Tagged: liveitout

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Braids Coming up on almost three decades in existence, Guelph's annual Hillside Festival has always boasted an eclectic lineup that has won it a coveted place on the summer touring circuit, to the point where both veteran bands and emerging acts clamour for a spot in the lineup. With their edgy, atmospheric sound, emerging Montreal (by way of Calgary) quartet Braids aren't [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Spaceamoeba, Flickr A longstanding tradition at Guelph's annual Hillside Festival is the Sunday-morning gospel workshop that brings together a wide range of artists, usually of the folk- and country-influenced variety, for a rousing two-hour jam session that focuses on old-timey originals and standards. With the Island Stage tent crammed with tired-but-happy festivalgoers, including plenty of families [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Universal Music If there was an artist who embodies both the musical and philosophical approach of Guelph's Hillside Festival , singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer would fit the bill. Returning to the festival on the heels of the release of her new album, 'Oh Little Fire,' -- her first in five years -- Harmer received a homegrown heroine's welcome from the capacity crowd spilling across the grassy [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Scott Penner , Flickr When Jack White first brought the motley crew of musical misfits known as the Dead Weather to Toronto just over a year ago , he did so with the express purpose of unveiling his newest, and undoubtedly grungiest, project. Showcasing his sometime- Raconteurs brethren bassist Jack Lawrence and guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out Given her history of train-wreck performances and unpredictable behaviour, the show went off without a hitch. The often controversial, always-entertaining Courtney Love celebrated her 46th birthday in front of an excited crowd at the Ottawa Bluesfest Friday night. "Um, it's my birthday," she said with faux modesty, reminding the audience mid-set following a rendition of Hole's breakthrough song 'Miss World.' "And every year it happens I turn 29 one more time." [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Exclusive , Live It Out , Canada Canada has its share of annual music festivals, but none have the clout, recognition and sheer sprawl of North by Notheast , which takes over Toronto streets, squares and clubs every June. Now in its 16th year, NXNE 2010 will tower over the festival's inaugural edition in 1995, which attracted 30,000 attendees, compared to last year's 250,000, while the number of bands has nearly tripled, from 250 to 650 (culled from 3,000 submissions). [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Every festival needs a good closing party and Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Fest wrapped last night with the 10th annual Indie Awards, celebrating emerging independent Canadian artists in 28 categories (including a handful for international acts). Held in a cavernous Royal York Hotel ballroom at Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Fest headquarters -- and broadcast live-to-air on XM Radio-- the award show has become as glitzy and slickly produced as any [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , The Hit List , Live It Out Pigs can't fly and by all reports hell remains hotter than, well, hell. Yet during the past decade we witnessed many an unlikely reunion as fans rejoiced and critics scoffed. While some groups emerged from a lengthy sabbatical in top form and with renewed passion, others half-heartedly dusted off the machine to cash in on fading celebrity and nostalgia. So [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Almost exactly a decade ago, Canada's then-best '90s alt-rockers Thrush Hermit sadly played their final show. This week the Halifax-born band announced their decidedly not-sad reunion tour. Singer-guitarist Joel Plaskett went on to an acclaimed solo career, which this year alone included being personally picked to open for Paul McCartney and releasing the Polaris Prize -nominated triple-album '3,' which has been his best-selling yet. But Plaskett was never sure why he [...]

A sold out show at La Zona Rosa indicated that Metric has finally reached a point in their careers where you couldn't argue with their growing popularity. Fresh on the heels of the release of their latest album, Fantasies , the group came to Austin with the intention of showing just why you love them so much. Follow the jump for full review and some fancy photos. Opening band Band Of Skulls wasn't too much [...]

Metric is on their way to Austin, and I had a chance to catch up with our friend Emily Haines over the phone to discuss all things Metric. After briefly discussing my role as a future game show host, we got straight down to business. Thanks to Emily for her time, and to Myles for setting things up. ATH: We know your father was a writer. Aside from him do you have any other favorite literary figures who influence either your writing or [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Video , Live It Out , Canada When Jay-Z 's North American tour touched down in Toronto's Air Canada Centre on Halloween, the revved-up, sold-out crowd of 20,000 was in for a treat as the rap legend provided a memorable moment for Canadian hip-hop. After an inspirational aside to the crowd about the drive to succeed, Jay-Z cued the instrumental to Drake 's hit single 'Successful,' prompting immediate recognition and a boisterous reception from the crowd as the [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Girl Talk 's closing night gig at the Halifax Pop Explosion festival played out like a cheesy Twisted Sister video. An hour before show time and St Antonio's Church Hall was sparely filled with awkward teenagers and twentysomethings mulling around waiting for something to happen. Then, as if someone yelled 'I Wanna Rock!' the place exploxed. The crowd ballooned to bursting as Girl Talk -- Gregg Michael Gillis to his [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada On its own, Taylor Kirk's voice is one of the most evocative in modern music. Hoarse and eerie, it haunts the swampy echo-drenched blues that has become the hallmark of the small-town Ontario singer aptly known as Timber Timbre . Put in the context of a church as stunning as St. Matthew's United -- and given the chance to reverberate around a sonically sound hall which has been a cornerstone of Halifax for 260 years -- [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada The union of popular music with a symphony orchestra is neither new nor particularly shocking. Bands have been exploiting this juxtaposition for years with results that usually manage to both intrigue and alienate -- film director and San Francisco Symphony benefactor Francis Ford Coppola famously walked out on the orchestra's overwhelmed performance with Metallica. But the combination of Canadian musical wunderkind Final Fantasy (AKA Owen Pallett ) and Symphony Nova Scotia [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Decorum went out the window at St. Matthew's United Church as the crowd erupted at the appearance of Ottawa's the Acorn , clapping, stomping and hollering for the sprawling, adventuresome folk-rock band's first performance in Halifax in three years. Singer-guitarist Rolf Klausener, who could've entertained the house with his chatter and quips without playing a note, decided spur of the moment to reveal their long absence from the city in a "continuing story" between songs, [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada What better venue could there be for fanciful orchestral-pop septet Ohbijou than an acoustically perfect church, where their music can be truly appreciated without the clinking of beer bottles as competition? On the Friday of Halifax Pop Explosion , the Toronto-based group graced the stage floor of the St. Matthew's United Church, the chancel long redesigned to accommodate such community events. Before an audience filling wooden pews on the church's [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Toronto indie rockers By Divine Right may not be a household name, but the group has included plenty of them over its ever-shifting 20-year lifespan, with members like Feist , Broken Social Scene 's Brendan Canning and Holy F--- 's Brian Borcherdt, who also performed on the Halifax Pop Explosion bill. Borcherdt also played roadie since his label Hand Drawn Dracula was hosting the showcase and will soon be releasing By [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Jenocide , a two-piece electro outfit from Halifax, could seemingly be a new sketch on ' Saturday Night Live .' But this geeky girl with the white heart-shaped sunglasses singing over rudimentary synth and drum machine tracks is no joke. As the pair -- Jen Clarke and Ed Renzi -- played the sizeable Paragon club for the Halifax Pop Explosion music festival Thursday night, the enthusiastic gathering that danced and [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Live It Out , Canada Cadence Weapon chose the Halifax Pop Explosion to unveil a poem entitled 'Dirt City,' which he penned for Alberta Arts Day. The writing is part of his new sworn-in position as Edmonton's poet laureate, an esteemed government position for which he is expected to "reflect the life of a city through readings of poetry." He strolled out on the Paragon stage, [...]