I had to travel through the crazy Toronto traffic and eeekkk my way through the TIFF crowd to enter Adelaide Hall to get a glimpse of The Bright Light Social Hour who hails from Texas. This was my first time in this intimate place and the crowd was very chilled and friendly. This seemed to work since the moment the band hit the stage, their sense of a chilled party groove was a nice way to warm up this loyal crowd. Their overall beats are fairly simple, but it’s how they layer those beats with the small complexities from the other players. I was hearing moments of Santana and even a little Allman Brothers in there.
By the second song the crowd made their way to the front of the stage to gain full access to the bands full energy. Now it was becoming a Psychedelic Dance party. The band shared vocals between the lead guitar player and the Bass player. Even the keyboardist threw in some female energy to keep the crowd engaged. Their blend of harmonies added to the overall experience.
It was a special night for the drummer who turned 19 that day. Guess what, my American friend can officially have a drink for his birthday, so a drink was brought up to him by a bartender. Canadians are sooo nice.
What I found cool was that some of the songs started off light and ended up with some pretty heavy psychedelic moments by the time they were done. They tried one song called “Most High”, but unfortunately this one didn’t leave the ground. That didn’t matter when they went backwards in time the song brought back a very creative period of trying different kinds of moody energy. It was very trippy and so was the band.
Here are a few images of The Bright Lights Social Hour:
Choses Savauges opened the night. They are from Montreal and have a modern mix of 70’s and 80’s disco sounds that have some pretty interesting hooks to them. The keyboard player has his own special spastic energy that looks like an original free style dance to it. This quality gave them a quirky and captivating pull that made you curious for more.
Here are a few images of Choses Savauges: