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November 3, 2006 > Arts & Entertainment > Canadian Scene breaks concert’s social norms

Canadian Scene breaks concert’s social norms

By Kim Hartson | Thresher Editorial Staff

It wasn’t my first concert, but I found myself feeling strangely virginal. I’ve been to the hardcore rock concerts with large pits and violent thrashing, where your neighbor becomes your enemy as soon as the music starts.

I’ve watched crowds at indie rock shows, where the name of the game is to see and be seen and judge and be judged. And regardless of the beat and the venue, concerts I’ve attended have typically been adversarial: The struggle is not just amongst fans vying for the best view or between bands trying to attract the most enthusiastic responses, but also between the band and the crowd.

So I was struck by the unity I felt as soon as Broken Social Scene took the stage. When the band launched into the wonderfully up-tempo “KC Accidental,” both pseudo hipster teens clad in Vans and leather jacket-toting 30-somethings could not help but be moved.

Broken Social Scene created an environment of mutual respect and community for musicians and fans alike. Members of the brilliant post-rock opening act, Do Make Say Think, joined the Scene on stage during most of the set. Fans bobbed their heads in content unison and assisted Scene co-founder Kevin Drew with the lyrics to an impromptu cover of R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts.” In between songs, Drew and Brendan Canning, Scene’s other co-founder, pandered to the crowd with jokes and stories, and they led the crowd in a cathartic yell of “I’m not lonely.” It was a yawp to make John Keating and the boys of the Dead Poets Society proud.

Even the Scene’s set list showed a surprising respect for their fans. Rather than falling into the mainstream trend of only playing big hits or over-emphasizing cuts from its latest album, they played what they thought die-hard fans would want to hear, fusing old and new tracks into a cohesive musical journey.

The show oscillated between the upbeat and the mellow with transitions from the rhythmic, more pop oriented “Fire Eye’d Boy” to the more experimental “Stars and Sons.” The first half of the set concluded with the lyrical “Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl” that despite some technical difficulty was still one of the highlights of the show.

Despite the pacifying holism of the set, the show sometimes fluctuated between feeling like a self-help convention and a genuine attempt to relate to the crowd. Broken Social Scene concluded its set with Drew and Charles Spearin, a founding member of Do Make Say Think, climbing down from the stage and going out into the crowd while the band continued to play an extended version of “Lover’s Spit.” They hugged nearly the entire front half of the crowd and thanked them each individually for being there before returning to the stage with the help of a few security guards who also received hugs.

Maybe it was all just a gimmick, but few fans who left the Warehouse that night seemed to care. I left with the same musical high and ringing ears I always get after a good show, but I was a little more personally touched and grateful than usual.

Kim Hartson is a Lovett College junior.

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