Last weekend, something funny happened at the Stars + Broken Social Scene + Metric show at Place Bell. We arrived on the rainy night and went straight to the box office to grab my guest list passes. Usually, at least at basically every show I’ve gotten guest list passes for, this is a painless process. But when we arrived to Place Bell, there was close to 40 people in front of us. We’re these people all buying last minute tickets? Did the last show of the All The Feelings tour not sell out?
About 30 minutes into the line not moving, the ticket taker went to the back of the room and said “Everyone on the guest list, move here.” And without missing a beat, everyone moved in unison; we were, in fact, all on the guest list. Now the more I think about it, ther more this makes sense. Broken Social Scene is like 13 players, but adds up to more to 25 with all of the collaborations. So it makes sense they have this many friends. Some of these people could have also been on Metric or Stars’ guest list, two bands that also make up part of BSS.
Sadly, this meant we missed Stars and Amy Milan, who basically helped plan this mega Canadian indie tour. The venue was only at about half capacity, with a floor that could have been packed more and section 200 and 300 empty. It was easily the most intimate stadium show I’ve ever been to. As Broken Social Scene took ther stage, the energy was palpable. Kevin Drew strumemd his guitar and the beand jumped into “Cause=Time” a 2002 Canadian indie rock anthem.
The gang was all here, save for Feist, though they did bring out Amy Milan for “Hug of Thunder.” Metric’s Emily Haines also appeared on stage to lead the fiery “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl,” before having to get ready to close out the show with Metric. It was a Canadian indie rock heritage moment. So was Torquil Campbell (Stars) losing it to the triple guitar action from Sam Jr., Andrew Whiteman, and James Shaw (who also would make a return with Metric). Broken Social Scene closed the show with the insturmental banger” KC Accidental” and the rest is history.
