Broken Social Scene at Webster Hall January 26, 2006 Written and Photographed by Evan Sung
	Kevin Drew

Emily Haines

On stage at any given moment:

9 guitars
12 mic stands
6 guitarists
10 amps
4 trumpeters
1 saxophonist
And yes, TWO drummers

Those are just some of the essential elements that lend a Broken Social Scene show the kind of free-wheeling, vigorous atmosphere of a (barely) stage-bound block party. At times, the crowd gathering on the stage swells and threatens to outnumber the swaying audience members in attendance.

The popular Canadian music collective has, at one time or another, been a staging ground and homebase for practically the entirety of Toronto’s regional music scene. Bands like Apostle of Hustle, Stars, Metric, and The Dears all bear genetic traces back to the constantly recombinant Broken Social Scene.

Broken Social Scene

The first of three sold-out nights at the newly thriving Webster Hall rock venue demonstrated the band’s versatility and dynamism and thrilled the crowd with moments of irrepressible rock swagger. But then, when you’re boasting four highly-charged guitarists stalking the stage all at once, it would be hard to do otherwise. In honor of their recent self-titled double album, one which has been welcomed with enthusiasm but also some perplexity in the face of its denser arrangements and its atonal flirtations. If the album reveals its charms only slowly, the band on stage welcomes all comers with open arms, singing a hearty song.

Broken Social Scene

Frontman (or one of them anyway) Kevin Drew came out of his shell about halfway through the show to graciously welcome the Broken Social Scenesters in the audience to the show, but also took time to berate the unseen manager of Webster Hall about the strains of thumping disco that could be heard rising from the club below. Aside from that slightly acrimonious note, the evening was all about harmony and good-times. The lovely Emily Haines filled in the Guest Vocalist spot at Thursday’s show. In a show dominated by carefree rockin’ and rollin’, Haines managed to inject some moments of languorous, ethereal beauty with her haunting rendition of Backyards from the album “Bee Hives” (2004, Arts & Crafts).