Broken Social Scene always kick ass live — but it’s a loving, euphoric ass-kicking. At last night’s show in Indy, though, things got a little tense. Stereogum reader Josh was there and posted this to his blog:
Last night?s show at the Vogue in Indy sounded great? Amy Milian was present, but no Leslie? boo. Anyway, there was a bit of tension on stage? in the midst of “Almost Crimes” the lead guitarist/backing vocals missed his queue? Kevin Drew immediately stopped the song waving his hands in the air demanding everyone to stop. He looks down the line at the unabashed guitarist (not sure who? face to name thing) and says something along the lines of, ?I guess someone doesn?t want to sing his part tonight. Fine, that?s the end of the song.? They move on to the next. Drama!
Considering how much fun they always seem to have (and how ecstatic they were at their Best-Show-Of-’06 set at Lolla), that does seem surprising. But it’s not the first sign that things may be souring in camp BSS. From a two-man operation, the “collective” now has a roster of seventeen, which is bound to be both logistically unruly and creatively stifling. Brendan spoke to the issue in no uncertain terms (via Creative Loafing):
It’s time to revamp the program. It’s hard to grow as a unit when the unit is not consistent. It can be exciting, but I think it’s reached its limitation in that regard. This tour is, in essence, a chance to play places in America we haven’t before, one last chance to give the show to the people, as it were … for it to make sense to everyone, there really needs to be some tightening of screws here and there. It’s not like we’re abandoning what we’ve done or don’t feel proud of it, but there are just so many variables that we can deal with on a day-to-day basis.
Having a circus-sized band has always been part of the BSS charm, but it sounds like the “collective” mentality may have run its course. If it means more studio work and a prolonged touring life, then we’re all for it. But could the Scene be the same sans revolving door of Canadian indie rock all stars? We sure fucking hope so! But we refuse to overreact. If you know something we don’t, drop us with some knowledge. If you need us, we’ll be sitting in the dark with You Forgot It on repeat.
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queue? or “cue”?
I wasn’t there, but given the description as “lead guitarist/backing vocals” and the song in question, I’m thinking it was Andrew Whiteman. The last time I saw them (at Olympic Island in June) there seemed to be some tension between the two of them, culminating in Andrew taking over the last half of “It’s All Gonna Break,” which sounded awesome, but appeared to piss Kevin off quite a bit.
Andrew is wayyy more talented than Kevin. I’m a huge BSS fan, but Kevin has always came off as sort of a douchebag in my eyes. All I know is they better stay together at least until their Nov. 7th DC show.
Actually, the redeeming quality of this post is the use of the term “circus-sized,” which was first coined by my g/f’s younger brother as a mispronunciation of “circumsized.”
As for BSS, they could use the focus that limitations can bring.
Readers may take the sharp minimalism of the last Broadcast record, which is super super creamy, of course, as an indication of what I mean.
Andrew is wayyy more talented than Kevin. I’m a huge BSS fan, but Kevin has always came off as sort of a douchebag in my eyes. All I know is they better stay together at least until their Nov. 7th DC show.
I’d actually welcome a pared down BSS. Not to be a hater at all (i’m a big fan), but the communal live show actually gets to be quite an irritating audience experience after a while. Living in Toronto, every Arts and Crafts related show seems to devolve into an onstage summercamp singalong. And really, if you’re not in the band, how fun is that to watch?
Andrew is wayyy more talented than Kevin. I’m a huge BSS fan, but Kevin has always came off as sort of a douchebag in my eyes. All I know is they better stay together at least until their Nov. 7th DC show.
I witnessed some major tension in August at the Calgary Folk Fest, (Feist’s home town.) Kevin Drew cut off Canning’s very long intro into Ibi to do a different song and it got very weird for a few moments.
Actually, the redeeming quality of this post is the use of the term “circus-sized,” which was first coined by my g/f’s younger brother as a mispronunciation of “circumsized.”
As for BSS, they could use the focus that limitations can bring.
Readers may take the sharp minimalism of the last Broadcast record, which is super super creamy, of course, as an indication of what I mean.
Hey, where’s the love for the best Canadian album to come out this year – Sloan’s “Never Hear the End of It”?
30 new tracks on one disc, and could double as a greatest hits if it wanted to.
Blogs pay so much lip service to Canadian acts while ignoring the older ones that still do so much good.
