I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

Thursday night was supposed to look like this: head to The Great Hall, chat with the nice people at the door and listen to the sweet sounds of Sally Seltman, Dan Mangan and Timber Timbre. In reality, however, it looked more like this: arrive at The Great Hall well in advance, chat with the door people who inform us that their media list is full and our passes mean nothing, take a look inside the venue and realize how empty it is, see the angry faces outside and realize that it won’t be happening for us that night. Despite being extremely disappointed and VERY surprised at the lack of noteriety our “media” passes gave us (not the first or last time this would happen), we decided to head elsewhere and landed at the Rivoli.

We arrived at the Rivoli only to be pleasantly surprised by what we heard. Halfway through her set was Calgary singer-songstress Jodi King. King is one of those artists that you truly appreciate when you see them live. Taking inspiration from her real life heartbreaks and experiences, King sang with her whole heart alternating between the piano and tambourine while at the same time maintaining her flawless look. Jodi not only commanded the attention of the audience and hit every note perfectly, she was able to hold my attention throughout her ENTIRE set (which rarely happens). It was one of the tightest performances I have seen live in quite a while which, ironically enough, ended up being the theme of the night. Taking inspiration from singers before her, she brought something wholesome and unique to the stage and I can only hope that I will be able to see her play at a larger venue in the near future!

Next up was Windsor band Michou. I have been waiting to see them play for quite some time and with a whole merch table dedicated to their moto itsnicetomichou, what you see is what you get from these “nice” guys. They came onstage and went straight into it with an incredible instrumental introduction. When they hit their second song “Eavesdropping”, Sasha Appler on the keys jumped to the forefront to perform several pushups mid-song and then returned to blow on the trumpet. A great beginning to say the least and a nice addition to yet another incredibly tight band. Everything appeared to be on point for these guys; from the soft vocals of Mike Hargreaves, to the banging of Stefan Cvetkovic on the drums, everyone played their parts perfectly. I have to say, I bought their latest album Cardona prior to the show and rarely listened to it. They play a style of music that is best listened to during the summer at the cottage, but after watching their performance, it is their live show that really showcases their diversity. They were comfortable, mature and just really, really nice! By the time they made it to “Imperfect” I was sold and have since brought their album out of retirement on my iPod.

The final act that we caught that night was probably the most mature or “seasoned” of them all. Saint Alvia is a band that recieved HUGE press after the release of their last album Between the Lines and then they just kind of disappeared. So, as you can imagine, I was surprised to see that they were playing CMF this year. The band performed songs from both their latest album and earlier work such as personal favourite “Blonde Kryptonite” without a hitch. My only criticism was the venue. The Rivoli is a great venue for indie bands, however it is not so great for bands that really command (and deserve) a larger one and Saint Alvia is one such band. With each member of the band contributing to the vocals and no real frontman, a small stage just doesn’t appear to cut it. Although the size of the stage was a factor, these guys are professionals and played as if they were performing to a crowd of thousands. 

photography provided by Samantha Clarke