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Toronto

Music in 2017

2017 was a fun year for me for attending concerts.  As you know I’m not much for words so here’s a quick re-cap:

The first concert of the year was The Sadies opening for Blue Rodeo at Oshawa’s Tribute Communities Centre. It’s a nice little venue that we’d visit again later in the year.

The last show of 2017 was Teen Ravine opening for July Talk.

This was our second time seeing July Talk. We saw them earlier in 2017 at Budweiser Stage during the summer in support of Arkells.

Also on that ticket was Said The Whale and Mondo Cozmo. Kahzmir and I saw Said The Whale again in Scarborough. Along with less than a couple dozen others braving a summer shower.

The smallest venue we visited was a couple of local community centres in Scarborough as part of SoFar Toronto (Scarborough). We saw a bunch of acts over 3 different concerts including the Saxaphone Brothers and Renee The Voice.

Sofar Toronto #music #weekend #indie #sofarscarborough #sofar #sofartoronto

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The largest venue was the SkyDome (aka Rogers Centre) were we saw the Lumineers open for U2’s The Joshua Tree tour.

Sunday Bloody Sunday #joshuatreetour2017 #Toronto

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Favourite venue was the Horseshoe Tavern. Finally saw a show  there. The James Clark Institute opened for Pursuit Of Happiness. Yes, I’m an adult now!

I went to NYC in September 2017. Besides seeing almost every taping of the New York late night talk shows I also visited the legendary Apollo theatre in Harlem. And this was during the famous Amateur Night where we witnessed more almost a dozen musical acts including the famous house band.


We also saw some classic acts such as Pink Floyd’s Rogers Waters and the return of Guns N’ Roses!


Throughout the year we also saw Neil Haden perform at least three times. Twice with his band, Two Left Feet and once at his Uncle Neil and Friends Christmas Toy Concert.

The Bach Children’s Chorus and Youth Choir also played multiple times during 2017. We saw them three times last year. It’s especially fun when our son, Kahzmir, is part of two of these performances every year!

2017 also introduced us to Kc Roberts and the Live Revolution (a fusion of jazz/funk/rock), A-Track and Chromeo (both DJs in the EDM space – I think!)

One of the last shows of 2017 (although not the last!) was Canadian Music Hall of Fame band Barenaked Ladies with support from one of Canada’s finest songwriter’s, Ron Sexsmith!

Finally. We’re at my favourite shows of 2017. It’s a virtual tie. But there always has to be a winner.

So, in second place was:

Opening Act: Broken Social Scene (I was so happy to finally see this band live after many near misses!)

Headlining: Arcade Fire. No matter what the critics think of their latest album(s) the power group from Montreal (via Haiti and USA) knows how to put on a show with their collection of rock anthems.

The winning combo…

Opening Act: Matt Mays

Headlining: Arkells. We saw Arkells for the second time in Oshawa. The venue was smaller than when we saw them in summer. Arkells is rock and roll. They have anthems, pop songs and love songs. They are tight but play with the enthusiasm and joy of teens. This was the most fun I’ve had at a concert all year. These guys are the real deal. And while they’ve arrived they will only get bigger and better. If you can, see Arkells.

social media, sports

The Day I Interviewed a Big Thinker

I was recently reminded of this short interview I did with Jon Sinden. Sinden is now the VP of Marketing for Beerlicious. His most recent gig before that was building the social and digital properties for Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).

This particular interview was conducted in the press box high above center ice at the Air Canada Centre which is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.

We chatted a bit about the role of digital and social in bringing fans closer to the action. I hope you enjoy!

concert

Concert Review: Paul Simon and Sting at the Air Canada Centre

1986’s Graceland by Paul Simon still remains one of my top ten favourite albums of all time. And Stewart Copeland’s distinctive  drumming while with The Police made it cool for kids like me to air drum.

So when my sister gave  tickets as a present for me to see Paul Simon and Sting (lead singer for The Police for those of you not at “mature” as me) this past weekend, I was more than excited.

While I thought that the sound system could have been improved upon (Neil Young’s last visit to the ACC may have blown a few fuses – I was at that concert too) the two did not disappoint the thousand in attendance.

Paul Simon and Sting
Paul Simon and Sting

Both eclectic songwriters performed hits such as Every Breath You Take, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, Walking On The Moon, Graceland, Roxanne, The Boxer (which was a Grade 5 favourite of mine), and You Can Call Me Al.

Watch some of my Vine’s from the concert:

https://vine.co/v/MKEEq2YP7F9