THE ROCKET SUMMER!

Last night I attended The Rocket Summer concert at the Opera House in Toronto. This is one of those shows where I really only care about one song - and if I don't hear that song, there's gonna be trouble!

The song was "So Much Love". And, he played it!



The Rocket Summer is a band, but really it's one guy named Bryce Avery. He's a super-talented guy. He wrote all the songs on the new cd. He produced it. He played all the instruments on it. So when it comes to a live show he needs a band.

I listened to the new CD "Of Men and Angels" and didn't really like it. So, "So Much Love" from the previous cd was the key to this show, for me. The highlight of the show wasn't "that song". It was Bryce, leaving his keyboard downstage, kicking the band off the stage, and going up to the kit to hammer out 32 bars of funky beats. Then he looped it. (Recorded). He jumped downstage and grabbed the bass and did 32 bars of a bass groove, and looped it. Then over to the keyboard and 32 bars of some snappy rhythm - and looped it. Then, as the loop of drums, bass and keyboard played back, he took the guitar, stood on the monitor and screamed out a solo!

I've only seen live looping done once before. The cool thing for the audience was watching a song being recorded, each instrument, one by one, hearing the tracks build. As the looped song came to an end, the band came back on stage without missing a beat. It was - very amazing.

Bryce apologized to the Toronto audience about six times for not playing a Toronto date sooner. He said, "we had a week off the tour so I asked our agent to book us in Toronto". Hmmm. Not sure about that, but the sentiments were nice. Sometimes he was too nice. Telling Toronto that "Toronto audiences are the best". We all know that's not true. After 40 years of hearing rock stars use that line on an audience, I guess I'm a little hard to it. But anyway.

I think I should go back and listen to the new cd. No doubt the songs will mean more to me now.