EDITORS with The Antlers and People In Grey

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EDITORS with The Antlers and People In Grey

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 20:41

editors Concert Review

Artists: Editors, The Antlers, People In Grey
Venue: Phoenix Concert Theatre
Where: Toronto ON
Date: February 16, 2010

Reviewed by Sarah Rix

I can’t profess to being surprised that British indie rock band Editors had a hard time selling out the Phoenix Concert Theatre. Their exposure, at least in Canada, has been fairly minimal. In the UK, it’s a different story. Over there, the band has two platinum albums, a Mercury Prize nomination, and have headlined numerous festivals. And while the venue wasn’t at capacity, the mood inside was as excited as you could expect from fans of the Editors brooding rock. The fans they do have are a dedicated bunch.

I only caught the last three songs of opening local outfit, People In Grey, but it seemed like a good amount of people turned up early to catch their set. While I only caught a bit of their performance, they sounded very much like a cover band of The Bravery. Good energy and fairly well received, but altogether unmemorable beyond that comparison.

Due to issues with the Canadian border patrol, it took quite some time for The Antlers to actually arrive. Thankfully, they did, and thankfully they didn’t seem to require a warmup. Setting up their gear in record time, the three-piece Brooklyn band’s set wasn’t long, but it certainly was impressive. The five-song set, featuring songs ‘Two’, ‘Sylvia’, ‘Bear’, ‘Wake’, and ‘Shiva’, consisted of tracks from their well-received debut album Hospice. I’ve seen them twice before and it’s certain that the more they’ve played, the better they’ve gotten. They recently announced they’ll be opening up for fellow Brooklyn-based band The National. Their two-night stint at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall will be an even better showcase for The Antlers’ sound.

Editors, touring in support of their third album, In This Light And On This Evening, took to the stage to warm cheers. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the band whose last trip to Toronto was two years ago. It was a pleasant surprise to see their darker brand of indie rock being off-set by lead singer Tom Smith’s frankly strange mannerisms. At times, he channeled Coldplay’s Chris Martin. While Smith’s voice is much deeper - and throughout the night, pitch perfect - when he’s hunched over a piano, you can’t help put draw comparisons to the fellow British band leader. At other moments, he seemed to be laughing at the floor. While it wasn’t the comic relief of his general twitchiness that made their performance so impressive, it definitely made things interesting. The thing with Editors is that they are (much) better live than on record. Where they’ve received some criticism for switching over to synthesizers on their latest record, live, they manage pull it off fairly successfully. With that in mind, the crowd did seem more receptive to older favourites like ‘Bullets’ and ‘Munich’. Editors are experienced and talented musicians; all they need is some well-deserved exposure.

Editors Setlist:

In This Light And On This Evening

Lights

An End Has A Start

You Don’t Know Love

Bullets

The Boxer

The Big Exit

Blood

Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool

The Racing Rats

Escape The Nest