And so continues my NXNE blog..jpg)
I’ve never been to SXSW, so it is hard to make comparisons to its Canadian counterpart. In fact, I’ve never encountered the citywide festival experience before, having only ever been to the more traditional Glastonbury-style set up. What I need is a veteran of the city festival to lead me around, or to give me Red Bull and lead me around, or to extend my patience with Toronto’s public transport (which is wearing pretty thin). Last night, I opted, again, to stay in one place for the evening rather than trying to navigate the slow moving streetcars and subways whilst on a schedule.
Lee’s Palace is a mid-sized venue (and nightclub) that seems identical to a fair few in the city (Mod Club, The Phoenix), with a Burrito Bar cleverly built in to serve those hungry punters arriving or leaving, or standing in line. The big difference, I’m told, between SXSW and NXNE is that you can get into big gigs without huge lineups, and the smaller shows are still well attended. In short, SXSW is just too big and NXNE isn’t as bad (yet). I wouldn’t be ready for it. It would be too much, too soon for my non-citywide festival mentality to take. The hustle, the bustle, the waiting, the wandering, etc, etc. Here, Toronto is proving a worthy host with its selection of venues, and visible, yet not efficient, public transport.
Highlight of the night came from Washington. Not massively well known in this hemisphere, but enjoying superstar celebrity status Down Under, Australian Megan Washington recently signed to Universal for her debut North American release (set for October). Don’t let that put you off there, BoWers. I know this is a new and obscure music blog, but her solo set was a stand out performance of the evening’s proceedings (and she is new to North America). With just a piano and her voice, Washington silenced the captivated crowd in the same way as T. Nile yesterday and no other act on the bill (maybe Toronto just likes female singers?). If she is to sit atop the hit parade then it will be through her big voice and jazz style timing.
Here is a live performance of “Swallow,” a track available for free on her Facebook page.
I’m going to scour the listing today, it being Friday and all, to come up with some new and obscure tunes for you. In the meantime, please enjoy this little instrumental of a band that came to my attention through their Stone Roses related name, Elephant Stone. I’ve never seen a sitar being played in the flesh, as I was a sheltered child, so it could be a big fat cross from my bucket list by 10 o’clock tonight! If, at 10:35 pm, I get knocked down by a slow moving streetcar or squished in a stationary subway, at least I can say I lived.