Dad Rock?

With his new status as husband and father, Bry Webb put The Constantines on hiatus (though they have reunited for shows here and there). He still made music, but in a gentler vein. His performance at Massey Hall where he opened for Coeur de Pirate was "special enough" in his words that they decided to release an LP of that live show.

Thursday night, to celebrate that release, Webb has assembled the same players (whom he dubbed the Providers) for a show at the Great Hall. But first up was Isla Craig. She set the mood of the evening with some "psyche jam" including older song Continental Drift (cut down from 12 minutes), but mostly new tracks such as Far Away Blue. I was mildly disappointed since it was much less groovier than her sexy gig at Burdock.

The Providers have a bit of an all-star feel with musicians from other bands including Nathan Lawr (The Minotaurs) on drums and Anna Ruddick (Ladies of the Canyon) on upright bass. Though numerous songs were quiet such as opening number Undertaker and there was even a "sad dad" song section, Webb admitted that "sooner or later, [guitar] distortion creeps in". So the music (Rivers of Gold, Ex-Punks) was much more muscular live with bigger rhythm and arrangement. Not quite Constantine loud but enough to get people's heads bobbing. I thought the acoustics tonight was much better than Massey, letting every note from the various instruments shine through.

Though people were pretty vocal in their appreciation, Webb winkingly encouraged them to really cheer for an encore ("You don't know how hard we worked on it.") Sure enough, the audience was rewarded with a blistering cover of I Know You Rider (Grateful Dead).