation or the annoying way he stretches out the final note of each line, but only Dallas Green could make an epic, life-changing, cross-Canada journey sound mind-numbingly dull.
Though his backing band augments "Waiting..." by giving it some instrumental body (anything to obscure the lyrics, please!), when the band leaves Green to his own devices, things get truly boring — behold the sleep-inducing ballad “Hello, I’m In Delaware” or the dreary "Save Your Scissors." Green appeals to the crowd to help with the chorus, but provokes instead merely a drowsy response.
With a new record on the way in 2011, Green makes time for three unrecorded songs: one an overwrought acoustic ballad about exorcising personal demons (surprise!), another with a countrified, classic-rock feel, on which Green sings "Everything I loved and feared, had all at once disappeared," and a brand new song about the deepwater oil spill. With Tegan and Sara lending a hand on backing vocals, the track is a chilling (if slightly facile) recap of the sad events in the gulf.
Things pick up with winsome love ballad "The Girl" (Green’s ode to a certain bubbly MuchMusic personality), but its charms highlight the problem with the rest of Green’s material. It's fine, even encouraged, to have one stripped-down emo-folk standard in your arsenal. It's just a lot less fun when they all sound like that.
Though he didn’t receive quite the same ovation as Eminem or Jay-Z did when they made cameos for Drake’s sake a few weeks back, we were treated to a brief yet rousing appearance by Gord Downie, who helped close out the show with his verse on “Sleeping Sickness,” an appropriate title for the way I was feeling as I dragged my feet through the twinkling CNE grounds. Green once famously sang, "A coma might feel better than this," and as I dreamed of sweet slumber on the long streetcar ride home, I couldn't help but agree.
08/28/10 >> go there
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