Photo of Broken Social Scene by Laura Tucker, @she_shoots_shows
w/ Hannah Georgas
Broken Social Scene (BSS), the Canadian indie rock legends that seemingly half the population of Toronto has been a member of at some point, brought the penultimate stop of their 2023 tour to the Pageant on October 5th. Although it was only the group’s fourth time playing St. Louis over their 20+ years of performing, the warmness of their reception and their easygoing banter with the crowd would have made you think this was an annual event. In fact, whatever stereotypes I clung to about indie rock musicians being shy, introverted, and reluctant to engage in crowd work were completely shattered after seeing BSS live. (Maybe it’s just an American thing?)
The evening began with a set from Hannah Georgas, a Vancouver-based singer/songwriter. Georgas was touring in support of her 2023 album I’d Be Lying if I Said I Didn’t Care, which was released through BSS co-founder Kevin Drew’s Arts & Crafts label. Her performance was deliberately stripped down and minimalistic, featuring only Georgas and an accompanying guitarist, which allowed for a greater emphasis on her powerful voice and sentimental lyrics. Her music brought to mind former BSS member and indie pop superstar Leslie Feist, and it was easy to see why she was tapped to open for this tour. I would wholeheartedly recommend her music to fans of Arts & Crafts artists, as well as fans of Iron & Wine-style singer/songwriters in general.
As the opening chords of “KC Accidental” rang out and BSS took to the stage, it was clear that we would be witnessing a bona fide spectacle. Longtime fans of BSS will know that the group’s modus operandi was to construct an indie rock band using a “big band” mindset, and this was immediately on display from the very first song. Between the drums, congas, keyboards, trombone, trumpet, bass, vocalists, and no less than three guitarists, there were as many as ten musicians on stage at any point.
BSS’s lineup fluctuates depending on the availability of its members, many of whom have well-established projects of their own outside of BSS, although the group has always centered around founding members Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew. In addition to Canning and Drew, the lineup for the current tour featured: drummer Lowell Campbell, who also plays for Wintersleep and the quintessential Toronto emo band Billy Talent; journeyman guitarist Sam Goldberg, a member of many Toronto and Montreal indie rock and punk bands; Charles Spearin of the post-rock band Do Make Say Think (who switched between guitar and trumpet during the show); Evan Cranely of the indie pop group Stars (who played guitar, congas, trombone, and keyboards); and vocalist Jill Harris, a member of Toronto-based cover band Dwayne Gretzky. Even the band’s long-time roadie joined in on keyboards at different points during the set.
The experience of seeing BSS live is something like an indie rock concert by way of a Broadway musical, with the “cast” rotating on and off stage, and between instruments, depending on the song. Fittingly, frontman Kevin Drew acted as an emcee for the proceedings, ending every song with a charming anecdote or banter with the crowd: “A lot has happened since the last time we were here [in 2017], and you’re carrying around a lot of stress and negative shit that you need to get out of your system. So I want you to scream with every dollar you’ve invested in therapy!” Drew and Canning both waxed nostalgic about their past experiences touring in St. Louis specifically, thanking the audience and Pageant staff for their hospitality and “treating us like we sold out the place, even though we never do.” At one point an audience member offered Drew a bag of ketchup chips, a Canuck delicacy that Drew declared “the one thing Canada’s done right.”
Although BSS was touring to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough album You Forgot It in People (released in October 2002), the group’s setlist featured songs from their three subsequent albums as well. There were countless highlights throughout the evening, but the build-up during “Lover’s Spit” was particularly notable: the song began with Drew playing alone on stage, before he abruptly stopped in a burst of laughter, declaring “It’s not precious to me at all, I’m just grateful I can still be doing this at 47 fucking years old.” As he collected himself and resumed playing, Hannah Georgas eventually returned to join Drew in a duet, before the rest of the band gradually returned to the stage as well.
Drew’s almost supernatural ability to connect with a crowd was astonishing to see, and it was truly inspirational to witness the emotional context behind BSS’s music firsthand—perhaps not surprising given the group’s mission statement of inspiring people to fix their own “broken social scenes” and experience unity through music. | David Von Nordheim
