Don't get high on what you create

Last night was the Broken Social Scene concert at the Riviera in Chicago. I stood in exactly the same spot as I stood for The National last weekend because it is a great spot for viewing the band. The Sea and Cake opened the show, and their set was very good. I love Sam Prekop's voice, though a few songs got a little too jam-band-like at times. But it was a solid set.

At 9:00, Broken Social Scene took the stage. I saw Broken Social Scene a couple of years ago (and I blogged about it!) and was very impressed with the musical skill of the band. This time I was even more blown away. This is one talented group of people.

I love the new album so much, so I was excited to see what kind of old-new mix the group would assemble for the setlist, and I was not disappointed. I think the balance was perfect. The band's most-of-the-time lead singer Kevin Drew really sounded great, and he was in a very fun-loving mood (as opposed to last time, when he got mad and left the stage for a while). He bantered a bit, but mostly just sang really well. And as always, the multi-instrumentalist band members switched around on stage showing their skills. One of the bst parts of seeing BSS liveis seeing the wall of musicians together on stage. At any given moment, between 6 and 13 people are playing their hearts out.

New full time member Lisa Lobsinger handled the vocals on "Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl," and she did a wonderful job. One of the highlights of the set came with her song "All to All" (one of the best songs on the new album), and the band's pounding beats and harmonic din backed Lisa's vocals perfectly. Andrew Whiteman took over the vocals for "Fire-Eye'd Boy" (a favorite of mine) and "Arthouse Director," but when he was not singing, he showed of his stellar guitar skills.

The band played all of my favorite BSS songs, but the true highlight came with the instrumental rocker "Meet Me in the Basement," which on the album is a joy to behold, and in person rocks my soul.

Setlist

1. World Sick

2. KC Accidental

3. 7/4 Shoreline

4. Fire Eye'd Boy

5. Texaco Bitches

6. All to All

7. Stars and Sons

8. Chase Scene

9. Forced to Love

10. Sweetest Kill

11. Cause = Time

12. Hotel

13. Arthouse Director

14. Romance to the Grave

15. Superconnected

16. Anthem for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl

17. Lover's Spit

18. The Colony Room

19. Ungrateful Little Father

20. Meet Me in the Basement

21. Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)

As happened last time, the group did not really play an encore but just powered through. Kevin Drew announced that he did not know that the venue had an 11:00 curfew, so at 10:30 he said, "We're just gonna keep playing." So at 11:00 they stopped, having played nonstop for two hours.

I danced, I sang, I marveled. An excellent show.