JUST ANNOUNCED
We’ve had lots of exciting new Massey Hall show announcements in the past week or so. Daughtry will be stopping in at Massey Hall with their Break the SpellTour on March 24. The band will be showcasing tunes from their latest album Break the Spell including “Crawling Back To You” and “Renegade.”
Then in April Death Cab for Cutie hits the Massey Hall stage on April 19. The concert should be pretty special as the band will be performing on stage with members of The Magik*Magik Orchestra. Magik*Magik Orchestra is, in fact, a modular orchestra who love collaboration and whose mission it is to “attract new listeners and participants to the orchestral experience.” As you can imagine, we think this is pretty cool – and obviously so does Death Cab For Cutie. You can get a feel for the kind of activities the Orchestra gets up to by checking out the “Watch and Listen” section of their webpage here.
We’ve just announced that City & Colour will be returning to Massey Hall this winter. By now you know that Dallas Green has officially left Alexisonfire to focus on all things City & Colour so we assume that this can only mean good things for the February 10 Massey Hall show. Tickets for the event go on sale to FriendsFirst members on Thursday and to the general public on Friday. For details on the full tour (as well as on limited edition tour merchandise), check out Exclaim. Above, you can watch a recent video of Dallas Green, of the group, performing an acoustic version of “Fragile Bird” at CFOX in Vancouver.
And great news for Sting fans – we’ve announced a second date of his Back to Bass tour at Massey Hall this November. For a really excellent profile and interview with Sting, check out this article from The Guardian.
PERFORMANCES
Canada’s Walk of Fame Festival (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday): Canada’s Walk of Fame Festival takes Massey Hall by storm this weekend with performances from Burton Cummings, Chantal Kreviazuk (with Symphony Orchestra and special guest Raine Maida), K’naan (with very special guest Bedouin Soundclash), and Comedy Night in Canada featuring Jessica Holmes, Carla Collins, Jon Dore and more. If that’s not enough to get your Canuck groove going, the Festival has a tonne of programming next door to our own Roy Thomson Hall in David Pecault Square including movies and music featuring a set from Lindi Ortega (who opened for Doug Paisley at the Rivoli in June). You can check out the full list of performances and events here. This year the Walk of Fame will welcome inductees Dr. Roberta Bondar, Burton Cummings, Daniel Nestor, Sandra Oh, Russell Peters, and Mordecai Richler.
Weird Al Yankovic (who performs two shows at Massey Hall on Saturday, July 16) has a new album and it’s available for your streaming pleasure over on Spinner’s First Listen. The first track of Alpocalypse, entitled “Perform This Way” is a creative take on Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” in Yankovic’s signature parody format. The video, also available on the Spinner site is tonnes of fun (he may even out-Gaga Gaga with some of the costumes) and technically pretty impressive – I don’t want to spoil it though, so you’ll have to see for yourself.
If you haven’t heard about Rave On Buddy Holly yet, you’re in luck, because I’m about to tell you about it. A star-studded album paying tribute to Buddy Holly is set to hit record store shelves today (!) but you can stream before you buy (at both Twentyfourbit and NPRFirst Listen). The album has some serious pedigree: the interesting takes on the catalogue from Mr. Holly’s short but impressive career include contributions from everyone from She & Him, Modest Mouse, Lou Reed, Cee Lo Green, and Paul McCartney. What’s perhaps most special is the genre and generation crossing of the contributors. For me, who often wonders what would have been if the music hadn’t died that day, this is an impressive and loving acknowledgement of a young man’s talent and ambition cut short too soon.
WEB WATCH
Neil Young (who performed at Massey Hall last month) is the subject of a new photography exhibit CONTINUE READING >
Gordon Lightfoot (Wednesday – Saturday): It’s time for our annual visit from Mr. Gordon Lightfoot – he plays four shows this week at Massey Hall. Lightfoot has been performing at the Grand Ol’ Lady of Shuter Street for over 40 years now – very impressive indeed. Fun Fact: Lightfoot first played Massey Hall with his church choir at age 13 – that and more history on the legend is available over at the National Post’s Ampersand.
Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs(Monday): Ray Lamontagne and his band The Pariah Dogs return to Massey Hall to perform this Monday in support of their album God Willing & The Creek Don’t Rise. You probably know that Lamontagne and his band recently did a stint on the Letterman show but did you know he also performed a full 55 minute performance as part of their Live On Letterman web series? You can check out both performances on Consequence of Sound as well as this review of the group’s album.
JUST ANNOUNCED
Last week we announced that Daniel Tosh, comedian and host of Tosh.0 on Comedy Central will be paying a visit to Massey Hall on Saturday, July 30 for his Tour on Ice. New episodes of the show just started last week and Tosh continues to get up to his regular antics including stepping into the ring with world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao (youtube available here but I bet you can guess how well it goes for Mr. Tosh.)
Massey Hall has a long and illustrious history. From the origins of the great Toronto Symphony Orchestra to the Greatest Jazz Concert Ever and beyond, there is a seemingly endless list of memorable events staged at Massey Hall over the years and that legacy continues today. For those of recent memory, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn’t think of Neil Young when they thought of the Hall. With all of the great feedback and comments we’ve been getting about the pair of Neil Young shows that occurred this week, we thought we’d post for your interest, a list of some Toronto show reviews not only as a way of documenting the events here on our site but hopefully, inspiring you to share your personal comments/thoughts about the shows in the comments section below.
Both shows were filmed by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme for the third instalment of the Neil Young livedocumentary films and we are honoured to have hosted them.
“Young plays Massey Hall like it’s one of his beat up guitars. He rattles around the bones of the Old Lady of Shuter Street with his six strings on tracks like Down By the River and Tell Me Why as if a day hasn’t passed since those same songs were pressed into vinyl following his famous show there in 1971.” – National Post CONTINUE READING >
I was asked to pick a song from Neil Young‘s album Harvest for a tribute compilation in UK’s MOJO Magazine. In sound and feeling Harvest is so complete and cohesive that you can know and love the album just as well as you can know and love any one of its songs. Still, ‘Out on the Weekend’ stood out for me and I chose that song. It’s a sad and mysterious song. The singer seems quite young and fragile but also independent and brave enough to just pack up and move away. The song moved me before I had even heard of the singer, which is to say a long time ago. Just to come clean, I also chose it because it’s the first track on the album and I thought that’s not a bad place to appear on a compilation.
Neil Young (Tonight (Tuesday) and Wednesday): Tonight’s the Night (and tomorrow)! It’s Neil Young week at Massey Hall. The legend himself performs tonight and tomorrow night in a solo show to be filmed by one Jonathan Demme. The concert recording is to be the third and final instalment in the trilogy of Neil Young films, the first two of which were Neil Young: Heart of Goldand Neil Young Trunk Show. To have Jonathan Demme helming the project is pretty amazing – this is the guy that won the Best Director Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs among a slew of other awards and nominations.
AND! As if that’s not enough: this year marks the 20th anniversary of Neil Young’s epic Massey Hall concert in 1971 where he debuted songs that went on to make Harvest the canonized album that it is today. That concert was recorded (then bootlegged for years) and later officially released in 2007. Check out this footage of Young’s song “Ohio.” And if you have the time, check out the (39 min) film embedded above for Young’s latest award-winning album, Le Noise.
If your Neil Young cup has not yet overfloweth, stand by for when the MusiCares Tribute Concert to Neil Young is released. You may recall that last year, Mr. Young was the MusiCares Person of the Year (not to be confused with his receipt of the 2011 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award as part of the JUNO Awards this year). Lots of heavy hitters show up in the program including Norah Jones, Booker T. Jones, Ben Harper, and what promises to be an impressive take on “Helpless” performed by Elton John, Leon Russell, Neko Case, and Sheryl Crow. You can pre-order the concert film here.
