Felicia Pearlman

Guster Live at The Mod Club in Toronto!

Blown Away: Guster Performs at The Mod Club

Boston based indie-rockers, Guster took over Toronto’s Mod Club this past Tuesday. Veterans on the stage, these pals have been drawing in fans since they formed out of university in 1991. A lifelong fan myself, I fit right in with audience members who travelled from across the GTA to catch the soundtrack to their young adult years come to life. How appropriate, in promotion of their new album, Look Alive, that dropped Friday.

Guster, The Mod Club Toronto, Jan 22 2019 pc Felicia Pearlman

 

Lead vocalist Ryan Miller, along with band members Adam Gardner, Brian Rosenworcel and newer addition Luke Reynolds produced a captivating show. Immediately grabbing the crowd’s attention with folk hit What You Wish For off of their 1999 album Lost and Gone Forever, the scene was set for Guster to blow us away. From Piano, bass, keys, guitars, percussion and even a banjo that stuck the landing, every sound was covered. Even the lighting was incredible, using timed strobes to amplify their rhythms and spotlight instruments, really affecting the tone. Rosenworcel, known to drum entire sets without sticks, gave us a taste of this and threw in some bongo action in for good measure.

For a second I closed my eyes and really let the sounds filling the room and blinking lights take me away.

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Halfway through the performance, playful Miller walked into the crowd with the kind of confidence that only comes from years of shows. In true rock-star spirit, he traipsed across the bar top singing verses of Doing it By Myself on his way back to the stage. His shenanigans continued to ensue, even performing an improvised ballad about his adorned ‘Pac Man Suit;’ an ode to how ‘fancy’ everyone in Toronto appears.

Immediately grabbing the crowd with classic hits, stopping to crack jokes and incorporating b-side fan requests into their encore, Guster will always win us over in Toronto. They brought forth the kind of combination of bold lighting effects, bouncy rhythms and crowd interaction that leaves you feeling musically satiated. Guster, we love you.

Guster Set List, Toronto – January 22, 2019

• What You Wish For
• Hang On
• Hello Mr. Sun
• Terrified
• Diane
• Hercules
• Hard Times
• Do You Love Me
• Doin’ It By Myself
• I Spy
• Come Downstairs and Say Hello
• Gangway
• Red Oyster Cult
• Look Alive
• Satellite
• Expectation
• Overexcited
• What You Call Love
• Barrel of a Gun
• Mind Kontrol
• Demons
• Manifest Destiny (Fan Request)
• Jesus of the Radio (Unplugged)

Photos of Guster at The Mod Club, Toronto – January 22, 2019

January 26, 2019 No Comments
Noname at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall taken by Felicia Pearlman

Noname Live at the Danforth Music Hall, Toronto

Noname. Noname. Noname. A Name to Remember

Chicago based rap artist Fatimah Warner a.k.a Noname performed for a mesmerized Danforth Music Hall on Thursday night.

Toronto was all ears for this young artist that Rolling Stone Magazine deems one of the ‘best rappers alive’. She had a lot to say through her ‘tell-it-like-it-is’ verses that satirically comment on cultural politics and social injustices. Accompanied by a full instrumental band of keys, guitar, bass, drums and backup vocalists to provide the roots, Warner took the stage like a seasoned poet at a reading with a tale to tell.

Noname broke into her set with Self, a quick-witted rap off of her 2018 touring album Room 25. It’s a fast but poignant track that smugly challenges any misconceptions about women in hip-hop. She progressed through what she jokes was a series of “depressing rap songs”, breaking up intimate moments with frank jokes and big cocky grins.

Tracks from Telefone, her 2016 debut album deemed an instant classic, were well integrated into her set. Hits like Diddy Bop had the crowd raising their hands and dipping their wrists in agreement with her words and the band’s gritty beats. It’s no wonder fellow Chicagoite, Chance the Rapper has been collaborating with this true talent since she was featured on Acid Rap in 2013.

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Throughout the night, Noname’s demeanour was infectious, she was real about the issues, but down to earth and everybody’s friend simultaneously. Joking about twerking, “who do you think taught Cardi B”, playing with the audience asking them to “make noise for her tired ass” and chant back one-liners like “fuck it up Brian” were just a few ways she kept us zoned in.

With only two albums in her repertoire, Warner has already collected an impressive following of fans from all over the map. Her evolutionary form of hip hop fusing a full instrumental band that digs into the roots of hip hop as a space to exploit social problems, in particular, those targeted at marginalized communities and the role of religion on these populations. You really digest everything you saw at a show like this, you leave feeling fulfilled.

Noname is an artist not to miss in the future!

Noname Set List, Thursday, January 3, 2019
The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto

? Self
? Blaxploitation
? Sunny Duet
? Diddy Bop
? Prayer Song
? Regal
? Room 31
? Ace
? Montego Bae
? Amphetamine
? Window
? Don’t Forget About Me
? Forever
? Part of Me
? Bye Bye Baby
? no name
Encore:
? Shadow Man

Noname, Thursday, January 3, 2019
The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto

January 8, 2019 No Comments

Alvvays Live at The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto

Pop-indie treasures, Alvvays played to an eager sold-out crowd Thursday in their hometown Toronto. Front-lined by guitarist and lead vocalist Molly Rankin, the 5-piece local band is camping out at the Danforth Music Hall for a five-show stretch.

Their stellar set list included hits off their first and second albums, Alvvays (2014) and Antisocialites (2017) played to fans ringing back every word.

