“Are you hot? Same.”
So said Pony‘s Sam Bielanski at the start of their set opening for Colleen Green and Rozwell Kid at Sound Garage and, no, she wasn’t commenting on the general attractiveness of either the crowd or herself but on the temperature. Yes, it was hot in Toronto, and it didn’t help things that Sound Garage did not have any air conditioning They did have plenty of massive fans around the venue to help cool things off, but the lack of A.C. still made for a hot and sticky show. I guess I should have expected as much going to a place with “garage” in the name.
Bielanski commented further on how our current heat wave affected not just the venue, but their journey there beforehand, noting that the band just got a “new old” van, one without a working A.C. unit, so she and her bandmates now have a “trauma bond” that they didn’t have before. Still, if the heat was affecting them, they didn’t let it show too much, putting on a fairly high energy show despite the temperature. Bielanski also mentioned how personally excited she was to see Colleen Green later that evening, referring to Green as her own personal GOAT.
Following Pony, West Virginia’s Rozwell Kid took to the stage and impressed with a tight set of chunky indie rock tunes that brought to mind Weezer and Fountains of Wayne. As their set neared its end, vocalist Jordan Hudkins remarked that he was sad to be wrapping up – something he probably says at most shows – but then quickly added that it was hot and his foot hurt, so maybe he wasn’t that sad. Either way, this wouldn’t be the last we’d see of them.
Finally, we came to the main event of this very hot evening as Colleen Green took to the stage backed by her carefully assembled crack team of rock ‘n’ roll commandos – aka the members of Rozwell Kid – to run through a performance of her 2015 album I Want To Grow Up. It’s probably safe to say that, 10 years later, Colleen Green has indeed grown up. That much was made clear with a glance at some of the merch on sale that read, “I Want to Get Old” – once you’ve grown up, I suppose getting old is the next natural step.
Clad in a black dress, matching blazer, and her trademark sunglasses, Green looked like she’d just stepped off the set of Men in Black; Indie Rock Edition. With a birthday party hat completing the ensemble for that additional touch of whimsy, of course. The hat wasn’t just for show either, as she kicked off her set by asking the crowd if they were ready to party. As in, a birthday party celebrating I Want to Grow Up hitting the Big One-Oh. Clearly, this was a crowd that was ready to celebrate, heat wave be damned. Was it hot, sweaty, and a little uncomfortable? Yes, but it was also a great show – sometimes you’ve got to suffer a little bit for rock ‘n’ roll.
