Broken Social Scene - New York 9/18 Summerstage Concert Review

Update: For photos and videos from the show head over to Brooklyn Vegan

I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for a show than Broken Social Scene’s appearance at Summerstage in Central Park New York last Sunday. Due to many unfortunate events, primarily my laziness and geographic location, I never actually made it to see BSS live despite many ill-fated attempts in the past 4 years. Fortunately, like a spoiled little girl receiving her pony for Christmas, I finally had the pleasure of watching BSS live for the first time and HOLY SHIT was it amazing.

With such a large and ever changing lineup it’s difficult to predict who will be at their show. This time around when the band came on stage it was full of familiar faces with regulars Charles Spearin, Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, Brendan Canning, Lisa Lobsinger, and Justin Peroff all in attendance as well as an impressive horn section.

The band made full use of their 2 hours, playing continuously and refusing to take a break even for an encore. Kevin Drew simply stated, “Fuck it. We don’t have time to get off stage and come back on, so this is the encore right now.”

They went full throttle early playing “Texico Bitches” and immediately followed it up with “7/4 Shoreline.” The crowd was equally as pleased with newer songs like “Sweetest Kill” and “Forced to Love” as they were with “Fire Eyed Boy” and “Looks Just Like the Sun.”

Highlights of the show include the always intimate “Lover’s Spit” where the band departed for a few moments for a brief Kevin Drew solo, Lisa Lobsinger’s dizzying ethereal vocals on “Anthem For a Seventeen Year Old Girl,” the long solos and improv driven version of “Stars and Sons,” and of course their unbelievable energy on “Meet Me In The Basement.” Nearly an hour and half into their set, everything seemed to have built up to “Meet Me In the Basement,” where the band’s energy really peaked. They retreated from the microphones to congregate in the center of the stage to unleash a flurry of screaming guitars and thumping bass to an anthemic drum beat.

For the most part, the show had this same amazing voyeuristic feel as if we were privy to the greatest jam session ever amongst a large group of insanely talented friends. The session was only occasionally interrupted, when Kevin Drew would realize there was an audience present and acknowledge our presence much to the crowd’s delight.

His banter was full of bratty swagger but oddly playful and humble in an endearing way. At one point, he urged the crowd in joining him in chanting, “Fuck you I won’t do you what you tell me.” While at another point, Kevin Drew expressed his dismay with the proposed outdoor smoking ban in New York by lighting up a cigarette and exaggeratedly enjoying it. These moments were interspersed with humility where he generously thanked the crowd for its attendance and support over the years. Later, he would send Brendan Canning, Charles Spearin, and Sam Goldberg crowd surfing while he gently admonished the crowd to be careful like a clucking mother hen.

All in all another fantastic Broken Social Scene concert. Their insane talent and passion for music was blatantly obvious as they played an adrenaline fueled non-stop 2 hours of music. More importantly, their desire to put on a good show for their fans was clear.