The stage was reminiscent of an American Bandstand set played out to youth-filled starry-eyed fans. The entire backdrop made of shimmering foil, disco balls and smoke screens complimented the band’s nostalgic 60’s appeal. For the next hour, we shared a mystical, dreamlike world, where I half expected glitter to spray out of their guitars. We swayed contently to their ambient beats, watching the backdrop colours transition shades and laughing at Rankin’s jokes about adult braces.

Although Alvvays traditionally produces a light-hearted upbeat sound, songs like Dreams Tonite and Adult Diversion had some people so amped, a small but powerful central mosh pit formed. Bodies jumped up and down, carrying crowd surfers and losing themselves in what felt like a psychedelic experience. The band wrapped their show with a new track, diverging into more of a rock ballad, a hint of what’s to come next.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday’s shows are sold out, but tickets are still available to their Monday, December 10th show; catch these Canadian babes before they’re gone.

Alvvays Setlist, Danforth Music Hall Toronto – December 6, 2018

? Hey
? Atop A Cake
? In Undertow
? Plimsoll Punks
? Lollipop (Ode To Jim)
? Not My Baby
? Forget About Life
? Your Type
? Ones Who Love You
? Adult Diversion
? Echolalia
? Archie, Marry Me
? Dreams Tonite
? Party Police
? Next Of Kin
Encore:
? Saved By A Waif
? Freedom Of Choice

December 7, 2018 No Comments
Charlotte Cardin Toronto, November 30, 2018

Double Shifts – Charlotte Cardin Takes Over Toronto

Montreal’s own Charlotte Cardin took over the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Friday night. Emerging bashfully like the girl-next-door, red flooded her stage as she walked over to a name encrusted set of keys at the centre.

Cardin drew in the crowd with a powerful start, with the first chords of Big Boy, the track that won her the SOCAN award for songwriting in 2017. Accompanied by Mat Sénéchal on synth and bass and Ben Courcy on drums, the trio created a perfect platform for Cardin’s discography that she referred to as “a bunch of love songs”.

This tour showcases Cardin’s recent EP’s Big Boy (2016) and Main Girl (2018) while treating us to unreleased tracks, peppered in between her hits. It was a treat for the attentive audience, many knowing the words to both her French and English ballads.

Cardin’s entire set invited the audience to get deeply embedded in the ambience of relatable tales of unrequited love, toxic relationships, and dirty thoughts. She takes you through a set that parallels the ups and downs of our personal relationships. And she integrates a lot of provocative tones into her jazzy poems in cautionary song Like it Doesn’t Hurt.

She urges the crowd to “get comfy.” Releasing you into upbeat bluesy rhythms in new hit Double Shifts, and then taking you to sombre places in Les Jupes. Integrating covers of popular songs Post Malone’s Go Flex and Chris Isaak’s Wicked Games into her list kept things fresh, yet familiar.

For a slender sweet speaking voice, she sings with a booming sultry vibrato that slides between notes and hooks you. Her big flirtatious personality shines through her entire performance as she plays with the audience, joking in between songs and connecting every track.

If you get the chance to see Charlotte Cardin this winter in an intimate venue, take the opportunity, the future is big for this doe-eyed Canadian artist taking North America by storm!

Charlotte Cardin Setlist, Toronto – November 30, 2018

1. Big Boy
2. New Song
3. Les échardes
4. Good Girl
5. Like it Doesn’t Hurt
6. Go Flex – Post Malone (cover)
7. Les Jupes
8. Talk Talk
9. Paradise Motion
10. Double Shifts
11. Just Like That
12. Dirty Dirty
13. Main Girl
14. Wicked Games – Chris Isaak (cover)
15. Faufille

December 3, 2018 No Comments

Classified Brings Traditional Hip-Hop Hype to Toronto’s Opera House

On Friday, The Opera House in Toronto buzzed with a packed crowd of die-hard fans, eager to see homegrown Canadian rap legend, Classified.

An energetic performance, opened by the groovy Maestro Fresh Wes, displaying a mix of musicianship and comedic showmanship. He was excited to remind us of his role on CBC’s show Mr. D as Paul Dwyer. No stranger to the stage, he’s been releasing albums since the late 80s’. Wes had the audience following his moves, laughing at his jokes and ringing back his lyrics. His expressions and movements were captivating, from stank eyes to in-your-face body language. To tie off the opener, Classified took the stage with Maestro, high fiving his old friend and dropping a line or two before leaving the crowd wanting more. The two have been producing together since the early 2000s.

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Nova Scotia-based hip-hop artist Classified has been touring since his start in the 90s. Still repping his production label, Half Life, Lucas Boyd and other group members sported large medallions engraved with the namesake. This tour is coming off the cusp of Classified’s recently released fifth major album this past October, Tomorrow Could Be the Day Things Change. He opened the show with recent hit 3 Foot Tall, amplifying the crowd and taking them Higher ft. B.O.B, singing along to melodic samples, an ode to many classic’s before him.

Always one to shed light on social problems, Classified uses his lyrics to discuss substantive issues. Topics surrounding murdered and missing indigenous women resonate in songs like Powerless, that touch upon issues of domestic abuse and gender-based violence. His partner joined him on stage to sing the vocals on his final track. A captivating move, her voice was raspy and beautiful and really brought focus to the powerful lyrics. An artist that never disappoints, people travel across the GTA to mosh and sway to this high energy classic hip-hop legend.

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November 22, 2018 No Comments
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