My first day at Canadian Music Week didn’t go exactly as planned, so my decision to forgo such acts as The Breeders, White Cowbell Oklahoma, and KRS-One in favour of The Indies was a risky one. See, despite the fact that I’ll watch the Oscars or the VMAs when they come on, generally I am of the opinion that awards shows manage to suck harder than Paris Hilton at… well… the afterparty of an awards show (too easy, I’m sorry). But, I took the gamble in hopes that the night would be less phoney chatter and acceptance speeches and more kick-ass performances. For the most part, the cards were stacked in my favour.

It may seem somewhat backwards to host the indie awards at the swanky Royal York Hotel, but the venue was actually quite accommodating. There were two stages, one for the awards and one for the performances. Obviously, I chose a spot near the latter.

As for the awards themselves, even the organizers seemed to acknowledge their superfluousness (not a word). The awards were given out in big chunks as quickly as possible in between performances. There weren’t many memorable moments here, with the exlusion of an obviously inebriated Fefe Dobson (she still exists?) and a hilariously larger than life (pun intended) Kyle Gass from Tenacious D.

My magic media pass allowed backstage access, where I saw Suzie Mcneill (of Rock Star: INXS and the Queen Musical) drinking and enjoying the catering for most of the night, excluding her acceptance speech for an award; I forget which one. I also managed to see Miss Canada a number of times, as just about everyone in attendance took turns getting their picture taken with her.

But, as I said, the awards were secondary to the live performances, as they very well should be. The show’s success, then, relied squarely on the quality of the bands. This is why, for the most part, my decision to attend The Indies was justified.

Most bands played two or three songs before being carted off, so they were forced to make an impression in a relatively short period of time. In that time, The Cliks managed to convince me that they knew how to rock out, and that they were, in fact, women (do a Google image search, and you’ll see why that was surprising). Attack In Black played an epic version of their breakout song, “Young Leaves”, but as hard as they tried, were largely ineffective in their efforts to elicit an singalong to the “na na na na” part.

Lowest of the Low were inducted into the Indie Hall of Fame, and played a few songs despite what was either technical difficulties or one of the band members forgetting how to play his own songs. But they made up for it by inviting a hardcore fan onstage to rock out with the band (and by that I mean nod his head and jump around). The Besnard Lakes played a two-song set at least as good, or better, than the one I saw the other night. Go listen to their song “Devastation” right this second.

What followed was essentially a full concert by Tokyo Police Club and the New Pornographers. Each band played for nearly an hour. This is exactly what I was hoping when I said that I was hoping that this would be less of an awards show and more of a concert.

First came Tokyo Police Club, who, judging by the crowd, already have a large following despite their only release, a 17-minute EP. Personally, I don’t understand all the hype. Sure, they have a few catchy songs (namely “Cheer it On” and “Nature of the Experiment”), but for the most part, it’s all very samey and nothing special. Maybe I’m just bitter because they’re younger than I am and much more successful.

At this point, about half of the crowd left, which was tragic because the New Pornographers were amazing as usual. I never used to be much of a fan until I saw them last summer at Rogers Picnic and was totally converted right then and there. The next time they come to Toronto, I would suggest checking them out. These guys know how to write a good pop song!

They saved my favourite song, “Bleeding Heart Show,” for next-to-last, but ended on a much more surprising note. Rather than play their newest hit, “Myriad Harbour” they opted instead for a cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Don’t Bring Me Down”. Most bands considered even a little hip wouldn’t touch ELO with a ten foot pole! And, they managed to make it sound just as fun and catchy as if they had written it themselves.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Events, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.