“We’re not a normal band… but we try… really hard,” muttered Broken Social Scene de-facto front man/Feist paramour Kevin Drew midway through Wednesday night’s set at New York City’s bridge & tunnel nightclub-cum-concert venue Webster Hall. This statement was never more fitting than on this special evening.
The night did not get off to the greatest of starts however. Following a snooze-inducing set by openers Arthur & Yu, Kevin Drew and company stormed onstage and announced that J. Mascis - of Dinosaur Jr. fame - would not be joining them tonight (as had been widely reported), and that one of their synthesizers was busted. No one really knew what to expect, since the concert in question was celebrating “side project” Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew, Spirit If…, intended to be the first in a series of “Broken Social Scene presents…” albums with a similar follow up by fellow BSS founder Brendan Canning to be released in the New Year. Would they just play Spirit If… in its entirety, or would they throw in some beloved BSS songs for good measure?
At the start, the scene was looking rather bleak with only six members rocking out to Drew track “Lucky Ones” (BSS is 15-strong at full capacity). Their baroque pop sound didn’t seem fully fleshed out with this abbreviated outfit. Combine this with the naturally underwhelming acoustics of Webster Hall, and you’re in for a rough - well, fuzzy -evening.
However, one of the great things about Broken Social Scene gigs is you never know who will show up and jam. Some of the tension was alleviated with BSS fave “Cause = Time” when, all of a sudden, Pavement guitarist Scott Kannberg (nee “Spiral Stairs”) joined the party and contributed guitar on Spirit If… tracks “Safety Bricks” and hit single “Tbtf.” Then, Metric guitarist James Shaw strutted onstage to join in on BSS tracks “Stars and Sons” and a rousing rendition of “Superconnected” - melodic, yet teetering on the brink of complete chaos, in true BSS fashion. This was followed by one of the undisputed highlights of the night, as BSS front man Kevin Drew relieved regular drummer Justin Peroff, and Kannberg returned to sing and play guitar to Pavement’s “Kennel District,” off Wowee Zowee. It was, as Drew stated, a “return to the High School days,” and left the entire audience completely mesmerized.
Following the Pavement ditty, there was a great deal of confusion onstage, resulting in a band huddle, with a visibly upset (and at times, too talkative) Drew apologizing to the audience for the disorder. This slip-up lasted almost five minutes. All of the worry disappeared however, when a noticeably drunk - and hot - Emily Haines pranced onstage to lend airy vocals - and sexually suggestive dance moves - to BSS fan favorites “Almost Crimes,” “7/4 (Shoreline)” - replete with a horn section - and “Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl.” Haines then sauntered offstage, presumably to drink more of Mr. Drew’s booze - a problem he whined about throughout the evening.
Drew then asked audience members to toss their jackets, hats, scarves, etc. onstage and, after putting all of the items on, looked like a cross between Oogie Boogie, the villain of Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas, and a model for Mugatu’s Derelicte line [pictured]. Drew next sang BSS’s “Major Label Debut,” with its chorus of “And I’m all hooked up” (with other people’s threads), before stopping the show to return all of the items of clothing individually to crowd members. It was a considerate, albeit time-consuming gesture. The band ended the festivities with standard BSS set-closer, the shambolic “It’s All Gonna Break” - or so we thought. After the requisite wave of applause, Drew banded all of the people from his dressing room onstage - groupies included - and descended into the crowd to lead everyone in a sing-a-long of Spirit If… final track “When It Begins.” Two and a half thrilling hours after taking the stage, the Broken Social Scenesters finally called it a night. And oh, what a night it was.
--Marlow Stern
