Between Friday, August 16th, 2019 to Sunday, August 18th, 2019, marks the 100th anniversary of the grand opening of Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall. This historic music venue, which has welcomed various promoters from Live Nation, Embrace Presents and Collective Concerts is a staple music venue that has showcased a variety of artists from their prime to continuing to perform in comeback shows, such as Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Lorde, Dave Chappelle, and so on. Originally a movie theatre throughout the 20th century, it didn’t become a full-on music venue until 2006; and since then, the historic music venue managed to bring upcoming live acts that have shaped the course of music from generation to generation to unique comedy acts that have a strong, cult fanbase.
Starting with the first night of the venue’s 100th anniversary is Montreal indie rock band Wolf Parade, along with Toronto’s own all-female indie punk band Bad Waitress. Coming along with Bad Waitress, the four-piece band came through with all white dresses and black dress shoes, and it seemed like they were about to perform a metal/punk show at a tea party. The band performed a variety of tracks including Rabbit Hole, Delusions of Grandeur, and Katelyn, in which they performed very well. They wanted their fans to be appeased by their feminine look while establishing a deep rock sound with their tracks and B-sides. The all-female band made sure that they can perform greater, as well as their other, local male counterparts in the Toronto indie punk industry and develop a strong influence for their all-gender fan base. The lighting was on point and they managed to contain great energy, and they also managed to be consistent with their instrumental performance, and be vocally well for their fanbase.
Up next was the Montreal, QC-based band, Wolf Parade, and the three-piece band finally came, with much dim lighting (even though it was a venue with great lighting), as opposed to other shows and performances, and they performed a multitude of tracks off their old and new projects, such as Soldier’s Grin, Grounds for Divorce, and You’re Dreaming. Spencer Krug, the lead singer, and guitarist for the started with Soldier’s Grin and You’re Dreaming, in which he brought a multitude of genres into blending his sound, including math rock, progressive indie rock, electro-rock, and so forth. Halfway through Soldier’s Grin, his guitar stopped working until 2 minutes after the song. That’s when Spencer switched the guitars to match the sound of each song through their setlist, as well as to get a better tune, and it was great. The band didn’t move as much, which is based on wanting to remain grounded to equalize their vocals and strength of their pitches, which was very good. Dan Boeckner, the pianist and co-lead of the band, also performed Grounds for Divorce, and he held his own when he performed, which went quite well. They also prioritized having a great range of vocals for each song, which is something that I enjoyed as much. For a fun part, Spencer’s mouth expressions and styles of how he energized the stage was also very unique and I think it’s something that all bands should start doing. The turnout for their set was very amazing since everyone was yelling in support of the band to dancing and vibing to the music, as well as singing on to the lyrics. For the encore, Wolf Parade performed four tracks, which included Lazarus Online, Modern World, This Song’s on Fire, and I’ll Believe in Anything, and the crowd went crazy. It was something to commemorate and a time to celebrate as the Danforth Music Hall managed to bring another successful show, especially for its 100th anniversary.
Bad Waitress
By: Joshua Habtwold | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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![Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7G1eLTV89dM/hqdefault.jpg)