Paul Simon (Friday): We’ve got a concert-goers dream couple of weeks ahead of us at Massey Hall, beginning with a performance from the legendary and inspiring Paul Simon (Friday May 6). Simon has penned some magnificent, joyous, and challenging music over his vast career. If you have yet to hear his latest album, So Beautiful or So What – we highly reccommend you do. (Listen here). There is nothing nostalgic about it. The man deserves his accolades. Enjoy the show if you are lucky enough to attend!
The Lowest of the Low (Saturday): The Canadian independent music scene is well-known and admired all over the world. 20 years ago, when the Toronto band The Lowest of the Low, released Shakespeare My Butt…, which was the highest selling indie release in Canadian history. Guitarist Stephen Stanley recently told us about his unique history with the Hall and explained why this show on Saturday will hold a special place for him when the band conclude their 20th Anniversary tour on Saturday May 7 performing that album in its entirety.
JUST ANNOUNCED
Fresh from her stunning performance which garnered a standing ovation this past weekend, when she played special guest to Michael Kaeshammer at Massey Hall, Jill Barber will headline her own show when we present her at Glenn Gould Studio on October 21, 2011. Barber plays in support of her acclaimed new album Mischievous Moon (which NOW Magazine says sounds like “Patsy Cline meets Burt Bacharach”). If you haven’t already, check her out here.
If you haven’t heard yet, here’s the big news from last week: Neil Young returns! Seriously, Neil Young plays two solo shows at Massey Hall on May 10 and 11 and here’s the super-neat part – this year is the 40th anniversary of his now infamous 1971 concert at Massey Hall. That’s the concert where he debuted material from Harvest and a recording of the concert went on to become officially released in 2007. But it gets better – the two concerts in May are scheduled to be filmed by acclaimed director, Jonathan Demme, as the third and final instalment in Young’s concert film trilogy.
Speaking of returns to Massey Hall, we’re excited to announce that Fleet Foxes will be paying another visit to the Grand Ol’ Lady of Shuter Street this summer. Fleet Foxes hit the Massey stage on Thursday, July 14, 2011. We learned via Pitchfork that the band just played their first full show in quite some time including showcasing some new material from their forthcoming album Helplessness Blues (which SPIN calls one of the “23 Spring Albums that Matter Most.”) Check out this link for lots of video of said new material from the performance.
Raul Midón (Thursday): Raul Midón takes to the Glenn Gould Studio stage later this week with his soulful take on jazz guitar. The show promises some serious talent from Midón – the Memphis Flyer recently called him “ a player who’s not easily pigeonholed in any identifiable genre” and noted that his “nimble tenor and gift for melody earns comparisons to Stevie Wonder, but his guitar playing is seldom if ever compared to other artists because there aren’t any other players like him.” Those are some pretty serious compliments and we think you’ll find them well-deserved. Check out some samples of Midon’s smooth sounds on his myspace page.
An Evening with Joe Bonamassa (Saturday): This week is not one to disappoint fans of guitar geniuses as Saturday brings one Joe Bonamassa to Massey Hall. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently featured an article online regarding Bonamassa’s new album, Dust Bowl (released just last week), and his career. The album, Bonamassa’s tenth, is pretty special – the article notes that there are guest appearances from John Hiatt and Vince Gill and recalls that “[l]ast year, he was voted the best overall guitarist and best blues guitarist (for the fourth year in a row) by readers of Guitar Player magazine.”
ACCOLADES
The JUNO Awards were this weekend in Toronto, as we’re sure you know – but did you know that a whole bunch of awards were given to artists and groups who have recently been featured on our stages? Congratulations to all of the winners (and the nominees of course) but special shout-outs to: CONTINUE READING >
Soundboard is the official community of musicians, music fans, and friends of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada. It’s your behind-the-scenes source for related music news, recommendations, and rewards.
