Canadian Music Week- Saturday at Lee's Palace

Saturday at Lee's Palace was incredible. The night was full of awesome musicians playing awesome sets. Beginning the show was Jon-Rae Fletcher, previously known as Jon-Rae and the River. Jon-Rae has come a long way from his first band. His act is cleaned up, music is polished, but he still has the same kind of cheeky attitude. He's kind of like a modern day Johnny Cash with nostalgic, sometimes dark lyrics with a hint of humour. He, however, was very humble- you could see he was happy to be there and was really having a good time.

Next was Herman Dune who are an antifolk duo from France. I have never even heard of them, but they were really good, there were some parts when the chatty audience went completely silent to listen to the music- which is something I don't think I've ever experienced for this kind of music. Rightly so, the song 'I Wish That I Could See You Soon' was #89 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. I'd say that's pretty impressive.

Third on the bill was London's own Basia Bulat. Bulat played a great set filled with new and old songs, lookout for a new album to be released later this year. Despite a few technical difficulties with a ukulele she was happy, energetic, and really sweet. Her melodic songs were filled with powerful vocals, diverse instrumentation to make a fantastic performance. The audience was very receptive to Bulat's show, and you could tell she was appreciated by everyone there.

Finally, Elliott BROOD is a three piece folk-rock band from Toronto. Their energy was palpable, seeing them live is not even comparable to just listening to their music. The experience was heightened when they threw various pans and sticks in the audience to bang to the music. They really interacted with the audience (every band had great interaction last night) and everyone was at least tapping along to the music.
My favourite was when the played 'The Valley Town', because it's about my hometown Dundas, Ontario (that makes 2 that I know of, the other being by Caribou when he was Manitoba). This kind of confuses me too because the lyrics say 'my home sweet home' but aren't they from Toronto? Regardless, it was fun to listen to.

The night was a great success, probably the best of all the night of Canadian Music Week performance wise. Overall it was a fantastic weekend full of awesome music. My highlights from each night were: Women, Human Highway, and Elliott BROOD.

Photos courtesy of Mr. Andrew Weir. Thanks guy.