Broken Social Scene Give It A Go Without The Girls

It's pretty incredible how far Kevin Drew has come. The first time I saw Broken Social Scene (the CD release party for You Forgot It In People at Lula Lounge), the mercurial frontman stood behind a keyboard at the side of the stage for most of the show and saddled his vocals with heavily layered effects. Just less than five years and two albums later, Drew is firmly at the forefront of Social Scene. His just-released Spirit If... keeps the BSS name to the side and he was front and centre more than ever before at the group's show on Thursday night.

The big gesture at the beginning was an alcoholic one. Drew announced that they spent enough money for everyone in the bar to have a shot of tequila. Said shots circulated until about 60 per cent of the bar had one in hand for an opening toast. "I'm fulfilling a dream tonight," Drew joked. "At the end of high school when everyone said what they wanted to do with their lives, I said I want to buy tequila for 600 people."

This show was the Canadian debut for the new touring version of Social Scene. Gone are the regulars except for Drew, Brendan Canning and Justin Peroff. Along for the ride this time around are Uncut's Sam Goldberg, You Forgot It In People contributor Bill Priddle and American Analog Set's Andrew Kenny. The notable absence was a female presence. In fact, this was one of the biggest sausage parties of the year right from the beginning when none other than baffling Spirit If... contributor Tom Cochrane showed up to add guitar and vocals to a crisp version of "Lucky Ones." And while the aging rocker and his aging rocker antics weren't on par with, say, an appearance from Feist or Emily Haines, the lack of women didn't hinder the momentum in the least.

John Crossingham came out intermittently to help add guitar layers to keep the Social Scene sound firmly intact. Thankfully, the band have taken cues from their 2006 festival performances. They avoided long dirge-like tracks and stuck to the poppy and passionate songs such as B-side "Canada Vs. America" and "Superconnected." Bloc Party's Gordon Moakes was a surprise guest (not to mention a competent one) on bass for "Stars And Sons," while Cochrane showed up again to lead the band through a collaborative take on "The Boy Inside The Man."

"Bet you didn't see that coming," Drew exclaimed. "'Boy Inside The Man?' That feels like the end, right?

"The end, however, was nowhere in sight. The band never left the stage, naturally and gamefully playing into what Drew deemed "encore time." Though he falsely ended the performance on just about every track and nearly begged off of playing "Backed Out On The..." (which featured a massive stage invasion) because he was physically exhausted. This was an epic effort. By the end of Spirit If... closer "When It Begins," the core six musicians were dripping in sweat and grinning ear to ear. The crowd wouldn't have let them leave, except, after two solid hours of truly stellar music, they couldn't have asked for anything else.

Well, except for "Ibi Dreams Of Pavement," but you have to leave 'em wanting more, right?