All We Need Is Music, Sweet Music

On a warm Friday night, I checked out two musical events: Sweet Thing playing at Dundas Square, and a Motown dance party at the Great Hall. I had heard Sweet Thing played as cover band Dwayne Gretzky and a couple of songs done acoustically during NXNE Picnic in Bellwoods, but never a full set. Since they were scheduled to play a free set at Dundas Square as part of 'Indie Night', this was my chance to hear their own material.

Apparently, the majority of their fan-base are teenage girls. Aside from a few curious tourists, it was mostly high school girls filling up the space. This made it hard for opening act The Treasures to engage the crowd with their countrified rock: pedal guitars and twangy vocals. The screaming started when the 5 members of Sweet Thing came on stage.

Compared to the small stages of local bars, Dundas Square was probably their biggest stage. And they indulged in the space, especially the lead singer and bassist. Arms swinging, rock postures, running around, raising the mike stand, they did it all; and their fans loved it. The antics showed them to be veterans who were comfortable on stage and knew how to engage the crowd. Sweet Thing write some catchy, multi-harmony pop songs including Lorraine, Spider, Dance Mother, Change of Seasons, and their biggest hit Lazy Susan. They have a great sound and are fun to watch live.

Afterwards, I headed over to the Great Hall at Queen and Dovercourt for The Big Sound: A Motown party. I wasn't interested in the DJ spinning old Motown tunes (though I did work up a sweat dancing to them), but I was looking forward to the assembly of local musicians who were going to play some live Motown hits. What a band! 19 musicians crammed on stage: 4 horns, 6 singers each taking turns doing harmony and lead, a cello, viola, violin, 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 piano, percussion and drums. If the band was big, the audience was bigger. I doubt the Great Hall could have accommodated the 600+ people who signed up on Facebook, but several hundred were definitely there, jamming the place tight and got the place over-heated and sweaty.

It got even more heated when the band came on and it was obviously a big sound played by enthusiastic and talented people. The entire place was rocking and dancing to 'Dancing In the Street', 'You Can't Hurry Love', 'What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted', 'Tears of A Clown', 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', among others. But the stand-out was Maylee Todd; and it's not because I'm biased for her. Everybody got cheers and whistles, but when she finished 'I Want You Back' the place exploded. One of the most enjoyable night of music I've had. I'm looking forward to the next installment on October 21st.