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Review: Broken Social Scene at Bass Concert Hall
Broken Social Scene’s show Saturday night at Bass Hall eally began the preceding night, in Dallas, where they had to cancel because frontman Kevin Drew had the flu.
“I got a lot of hate e-mails from Dallas,” said Drew, a black towel draped over his head.
Drew spent most of the Austin show reiterating how he was still sick, and how he hoped everyone in the 3,000-person, sold-out crowd still liked his performance. It begged the question: Would you rather have a rain check for when the guy’s healthy or watch him go half-speed and listen to him apologize for it all night long?
Lest Drew forgot, he was but one cog in a well-oiled machine comprised of upwards of six other band members, most of whom have their own solo careers. Helping Drew carry the load was bassist Brendan Canning, with the Dinosaur Jr.-sounding hand-clapper “Stars and Sons,” guitarist Andrew Whiteman, otherwise known as Apostle of Hustle, with “Looks Just Like the Sun,” and vocalist Lisa Lobsinger, filling in for Emily Haines, with “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” — all tracks from BSS’ flawless debut album of classic alternative rock, “You Forgot It in People.”
“I’m having fun when I’m not singing,” Drew admitted.
As if that wasn’t enough back-up, the Canadian collective invited former American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny onstage to perform “Hard to Find,” from his own catalog.
Hands down the most riveting performance in a set fueled by five-guitar assaults and Tower of Power horns was a slowed-down, spoken-word number, wherein Charles Spearin, on guitar, and Leon Kingstone, on sax, played over a melodic loop of Spearin’s neighbor vocalizing what it felt like to hear for the first time, after a cochlear implant at the age of 31.
“All of a sudden I felt my body moving inside.”
The rest of the band joined Spearin and Kingstone in the refrain.
“All of a sudden I felt my body moving inside.”
The seated crowd began to rise.
“All of a sudden I felt my body moving inside.”
Love filled the room.
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