Chris Porterfield of Field Report had opening duties for Noah Gundersen at The Opera House in Toronto. Sometimes I really suck at this blogging thing. Especially when I see a performer like Chris Porterfield perform and I'm not familiar with any of the songs going in and I don't write down lyrics to search later. I guess it can't be any worse than a performer who doesn't bring any merchandise like CDs, albums, and t-shirts for sale at their show. Which is what Chris did.
Chris really likes Toronto. And he didn't bring merch. But he did ask for questions from the crowd. This is not the first time I've seen a solo acoustic performer ask for questions. Weird. Chris is from Milwaukee and he played part of a Dylan tune for his wife since he was away from her on their anniversary. He's also one of Noah's favourite songwriters. And he didn't bring merch.
I wrote about Jamie N Commons back in December of 2011 and in May of 2012. I liked what I heard from this soulful singer of timeless songs but I never noticed him come through Toronto on tour.
I finally got to see Jamie last Saturday night as he and his band opened for Catfish and The Bottlemen at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. He and the band had a heavier sound than I would have thought. More rock to the blues but still a cool set.
Back on March 3 of this year I had a tough choice. See Wolf Alice at the Drake Underground or see Catfish and The Bottlemen at The Garrison. Tough choice, but I don't regret choosing Wolf Alice. I just noted that I wanted to catch Catfish next time they came to town.
This hard rockin' band graduated from The Garrison to The Phoenix Concert Theatre in less than a year. That's pretty awesome. A huge crowd of excited fans packed in as close to the stage as they could to soak up every beat and note. The band rocked out hard and sounded great.
Drenge from Sheffield are on tour with Wolf Alice (click the link for those pics). They stopped in to Adelaide Hall in downtown Toronto to open for Wolf Alice on October 3.
The band, which started as a duo of brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless on vocals/guitar and drums respectively, and recently added Rob Graham on bass, have dense and powerful tunes and a penchant for red lights. When you're in a far-away land it's good to find a link to the local people and food's a good place to find common ground. And what's more Canadian than poutine? They love it.
Drenge's guitar riff driven, grunge-influenced tunes got heads bobbing and bodies moving and ready for Wolf Alice. I'll be looking forward to seeing this band again.
Drenge's latest album, Undertow, is out now.
Here are a bunch of Drenge songs, following the order of their setlist.
Murder By Death played the South Stage on Day 1 of The Toronto Urban Roots Festival. Despite a name that sounds like it would be at home above a metal band, they are a roots and country-tinged indie rock band from Bloomington, Indiana. Their latest album Big Dark Love came out earlier this year. You can hear and see the heart and soul that they pour into their songs and performance.
Unfortunately, I didn't get out to their Club Bonus Series show at Lee's Palace with Catl and Restorations due to the conflict with the amazing Fishbone, Sate and Les Hôtesses d'Hilaire. That would have been a great show.
