“Crap…… Crap… Crap. Oh shit. Oh shit ohshit ohshitohshitohshitpleasestopohshitohshit……… Holy shit.” Ended the night, but before we get there, let’s take a look at how it started.

Music, friends, a kickass show, unintentional family time, sporting events and flat tires

The tale of a Broken Social Scene Concert

It’s the thirteenth day of March in the year of 2004 and I along with four friends are on our way to watch Broken Social Scene rip it up at the Bluebird Theater in Denver, Colorado. The two hour ride from Laramie to downtown Denver is quick, with a stop at a massive booze store to grab two pints. Nevermind the fact it took Jeff and I half an hour to figure out what pints to buy from the massive selection. Too much beer is a bad thing for a beer lover. Too much of a good thing one could even suppose.

And we wander around Denver for a bit. Too many people, too much traffic, too much store for this small-town boy. Have dinner at Tommy Thai’s. See a few members of Broken Social Scene at the restaurant. Didn’t really realize this till the concert. I honestly thought one of the guys was in the band, but didn’t want to look like an ass should I be wrong, so I keep to myself. Should have spoken up, would have totally sounded like an obsessive fan. Turns out the guy I thought looked familiar was Brendan Canning — a founding member of Broken Social Scene, along with Kevin Drew. The food at Tommy Thai’s, least what I ordered, was good. Really rather good actually, I’d never had Thai food before. Fortunately I ordered my meal at a medium temperature, because that was a shade hot, I can’t imagine what Thai hot (hotter than hot) would be like.

And so the concert. As I’m totally psyched to see these guys rock, we get there right when the doors open. The seating at the Bluebird Theater is slightly sucky, so the two underage members of our party have to climb the stairs to the balcony. We all head up there and hang till the show starts. The deal with seating is the Bluebird has a bar downstairs, so anyone under 21 has to rock in the balcony.

The crowd in the balcony was a bunch of ultra-hip wankers. I looked like I could probably fit in with my nerd rim glasses, but Curt was slightly off in a flannel shirt. These kids definitely tried to look the part of indie. A bunch of high schoolers in front of us even smoked black clove cigarettes. Damn. I only wish I was that cool, but I’m not. So I went downstairs and had a drink. Not really, I was driving later and withheld from drinking (not that it helped). By the way, the of-age crowd was considerably less hip.

Anyhow the music. The “special guests” were The M’s from Chicago. I couldn’t find a website for these guys (you all should learn that searching for a one letter name doesn’t work well), but they were actually really good. I was seriously impressed. Tickets for the show put a man back $13, I didn’t expect a quality opening band. But The M’s were good. They had solid melodies, nice harmonies and catchy tunes.

And The M’s finish their set. The downstairs is looking remotely populated by now. Looks like most people in attendance knew something we didn’t. Not that I would have missed the opening band anyhow. The bar is seriously hopping now. It’s no wonder the Bluebird would rather have a bar than let everyone enjoy the show equally. I’d guess they make almost as much cash off booze than from tickets.

Broken Social Scene takes the stage with little fanfare. Kevin Drew begins the set by saying they’re a small band tonight. No ladies present, they’re just going to be a rock band. And with that, they begin with a mellow tune “Canada vs. America;” and with the fading guitar strokes, the oh so familiar opening rift of “kc accidental” rips through the theater from a guitar poised high in the sky. The energy the six Broken Social Scene members in attendance ripped through the small venue immediately.

Nearly every note was perfect. These guys can play. Throughout the show, the six band members in attendance played on every song. I’ve heard stories of members switching back and forth between songs, but they didn’t do this in Denver, most likely due to the lack of band members. The collective does have ten members after all. They did, however, switch instruments occasionally. Not only instruments, but they changed up the lead vocalist. Over the show, Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning and Andrew Whiteman song lead vocals on various songs, and three different people played bass as well.

There was no lead guitar player. No lead singer. No defined roles. It seems Broken Social Scene is dedicated to creating great music, rather than individuals. Not only that, there was no real solos. No masturbation on stage. There was so much sound going into each song, that it was impossible to be bored. Layer upon layer of guitar flooded the theater with a beautiful wall of sound.

Over the show, they played essentially every possible song off their latest album You Forgot it in People. I’m fairly confident in saying the only songs they skipped were “Capture the Flag,” “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-old Girl,” “Lover’s Spit,” and “Pitter Patter Goes My Heart.” Clearly the lack of members present attributed to some of the songs they skipped. They did promise to bring some ladies back and have a horn section and all next time they visit Denver “a year and a half from now.”

Broken Social Scene played three new songs, all of which were pretty good. They all seemed to have a more unifying mood, which I’m sure they are going for in their next album. You Forgot it in People is a fantastic record, but it lacks a unifying thread. It seems the next album will find a constant mood. The songs were all chill. Medium downtempo, headphone rockers. Reminded me more of Feel Good Lost than the last album.

To note: I mentioned the lousy setup of the Bluebird Theater. Not that it’s the venue’s fault. Kevin Drew even gave a song to the underage crowd in the balcony, proclaiming “you’re old enough to go to war and kill people, but not to come down here and have a drink. Hey — it’s your country, not ours.”

And so highlights of the show include “I’m Still Your Fag,” with Kevin crooning into his microphone, cigarette in hand. They pulled this song off brilliantly, even with the missing horns and strings. The beginning did sound rather thin, however, with only one guitar, bass, drums and vocals. After an hour of music with four guitars, a single guitar sounded rather weak. Quite possibly the coolest song of the show was “Cause=Time.” I’m not a huge fan of the album version, but live- it’s an all out rocker. The song initially began with only drums and about twelve bars in Kevin cut everyone off. He stated that “it’s Saturday night. It doesn’t matter to me, but these people deserve more.” And they began again, with Kevin snapping out a faster tempo. “Cause=Time” straight-up rocked out after the tempo adjustment. Everyone on stage pulled out their best rock star moves, and I’m shocked there wasn’t a guitar or two to the back of someone’s head. The stage was tiny and packed, but somehow they all avoided each other.

And so Broken Social Scene ended their set and Kevin states something along the lines of “thanks for coming out. Will be back in a year and a half. That’s it. No encores, it’s just the music.” The band leaves the stage. Less than a minute later, Kevin comes back out and says to hold up. “Andrew said that you people deserve more, and I agree.”

I couldn’t imagine what else they’d play, having already hit all possible songs on You Forgot it in People and remembering Brendan had said in an interview they’d never play songs off Feel Good Lost live. They had one more trick up their sleeve, however, and played what Kevin called dubbed their “Anthem.” And the song was a long rocker. A great encore to a great set of music.

We walk to my car and leave, tired but ready to be back home. And I take the wheel, pass hippies coming out of a String Cheese Incident concert. Get on I-25 north. Take the carpool lane for no particular reason, not knowing it eventually hits a right or left turn. Drive up a hill, faster than should have. See a stoplight, skid through the intersection, hitting a curb in the middle. Blown tire, bent rim. Change the tire, only to have the spare go flat a block later. Make many phone calls and walk two miles to spend the night.

My roommate Austin graciously takes people back to Laramie, with stops at the dog track. I stay in Denver with my aunt and uncle. Two days later, my car is ready to take back home. I get home 72 hours after end of the concert. As for the title, I went to a Nuggets game, coached four-year-olds at soccer, and saw nearly everyone on my mom’s side of the family while in Denver.

The way home from the show sucked, but the show was still great. I highly recommend seeing Broken Social Scene live and you can stream their entire discography at the band’s website, including their upcoming b-sides record Bee Hives.