Metamorphosis

Friday night, I took the streetcar to Little Italy for a concert. The Mod Club was a victim of the Covid shutdowns but quickly re-opened as The Axis Club. Once I got inside, I saw that the new owners had done renovations. Most notably, the lounge benches on the right side have been removed. This gave the audience more room to be closer to the stage. There were also cameras for live-streaming.

It was a good-sized audience for opener Grae. The pink-hair singer already had loud fans who cheered her on pop numbers like Forget You, Room In The Desert, and Boxes. She had airy, Lorde-esque vocals but this venue was still quite bass-heavy (from its club days) which muddied her voice in the mix.

Hannah Bussiere Kim (Luna Li) was flabbergasted that the hometown crowd was around 400-500 people. No wonder as the last time I saw her just before the pandemic, there were maybe 30 people at the Monarch Tavern. She has played to big crowds but only as an opener. In the last few months, they toured extensively with Japanese Breakfast and also had a head-lining tour with their debut album Duality. This showed with the assured stage presence tonight. At previous concerts, sometimes Bussiere would kill a set's momentum by taking too much time switching between guitar, violin, and harp. But with more experience (and stagehands), everything ran smooth enough for even a mid-set wardrobe change

I'm certain the pandemic changed the trajectory of Luna Li. Bussiere pointed out that she has played her songs at many sketchy Toronto spaces (I agree, because I was there). Even in 2020, there was only a small audience. It didn't look like things were moving in the right direction, unlike Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) who returned to Toronto to larger and larger venues. In fact, Zauner will playing at the 2,500-capacity History theatre in July. I won't be there as Toronto isn't my turf anymore and her concert tickets have now exceeded my budget.

But during the height of the pandemic, a series of 1-minute jams with Bussiere playing all the instruments went viral on social media as well as streaming platforms. It led to a "jams" EP and record deals. Not surprisingly then that halfway through Luna Li's set, they played 4-5 of those jams as a band. Many of her new fans were seeing her live for the first time tonight. But for every one (like the young lady beside me) who was awed at Bussiere's versatility, there were others who had already memorized all the songs (Silver Into Rain, Star Stuff, What You're Thinking). I was glad that Luna Li has found success (and leaving my orbit) but I did regret that they didn't play Opal Angel.

This transformation was serendipitous as Luni Li's "brand" is the butterfly. I'm pretty sure Bussiere has a butterfly tattoo. It's certainly in the band's name, on their merchandise, and one of her guitar is in the shape of a multi-coloured lepidoptera. Here's hoping her emergence lasts more than one summer.

I noticed how every West-End neighbourhood was busy. Some businesses/restaurants in the East-End did have customers, but on the other side of town, they were on the street walking or driving around, packed tight on the patio, and spilling out in long lines outside venues. After the concert, I saw that the line for club Revival across the way was stretched down the block all the way into the parking lot of the Metro grocery store.

I hadn't planned on taking the Greenwood bus ever again, but I took a chance for my return trip. Well, I didn't sit in a wet seat this time. But as I got off the subway, someone who was too busy staring at their phone slipped on and fell into a huge puddle of vomit. Their jacket and jeans were splashed with yellowish goo and bits of detritus. Yikes! This stop is cursed.