Mama said that if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say nuffink at all.  But here’s a few words anyway.

So, uh, Broken Social Scene, the kerrrazy collective from T.dot (that’s Toronto to you) were in town for two nights. Each night they played for more than 2+ energetic hours…and the crowd of scrubbed white folks seemed to really enjoy it. I used to hover around the same crowds as BSS’s Brendan Canning in TO, and remember when he was cool.

And apparently to quite a few folks, BSS are still cool. Even though with, like, a million different really talented nice-people musicians on stage and loud jangly purepoprockfornowpeople, some horns, different singers and the ol’ mic-into-the-audience move… the songs still sorta all blended together into one mush of beige. I’d like to say that “Texaco Bitches” really stood out, but, uh…

Past row 10 of the faithful, everyone in the rest of the venue was nodding contentedly. Nodding. Not jumping. Not cheering. Not swooning. Not wanting to lick main singer Kevin Drew’s face. Not really dancing. Just, you know, nodding. Yeah, BSS make good nodding music. And if you like that, good for you. You’re welcome to them. I like my music with more bite. A kind of deep hickey of a bite. Unless, of course, I have a dinner party planned with people of similar social standing but whom I don’t really know that well, in which case, then I think BSS would go down nicely with a Merlot.

Canuck national paper the Globe and Mail seemed to like them. So, yeah, Broken Social Scene. Like ’em if you like. You know, ‘cos you were waiting for my approval. \m/

All photos by Rachel Fox for backstagerider.com