Canadian experimental supergroup Broken Social Scene are no ordinary indie rock band. Not suffice with the norm, tonight they take to the stage with no less than four guitarists, throw in to the mix a keyboardist, two trumpeters, a violinist, two drummers and at least two or three vocalists at times, this results in a spectacular evening of noise-fuelled entertainment.
Playing to just 350 people at this intimate Cardiff venue, the show is part of a short UK tour leading to the bands appearance at the Indian Summer Festival in Glasgow this weekend. Tonight offered fans a rare opportunity to catch this critically-acclaimed band in a live environment on our shores.
Broken Social Scene don't follow convention though, or expectation, they are a collective of collaborators from differing musical backgrounds. More like a musical commune (with or without the cult). Pedantically they are more of a supercollective than a supergroup, with up to 17 members in the band at any one time, not tonight though as only eight members take to the stage.
Despite having musicians dash on and off stage during and in-between tracks, the inner core of the band are guitarist/vocalist and oft-keyboardist Kevin Drew, bassist Brendan Canning and drummer Justin Peroff. These three core members keep things ticking over while other onstage colloboraters, including Lisa Lobsinger, Jason Collett and Charles Spearin join in during the show.
Support tonight came from local Cardiff-based newcomers Los Campesinos!, who showed their appreciation for getting the gig by satisfying the BSS hungry audience with a bombardment of catchy pop tunes. Definitely a band with huge potential to keep an eye on for the future.
Broken Social Scene kicked off with a short rendition of Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares To U', but the crowd are energised when lead vocalist Drew invites Reverie Sound Revue's Lisa Lobsinger to share the vocals for the inspiring '7/4 (Shoreline)', complete with mid-song guitar solo.
The band strolls effortlessly through their two hour plus set of monumental sounds, with layered choruses and solos to compliment their many instruments and vocalists on stage. Despite deeply immersed into their music singer Kevin Drew pops up periodically to acknowledge the enthused crowd, and to offer some friendly banter.
They launched into tracks which included 'Cause=Time', 'Fire Eye'd Boy', 'KC Accidental', 'Major Label Debut', 'Stars & Sons', 'Pacific Theme', 'Superconnected', 'Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl', 'Ibi Dreams of Pavement' and 'Almost Crimes' during their epic set.
During the show the band inform the audience of a petty theft which took place on the tour bus earlier in the day, not alluding to what actually was stolen, quipping "Someone's smoking crack on us tonight!"
Despite what was more of a musical experience than a gig, the downer for the night was the noise suffocation which seemed at times to overshadow the show while the band found themselves so deeply immersed in the music, forgetting that sometimes beauty doesn't always emerge from chaos. And at times tonight it was sheer chaos.
links
http://www.myspace.com/loscampesinos
http://www.myspace.com/brokensocialscene
7/10
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