Mommy Dearest

Though there weren't too many East End venues, my sublet was actually convenient for several larger theatres. So it was a short street-car ride on Thursday night to get to The Phoenix. It is slated for condo redevelopment so there may not be too many shows left in its future. While waiting in a line, a young woman told her friends that she had skipped on a show Wednesday to be "responsible" (budget reasons?) but maybe the singer will return in a year or two. Despite Toronto being one of the top music destinations in the world, depending on that musician's circumstances, they may never return (so yolo).

I was at the back for opener Zoon. It was an atmospheric, grungy garage sound with higher-pitched male alto. From the cheering, they had some fans. In fact, it was pretty full for the early set. But I was able to get much closer by using a secret from my experience at previous shows. If you head to the left side of the room, there are enough spaces between (not as tightly packed) people that you'll end up only 2-3 metres from stage left. It wasn't until I snuck back just before the encore that I realized how close I was compared to the folks in the rear watching behind hundreds of people.

Soccer Mommy (Sophia Allison) started as a bedroom-pop musician but quickly became the face of the genre with several top reviews. She has come a long way from playing a solo set or to a sparse crowd. An almost capacity crowd hung onto her every words and often sang along. Most songs got a loud cheer with the first chord intro. Her newer numbers did have more propulsion than older hits like Still Clean thanks to the drummer.

Like last night's show, this will likely be my final encounter with Soccer Mommy for the same reason: their style of wistful confessional music does not sound great to me in a big venue. Also, two sets of mostly mid-tempo songs had me nodding off on my feet. But plenty of people tonight thought differently. Given how incredible Thao's performance was to about 50 people, I think that 20 times (or 30 times for Men I Trust) that number tonight would have loved (and added so much to) her high-energy set.