Love Hurts

I had tickets to the first night of Wavelength 15 at Sneaky Dee's. It turns out that some under-the-radar bands (e.g., Lockbox, Hervana) were doing short sets of other Toronto bands (Owen Pallett, The Constantines). I thought about the rough sound system at the venue and decided that if I'm going to be listening to covers all night, I might as well head to The Horseshoe to hear Dwayne Gretzky, who promised an entire set of "break-up" songs to celebrate Friday the 13th.

Amazingly, on this bitterly cold night, it was still at capacity. This turned out well for opening act Fast Romantics. Singer Matthew Angus has an intense stage persona, which seemed like a lot of work when I saw them at the mostly empty Drake Underground. But it went over well with a full floor. Angus commented that "all our songs are break-up songs" and he was right with numbers like Funeral Song. But despite downer topics, their songs were almost always upbeat and energetic, though perhaps too often overlong. They ended their set with a cover of their own: a manic version of Pulp's Common People.

Dwayne Gretzky promised break-up songs and they delivered. They started (relatively) obscure with Don't Do It (The Band) and Dirty Work (Steely Dan). But it was a set packed with hits, which meant that for every classic (I Want You Back, You're So Vain, Love Will Tear Us Apart), there was plenty of cheese (Total Eclipse of the Heart, Careless Whisper). But when played live with such enthusiasm, and sung along with lusty joy by the audience, you can't really hate Cryin' or Don't Go Breaking My Heart. One surprising omission was Robin Hatch doing You Oughta Know; from past shows, this cover is a huge favourite for the women.