Well, it was bound to happen, as a Toronto resident I’ve been subjected to this annoying collective of late-thirty something douchebags for many years… Let’s hope Kevin Drew’s massive arrogant ego will end this overrated act….
whoa whoa whoa…. they have a couple of spats and now you all want to call them douchebags? That’s pretty lame. I bet if you rode on a bus with the same umpteen people across the country you might get a little cranky too. Plus, maybe Kevin’s irritated because he doesn’t want BSS to slow down. It seems like everyone has been saying that BSS is going to be “taking a break” after this tour so that everyone can do their own thing. Maybe Kevin just wants them all to do BSS, and since no one else wants to he’s just frustrated. Who knows? I do know that these guys are NOT douchebags and that they kick ass live and that they manage to blow me away with every release. So quit hatin’ BROTHAZZ!
Okay, I said that KEVIN DREW is a douchebag. NOT the rest of the band. I also said that I love BSS. If you can’t see that Kevin Drew is a douchebag then you might not be as big of a fan as you think.
Also, in saying that he is a douchebag it doesn’t mean that I’m not a fan. Mick Jagger is the biggest “douche” ever, but I’m still his biggest fan. (oh no, did I start a new argument?)
i was at the indy show last night, and i didnt sense and tension at all. there were a few mistakes but nothing seemed to me to be full of drama. charlie forgot some partsto songs, and that got some comments, but it all seemed to be more in a joking spirit to me. ame with andrew forgetting to sing. didnt seem to cause a big ruckus, just an “oh well fuck it, lets move on” kind of thing. maybe that was just my opinion of it though. hell of a show either way!
I was here. It wasn’t bad at all. For some reason, they didn’t want to play it. They were really esctatic.
andrew taking over the second half of “it’s all gonna break” also happened in may, when kevin simply couldnt stand on his feet after a three hour set. andrew took over, and nobody was pissed off. i think that’s something of a common practice, no need to be afraid.
I saw them headline VFest on Toronto Island, and right at the end of a gorgeous full-band set there was some dispute over which song to play in closing. Amy Millan wanted “Bandwitch” and Emily Haines wanted “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl”; Kevin Drew put it to the audience, and we of course voted for “Anthems.” He invited Amy to stay and sing it, but she just turned heel and walked off the stage. Weird.
So yeah, this kind of thing isn’t surprising. Rumours of an impending BSS breakup have been circulating around Toronto for a while, and I think the band even said they were going on hiatus. I just hope they come back.
Sarah, I was also at that V-Fest show, and I also thought that was a strange turn of events. Amy seemed pretty out of it (drunk?) on stage so I just figured she was just rambling about something, but it still seemed awkward when she walked off stage.
That being said, V-Fest was my first time seeing them, and I’d waited about three years to see them live, and the show was of course amazing.
Personally, I think Kevin Drew is nice because he signed (and even wrote a little joke on) a setlist that my friend gave me to me from a show she saw in Oslo.
I really wanna hear another BSS record and see another BSS show, so I hope they can settle whatever problems they have and get back to being awesome.
when is amy not drunk? seriously, she’s always stumbling around, that’s why we love her!
i was at the show. i thought they sounded really good, but i was really questioning the need for 4 guitars. half the time at least one guitarist was clapping his hands or otherwise not playing. just seemed a little superflous. they got a little jammy at times, but they are BSS, i guess… amy millan was a competent fill-in for feist. drew yapped a lot, but he was halfway entertaining at least.
I was at the show as well last night in Indy. I think this thing is being overblown. Why is Andrew forgetting his part the main story when they had to start over for Charles on two different songs including the keyboard melody on Hotel? They played an excellent, energetic set despite a less than sold out crowd. This is a non story.
Saw them last night in Atlanta. Kevin Drew got pissed at a loud fan who wouldn’t shut up when they were bantering on stage so he got pissed and started with “Thats whats wrong with you Americans, you never know when to shut the f*ck up.” Which drew a mix of cheers and boos, and a few “Go back to Canada” responses.
Andrew Whiteman was chugging from a bottle of red wine. He was wasted and Amy looked like a mess. It was still a pretty great show.
i was at the show…my first time seeing BSS. i couldn’t figure out what was up with them stopping..if there was something more to it. before they started the song, kevin said he didn’t really want to play the song (something about how it was like an ex-girlfriend), so i figured the whole thing with the guitarist missing his part was just an excuse to move on to the next song. amy got this “wtf” look on her face, but the rest of the band just moved on like nothing happened.
anyway, other than that i didn’t sense any tension. they played for what seemed like close to 2.5 hours, with basically two encores (its all gonna break and then kc accidental).
it was one of thest best shows i have ever seen.
i, too was at the indy show, and there wasn’t any tension at all. i do remember, however, kevin saying that he didn’t plan on playing “almost crimes” — saying something about an ex-girlfriend.
although i was a little disappointed that they didn’t finish the song, they played a longer set than what was written on their setlist. i think their final encore song was supposed to be “it’s all gonna break,” but they ended up playing “kc accidental” as well as some crazy-techno beats that could be very well from “ep to be you and me.”
hope that clarifies some things.
