Fleet Foxes Sound Perfect At Massey

Toronto, ON

Massey Hall

Scott Bryson (CHARTattack)

08/05/2009 4:32pm

If any group should be labeled psych-folk, it's Fleet Foxes' handpicked opener, Dungen.

The Swedish four-piece seemed an odd choice as warm-up act, since their lengthy, fuzzy space jams are probably better suited to an Akron/Family bill. But the selection made more sense later in the night when Fleet Foxes main man Robin Pecknold revealed that Dungen are his favourite band.

After a quick transition, Fleet Foxes took the stage with little fanfare and launched into the "Sun" portion of their set, opening with "Sun Giant," then "Sun It Rises."

The Seattle-based band looked a little odd on Massey Hall's expansive stage — they were scrunched into a self-contained circle that took up about a third of the available space. If nothing else, it did make their performance seem more intimate.

The five-piece powered through the majority of the songs from their self-titled full-length and Sun Giant EP. "He Doesn't Know Why," "White Winter Hymnal" and "Ragged Wood" were predictably the crowd's favourites. They also hauled out an unnamed new song that was one of the better, most energetic tunes of the night.

Stage banter was arranged into two distinct segments.

For the first half of the show, Pecknold could only talk about how excited Fleet Foxes were to be in Toronto and at Massey Hall (he had looked up the Hall on Wikipedia and rattled off some facts about it).

During the set's second half, the chit-chat gave way to silence, while Pecknold took time to tune his guitar between every song. The pauses gave the audience a chance to yell out ridiculous comments like "I am enjoying this a lot" and "Play some Nickelback!"

Drummer Josh Tillman took over talking duties at this point and threw some amusing one-liners back at the crowd.

The band left Pecknold alone to play a mini solo set, then returned to close with "Mykonos." Pecknold then quickly re-emerged by himself to play the first of two encores. It began with "Oliver James" and an unplugged cover of Karen Dalton's "Katie Cruel." The rest of Fleet Foxes then came back out for "Blue Ridge Mountains."

After another brief break, Pecknold took to the stage one last time to play "Meadowlarks."

On the whole, Fleet Foxes were technically note-perfect. Massey Hall was an ideal location for the showcasing of their vocal harmonies. Diehard fans likely walked away from this show completely satisfied.

The set was, however, short on explosive moments, so casual listeners and newcomers may have found the evening a little dull.