Review and photos – Broken Social Scene at the Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, Oct 6 2010

– review by eugene osudar/photos by Lisa Varga

my friend bobby b,
studying in england,
swears by Broken
Social Scene.
listens to them
most
every day.
saw them
twice
on their recent
european
tour
and he tells
me,

they’re genuinely
nice people.

“say hi”
from me.

this is where
i write
Bobby from Winnipeg,
who saw you in Koln
and Sheffield
and was on stage with you,
says,

Hello.

and no bobby,
BSS didn’t invite
a fan on stage
during Forced To Love
(at least)
i didn’t see them do it.

that
was for you!
because they know
You
Love them.

and
i didn’t meet them,
(here)
in My Winnipeg

(there was a song
dedicated to Guy Maddin),
last night
at the Burton Cummings
Theatre.

i’m guessing,
1,000 people.

they don’t play here
that often. a couple
of bad experiences.
a stolen guitar pedal

(which was
eventually
returned with
a letter of apology,

“that’s called
atonement Winnipeg!”)

and a sorry gig
at the long gone
Le Rendezvous/

(where i danced
madly to Montreal’s
men without hats
and soared with
Pavement/
slanted, enchanted)

and there was a song for
a family
with whom they
first stayed
with here
in Winnipeg
a long time ago,

and there
was something else,
more,

for the fans,

130 minutes
of music.

according to bobby,
that’s a whole lotta
BSS.

23 or 24 songs,
i lost count.

too many songs
too many minutes.

i could have done without 10 of those
songs. ah, but which 10 would
BSS have chosen?

because, while i love the cd version
of cause = time,
i did not enjoy the live
performance of it
last night.

and so it goes.

texaco bitches
anthems for a seventeen year-old girl
meet me in the basement
looks just like the sun
water in hell
it’s all gonna break
romance to the grave
ungrateful little father
super connected
world sick

were some of my highlights
and yet
sometimes
i wasn’t moved in the midst
of the performances

there wasn’t enough,

passion?

energy?

stupidity?

before the set,
the great songs
of The Replacements
were played.

talk about

un,
even,
jag/ged,
performance!

The Mats
could be so
(drunk)
they could destroy
covers they loved,
peter out
into a mixed
chorus of
playful and nasty
boos

so, near, violence.

or
they could show you,
Genius!
mashing their lyrics
into great pop songs

paul westerberg’s
kids don’t follow
over the melody
of U2’s
i will follow,

and so it goes.

i saw them twice
two nights in a row
in Vancouver

the mad genius
Bob Stinson
long gone.
dead.

but two nights
of supreme
passion and stupidity.

the way alt
rockers, true
punks
should (should!) always
act,

the way The Arcade Fire
performed
on September 23rd

stupid and
contagious

the way Nirvana
played it
the one
the only time i saw them

opening for
The Screaming Trees
in  Vancouver.

Stupid.
Contagious.
Like you do
in front of your
bedroom
mirror,

alone.
dreaming.
of being on stage.

in a theatre
100 years old.

(what a blessing,
BSS. a thousand
people and a beautiful
old theatre.)

you know,
when you’re pretending
to be the kings
of stupid

Mick
and Keef
The Stones

or
the cool?

The Beatles.

who were the real

working class heroes?

who were from the middle class?

london school of economics.

the stupid ones
or
the cool ones?

it’s all a deception
a stage play
an attitude
an image

the fans
of BSS
Loved most of
the 130 minutes.
most of the 23
or 24 songs.

i would have been happy
with 10 songs
and an encore,

60 minutes.

well, who am i kidding?
so many of their songs
are 5, 6,7, 9 minutes…

it has to be 90 minutes!

so,
while
i was (frankly)
bored
in The Burton
much of the time.
and thrilled
a bit of the time
and respectfully
fine with
10 of the songs,

the fans
of Toronto’s
Broken Social Scene,
with whom i talked to
during
and after
the show,
and noting their happiness
quotient on facebook
and on twitter,
were thrilled
were celebrating
that their band
came and played

Winnipeg.
and played
so long.
so many songs.

that was a gift.

from Broken Social Scene,

to their Winnipeg
fans.

Broken Social Scene.
October 6.
Burton Cummings Theatre.

pacific theme
texaco bitches
7/4 (shoreline)
fire eye’d boy
forced to love
all to all
stars and sons
cause = time
art house director (for Guy M)
sweetest kill
guilty cubicles
super connected
world sick
lover’s spit
romance to the grave
hotel
anthems for a 17 year old girl
ungrateful little father
kc accidental
meet me in the basement

looks just like the sun
water in hell
it’s all gonna break

thank you
Matt for the set list.
Autumn,
for clearing up
the mix up,
Aaron and BSS,
kevin, brendan,
andrew, charles,
lisa, justin,
david, sam,
sea/cake
and bobby.