SPILL LIVE REVIEW: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE w/ GEORGIA HARMER @ ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS, BURLINGTON

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE w/ GEORGIA HARMER

@ ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS, BURLINGTON

AUGUST 8, 2024

The backdrop was Burlington’s beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens for Broken Social Scene to make their most recent appearance in the greater Toronto area.  They performed on Aug. 8 as part of the Music In The Garden series.  This roving band of musicians, originally formed in Toronto around the turn of the millennium, have performed with an ever-evolving family of artists, but what has remained true is the music.

The night began with Georgia Harmer taking the stage with Matt Kelly on slide guitar, who has made quite a name for himself working most recently with City And Colour and Alexisonfire, and Ben Whiteley (The Weather Station) on bass. Her sweet and gentle sound captured the beauty of the surrounding floral setting quite fittingly. Only one song from her set came from her debut album Stay In Touch, while the remaining songs were from a forthcoming album that is in the works.

With all the solo and side projects that the members of Broken Social Scene are currently in, it is always interesting to see which iteration of the group will perform on any given show / tour.  Ariel Engle (La Force), for instance, the group’s current leading female vocalist, is in the midst of performing solo dates in support of her second album, XO Skeleton.  The members that assembled on Thursday evening were Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, Sam Goldberg Jr., Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Evan Cranley, David French, Jill Harris and Ryder Havdale.  You will forgive me for not listing the specific roles that each member played on stage, because several members interchanged instruments throughout the set and even during individual songs.

GEORGIA HARMER

Broken Social Scene took the stage at around 8:20 under grey skies that threatened to put a damper on the evening, but never did.   The set was kicked off with the often-used, highly popular opener “Cause = Time”.  In a set that also included “Sweetest Kill”, “7/4 (Shoreline)”, “Anthems For A Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” and “Almost Crimes” to close it out in a relatively short set of just over an hour, the band did not disappoint.  Before Andrew Whiteman began his penned track “Look Just Like the Sun”, Kevin Drew introduced it by affectionately proclaiming that it was his personal favourite.

One of the highlights during the evening came when before beginning “Sweetest Kill” Kevin Drew felt the need to have a seat during the performance and pulled out a white plastic lawn chair from the side of the stage.  After the song ended, he had all the members sign the chair in order to hand it off to one lucky fan.

The truly “social” atmosphere that radiates from the stage by its performers is palpable enough for the audience to bask in.  The way that they interact with each other, as well as the way that Kevin Drew interacts with the audience reveals all the feels you would expect from a warm holiday get together with family.  After Drew gave Jill Harris a shout-out to a warm reception, Harris returned the favour to a slightly warmer reception by the audience.  Following the applause, Drew jokingly advised Harris, “Don’t ever do that again.”  Before breaking into “Anthems For A Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” it was announced that opener Georgia Harmer and Ben Whitely were both celebrating birthdays today.  After a sweet rendition of “Happy Birthday” by all present, Harmer stuck around to help provide backup vocals.

Broken Social Scene finds itself in that rarified air of bands that have survived past the 20-yr mark.  It is becoming common for many of these bands to express sincerely, during their live shows, the gratitude they feel that they get to keep doing this and that people keep showing up.  The band has certainly proven the adage, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and we are all grateful for it.

(Photography by Mark Paterson)

Photos

Broken Social Scene Links

Georgia Harmer Links

Feature + Background Photo Credit: Richmond Lam