Broken Social Scene @ Courthouse (Photo Credit: Matthew Braga)

When you have an event name like the “This Book is Broken Book Launch” who else would you expect the special guests to be? It sure ain’t the Arcade Fire. Needless to say, everyone had their good guesses prior to the show (Feist, Stars, Metric, and any Arts & Crafts affiliated bands) but the only logical guess had to be the night’s celebrated stars themselves, Broken Social Scene.

As soon as one walked in, photos were plastered across the two screens on the left and right sides of the walls of the venue and it was quite hard to miss the signs and hints – especially if you turn around and then proceed to see Broken Social Scene’s lead singer Kevin Drew and drummer Justin Peroff mingling with folks on the side of the stage.

The night began with A&C and BSS alumni Jason Collett. Collett’s set was a quite full of new tunes from his upcoming album, coming this fall, fleshed out with a couple of older songs (“Brownie Hawkeye”, “Charlyn, Angel of Kensington”). As per usual, Collett played a solid set of folksy Dylan-rock tunes, more suited for a sunny afternoon on your porch with a beer in hand as opposed to a disco balled nightclub. That was my main peeve of the night – Jason Collett in a jazz lounge? May as well stick Celine Dion at the Velvet Underground. Albeit, regardless of venue, Collett is fantastic live and his raspy voice sinks into your ears ever so smoothly when he sings, but the dynamics were just slightly skewed. For those who want to catch a real Jason Collett vibe at a show, you should’ve caught his residency at the Dakota Tavern last year. I’m sure we’ll get more opportunities though, come October when his album drops. Oh, and how can I forget – this man can dance.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jasoncollettofficial

Next up were two of Arts & Crafts’ newest members, The Happiness Project (Charles Spearin) and Years (Ohad Benchetrit). Intertwining their sets together, both bands had their share of sound and equipment fumbles. At one point, during Years’ set, Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew leapt onstage to entertain the audience and express his love for Benchetrit while problems were being sorted out. Once technical roadblocks were cleared up though, both sets continued on quite smoothly. Suffering from the same symptoms of previous act, Jason Collett, both Years and The Happiness Project also felt out of place at the swanky Courthouse. Having seen The Happiness Project play in March at the atmospherically intimate Music Gallery, it wasn’t the same seeing Charles Spearin, violinist Julie Penner and company playing in the Courthouse’s environment. Performance-wise though, both acts played very endearing sets of material from their recent releases and the audience seemed to be equally mesmerized by their simplistic, soft sounds. Definitely two acts that prove to be captivating both live and on record.

MySpace (The Happiness Project): http://www.myspace.com/charlesspearin
Website (Years): http://www.yearsmusic.ca/

At this point, it hit me – none of these bands are suited for a venue like the Courthouse. But it’s a book launch. It’s Broken Social Scene. It’s a fucking small stage. How rare is that? Suck it up and enjoy it.

Apostle of Hustle were the second last act of the night, before the “special guests” and it was about time they picked up the tempo. Lead singer, Andrew Whiteman is quite possibly one of the best performers out there today; this man knows how to grab your attention by the proverbial horns and make you watch him as he sings, dances and jumps around onstage. This band has yet to disappoint me live. Reinterpretations of songs such as “National Anthem of Nowhere” and “Cheap Like Sebastien” keep their live shows fresh and interesting; and combined with exciting new tracks from their latest release, Eats Darkness, one can’t help but dance and sway along to their folksy, Latin toe-tapping melodies. Even Whiteman’s bandmates in Broken Social Scene were dancing along on the side; it’s that infectious. Pick up a record, buy a concert ticket, do anything you can do get a taste of Apostle of Hustle if you haven’t yet. It’ll be worth it. And this is coming from an unemployed, broke student.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/apostleofhustle

Alas, it’s midnight. Author of This Book is Broken and singer of the Two Koreas, Stuart Berman, walks onstage to introduce the last band of the night, and by the sight of Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff, Evan Cranley and many more waiting on the side, it’s kind of hard to not guess by then. And if you couldn’t guess by seeing that line of musicians, you weren’t at the right show. The moment they stepped onstage, the crowd roared; the loudest applause of the night. There was one last surprise in store for the crowd though, as Leslie Feist (who had stated months ago in an interview that she was never going to play with BSS again) skipped onstage after the first song to sing along to “7/4 Shoreline”. By then, chaos ensued, dancing erupted and smiles were permanently painted on everyone’s face. The band played a total of five new songs, one of which Feist did guest on. The new material more or less reflected the typical Broken Social Scene mould, with a slightly refreshed tinge to it. One particular track though – not sure of the title – felt particularly out of place and it is clear from listening to it that the band still needs lots of work on the new record. It was mostly impressive, but seeing as how it was their first time previewing these tracks, they are extremely tentative and the band doesn’t look completely comfortable with them yet. It’ll be interesting to see these tracks progress as they play more shows this summer. The rest of the set, which consisted of rarely played classics (“New Country”, “Almost Crimes”) was spectacular and everyone in the band and in the audience breathed a sigh of relief and excitement to break open a chest of older tunes. Broken Social Scene will always be an incredible experience live and that you’ll remember for weeks, if not months, afterwards. Was this Broken Social Scene at its best? Probably not. But it was pretty darn close. Perfect way to end this book launch? With a one-song performance by the Two Koreas, featuring Kevin Drew and Justin Peroff, who learned the song on the spot. Fuck yes.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/brokensocialscene

Missed Broken Social Scene at NXNE? Catch them for free at Harbourfront Centre on July 11th!