Saturday nights at Lee’s Palace is often a sure bet for seeing great bands who heat up the Toronto music scene; Saturday, June 6^th was no exception. iheartthemusic went to catch Montreal-based band The Lovely Feathers who have been incognito for the past three years until the recent release of Fantasy of the Lot. This album (and this band) is awesome and so we anxiously awaited their performance.

First up on the bill was a Toronto group that goes by the name Boys Who Say No. These guys have been garnering a lot of press lately and so we were happy to be able to catch them before they play NXNE. Their sound is a mixture of alt-country, rock and pop that is really hard to clearly define. Although they played the earliest set of the night, and therefore had only a few people in attendance, those who did show up were clearly fans. Having recently formed (like, in the last year) we were surprised to see how tight their live performance truly was. Lead vocalist Luke was able to hit notes that most grown men wouldn’t dare attempt and made this band stand out for us even more.  

The Ghost Is Dancing, the next group to take the stage, is comprised of a bunch of friends from various musical backgrounds who are there to have fun and make music at the same time. Their sound is also tough to define, however it was nice to see a female sharing the stage with a bunch of dudes, and one who was clearly representing well! Although their style of music was not necessarily for us, they were definitely the crowd favourite as they had everyone jumping around and singing along as lead vocalist Jamie came out into the crowd and attempted a sing along with various fans. That is one thing I will give this band – they sure know how to connect with the crowd and each other!

Finally it was the moment that we were waiting for: The Lovely Feathers. The crowd was patiently waiting, the beers were freely flowing, and then they hit the stage. The Lovely Feathers garnered tons of press with their first release, Hind Hind Legs, back in 2006 after which they went on a bit of a break, however you wouldn’t know that with their performance on Saturday as they brought the house (and themselves) down! The combination of lead singer Mark Kupfert’s unique voice and Richard Yanotsky’s spastic onstage presence cannot be beat. They went straight into it opening their set with upbeat “Long Walks”, which clearly foreshadowed what was yet to come for the crowd present that evening. The energy was high and the band were clearly into it; at one point Kupfert fell over from rocking out so hard. He managed to still play while on the ground and afterwards made the comment that he, “ literally just fell over myself.”  It is not only their technical skills that was impressive but also their “sharing attitude” as they switched instruments throughout their set. The high-pitched tone of David Buzaglo voice was made ever more evident when they came on for an encore to play “Frantic” that saw the crowd “ooo-ing” along with the band. Overall best show of the week, they even convinced us to pick up all three of their albums for $20 – you can’t beat that!

Catch all of the artists during NXNE next week:

Thursday, June 18th: Boys Who Say No @ Clinton’s 9PM

Friday, June 19th: The Ghost is Dancing @ Velvet Underground 10PM

Saturday, June 20th: The Lovely Feathers @ Horseshoe Tavern 2AM