Toronto – Canadian bands packing Canadian crowds drinking Canadian beer. That was pretty much Saturday nite for the packed house at Lees Palace. I drank Wellington’s SPA, so I don’t know if that is Canadian or not. Someone look it up and post it in the comments please. PLEASE. Saturday night was a kind of a weird vibe, the TTC was on strike, the Raptors and the Blue Jays lost – hell even the Habs lost. All signs pointed to a disappointing night. Wrong.
Despite the fact that there was no public transit available – Lee’s Palace was packed. Not only that, it seemed packed from the get go – enough for me to think that this show was a double bill, rather then Miracle Fortress opening up for Born Ruffians. Some random band had started the show off, but I was watching hockey at the time, so I do not know who they were or how they played. I am sure they were more then alrite though and you should definitely check them out.
Back to Miracle Fortress, obviously getting great buzz from their CBC approved ‘Five Roses’ cd last year, the band quietly came out to an almost full crowd at around 11:00 pm. The threesome consists of Jordan Robson-Cramer on the drums, lead vocal Graham Van Pelt and female guitarist Jessie Stein, wearing something that was a cross of a summer dress and a kitchen apron. Regardless, girl with guitar = Panic Manual Approved. For the next fourty minutes or so, they went thru songs mostly from Five Roses – including some jams and extending outro’s. There was some awkward banter from Jessie Stein mainly and they concluded the set with the hit ‘Maybe Lately’. I thought the vocals were a bit too quiet and the drums were too loud, but man the drummer is pretty good. He would attach all sorts of random materials to his drumset and used that to make sounds. Probably has been doing that since he was a kid. It was a good set, only complaint being the muddled vocals at times.
By the time the roadies had finished up setting up for the Born Ruffians, Lees Palace was really packed. How are these people getting home? Surely they all don’t live within walking distance as I do – maybe they have cars. Rich assholes. As some might know, the Born Ruffians are a Toronto band. Which means lots of friends and family (one of the members said “hi” to their mom) in the crowd. However, by the end of the night – everyone was a friend. The band came on probably around midnight and right off the bat, you can tell this was going to be a good show. The crowd was hyped and from the first chord to the last, people was jumping up and down, hands in the air, dancing, singing to every single note coming out of Luke Lalonde’s mouth. Please note that I was standing in the middle area of the venue, so yea I have no idea how people were behind me. Probably boring.
How was the band themselves? Well, after attending the show, you have to say – the Born Ruffians music are perfect for small type venues. It’s got that college/pub rock sound to it that is way interactive with all the chanting choruses and the ‘whoooos’ and ‘aaaaaaaahhhs’. The band played songs from both albums, and I think ended the set with Hummingbird with a bunch of friends on stage. In the end I think everyone who went to the show as satisfied and for those who couldn’t make it – it looks like they are doing the Europe thing for the summer, and I am sure by the time they get back, it’ll probably be at a bigger venue which might ruin the nice cozy family environment that was Saturday nite’s at Lees
4/5