Love the band but I think they are all at their essence a bunch of prima donnas. Not good when you’ve expanded your ranks so hugely. I hope they can figure their shit out. Maybe they need a break – they were playing every other goddamn day in Toronto this summer.
The Atlanta show seemed to show the tensions along the lines of what you would expect from such a large group. He did say, “Thats whats wrong with you Americans, you never know when to shut the f*ck up.” But he also commented on how glad they were at the size of the Atlanta crowd and the very last thing he said after leaving was “…remember we came here for you.” So it’s like he wanted us to realize they cared about being the there but at the same time he was a little pissed at the guy that wouldn’t shut up during the story and how his interruptions caused the overall mood to dampen.
I was at the Indy show and didn’t feel any tension either. The comment about Almost Crimes and an ex-girlfriend was: “Playing this song is like fucking an ex-girlfriend. You know it’s a bad idea but it still feels really good.” Or something like that. So when it didn’t go as expected it was understandable Kevin wanted to move on with the show.
I saw BSS last night in Knoxville, TN and was really disappointed. When I saw them in Boston last year, they were incredible live and one of the best shows I’d seen in a long time. What I saw last night was nowhere near the heights of last year’s show. They started out by insulting Knoxville for being a lame town because no one was out and about during the day because everyone in town was at the UT-Alabama game or wathching it on TV (one of the biggest home games of the year in a football obsessed town). Yes, Knoxville’s not as cool as NYC or Toronto, but there’s no need to drop into someone’s town and insult the people who paid good money to see you.
At the outset of the show, Kevin Drew said that this show was going to be “60% talk, 40% rock”, which I thought was a joke… turns out he really meant it. They spent a lot of time just talking about random stuff throughout the set, one which didn’t seem well thought out and being played off-the-cuff many times when they did actually play tunes. At another point, BSS complained about the tickets being so expensive ($30) but then turned around and said that they set the ticket prices. WTF? If you didn’t like the price point, why did you set it at that? The final straw came during the lone “encore”. Instead of coming out to play some songs, they decided they wanted to pretend they were an episode of “Inside The Actor’s Studio”, pulled 2 chairs out onto the stage, and Kevin Drrew proceeded to “interview” Brendan Canning about fictional movie projects he was involved in. It would’ve been funny if they did it for a couple minutes, but I swear to God they did this bit for damn near 10 minutes! At one point someone in the audience got annoyed and yelled out, “Play some songs!” after which Kevin said if she didn’t like what they were doing, then she was free to leave. At the end of their “bit”, he did seek the girl out in the audience and gave her a hug (she didn’t leave), and then they proceeded to end the show by playing a perfunctory version of “It’s All Gonna Break”.
I was irate by the end of the show that they behaved like this. Yes, the show wasn’t sold out, but as Kevin Drew said at the outset of the show, “It doesn’t matter who didn’t come, because you came, and we’ve come to play for you.” Well then, how about playing some damn music for the people who shelled out $30 a ticket for you! I feel like they played a half-assed show because Knoxville isn’t a primary touring market and that they wouldn’t have pulled shit like this if they were playing a show in NYC, Boston, LA, Chicago, etc. They also ended the show saying the same thing they apparently did in Atlanta, elling us that they’ll be taking a long break soon and imploring us to “remember we came here for you.” Honestly, if they’re gonna pull crap like this, I’d rather not remember.
I saw them in Pittsburgh last Weds, which I think was the tour opener…There was an odd kind of dynamic on stage, mostly between Kevin Drew and various other bandmates…ultimately though he was affable with the crowd and they played a great set with lotsa crowd-pleasers.
I don’t understand the tension between the band at these shows… I’ve seen them twice this year (January in Toronto, July in Brooklyn) and both shows seemed to be full of love. But I know a hiatus is possible and that it gets difficult with so many members. But keep playing music BSS, you are too amazing to (ever) give up.
This thread reeks of Schadenfreude.
This band tours too much and there is tension. Yes, there is lots of love too, but the tension has been building for about 3 years now. It’s all gonna break indeed. Don’t be surprised if the next time you see them tour the cast of players has changed. It’s not that certain people are dicks – though some of them are — it’s just that you tour with 14-15 people in vans for so long and with that many personalities, it’s bound to implode. There’s only been about 40-50+plus interviews that not-so-subtley hint at the tension and problems in the band, so i don’t know why one would think it’s schaudenfreude.
BSS inter band tension ?… Yes, It’s real folks…… Leslie Fiest was Andrew Whitman’s longtime girlfriend… till she recently dumped him for Kevin Drew.