Artist Select Series

With Saturday night being cold and drizzly, I stayed closer to home for Canadian Music Fest instead of venue-hopping. It's been awhile since I've been to the Garrison. Instead of walking through the sit-down front bar to get to the stage in the second bar through a curtained entrance, they've closed off that front door. There was now a single entry on the side that led to either venue.

Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene) was the night's curator and DJ. First up at 9 pm was Husky, a 4-member Australian band that had just arrived that morning. It was their 11th city in 9 days. They played introspective indie-pop with intricate piano and guitar. It might have been a better fit in a different venue, but with only a handful in the bar, there wasn't much energy given or received by either side.

People started filling up for The Balconies at 10 and they got a rocking 40 minutes set. There were less Balconies' fans than at the last concert (evidenced by the lack of singing and clapping to "Serious Bedtime") but they made lots of new believers. From free whiskey shots to people crowding the stage afterward, Jacquie won them over. And why not? With her huge guitar riffs, hair flying, and head banging, she was tough and sexy in a skin-tight black leather tights. She has added yet another move to her rock-pose repertoire: deep runner's lunge while banging out guitar chords.

ALX had more trouble than at their debut at the Drake last week. They were 10-minute late setting up their synths, effects, and Macs. People had already drifted away into loud conversations but Allie Hughes drew some of them back with her clear high voice. She had a bit of trouble navigating the stage with all the cables and wires strewn about. The stocking-and-garter set was still there, except now paired with a preppy private school look of black shorts and WASP-y brown vest. On their last song, I Will Love You More, the backing track died for most of the number, leaving only Kieran on drums. Ironically, that gave them the loudest cheers as the glitch high-lighted the quality of the singing from Allie and her singers Kelly McMichael and Maddy Wilde. It was a smaller crowd than The Balconies, and was comprised of mostly 20-something women who appreciated the chance to dance around to some electro-pop.

I looked over the rest of the listing: Uncle Bad Touch, The Yardlets, and Teenage Kicks. But I decided to head home relatively early.

Since the night was sponsored by Red Bull, there were cameras on hand to record a few songs.