June 19th. On a packed night in Yorkville, The Pilot’s new Stealth Room once again proved why it’s becoming one of Toronto’s most exciting live music spaces. With a sold-out crowd and an atmosphere buzzing with anticipation, the evening brought together a mix of rising talent and refined musicianship—headlined by Mike Murray, an artist clearly on the verge of outgrowing even this increasingly popular venue.
Venue: The Pilot
Since they opened upstairs, “The Stealth Room,” is becoming more and more the hot spot for seeing all the great upcoming bands of Toronto. This is the third time Mike Murray has played this room and has sold-out each time. To put a spin on Roy Scheider’s famous line in Jaws — I think he is going to need a bigger venue.
Personally, I think he will make sure he has a strong bond with the Pilot. These two forces seem to go hand in hand.
Emile d’Eon
Who is Emile d’Eon? He and his buddies were the opening act for the evening. Emile was also one of many of Mike Murray’s guitar teachers. The good news was that Mike had an excellent guitar teacher. Emile put on a short show because he wanted to give Mike more time on stage. The time Emile was on stage, he used the show as a vehicle to demonstrate his variety of musical techniques that kept the entire crowd engaged.
He started off with what sounded like the opening of the instrumental, Frankenstein. Then he gently rocked this monster into a winding patchwork of various rock moments.
His next number let the audience sit amongst the clouds to have a good look around. We got to view this song like- “Tears in a glass”.
Emile even wrote a piece for his father. His dad was a big fan of Steely Dan’s and his next piece was in the style of this classic 70’s band.
His quirky sense of humour introduced us to his little partner on stage: Bob the Alien. This moment lent us to receive a spacey country tune that would get even the most begrudged aliens to get up and do a line dance. It was this moment that Emile wore his famous alien hat. It looked like it was consuming his brain during the song.
He finally finished his set off with a song of hope that brought the crowd back to a sense of calm and peace.
I hope he plays again somewhere where we could witness a full set of music.
Bob the Alien and friends:
Mike Murray
Last up was Mike Murray. This is the third time I have seen Mike Murray play the Pilot here in Yorkville. Each time I’ve been, each of these shows have been sold-out—Does that tell you something about this artist and his incredible band or what? I am telling you, you need to see this guy live before he begins to outgrow the Pilot.
The first time, he came with a band from Pakistan and they traded east and west licks on stage. It was a wonderful cultural clash of styles that connected us to the world. Then, next time he played, it was to pay tribute to the late great Jeff Beck (any fans, you do not want to miss a show of this calibre!).
This time, he was excited to show off his brand new release called Convergence. (Read my review on his new recording, so you can get an idea of what to expect). It is a dream come true. With this release, Murray not only explores different musical territories, but adds vocals for the first time in his career.
His band began the evening with a mystical opening, before all at once they let the madness loose! The level of musicianship and intensity of that opening moment had the crowd in awe. They couldn’t wait to hear what was coming next.
What came next was a story about his journey to this moment. It started on March 10, 2020 when they performed their very first show together as a band. They had the entire future to focus on and were excited to take that journey. Six day later the world shut down due to COVID. Like every musician out there, they were buried to live at home and either they had to give up, shelve the ideas or keep creating no matter what.
Nevertheless, Mike forged ahead.
Six years later, we are hearing the fruits of his never-ending labours. Murray is proud to display his sophmore album live for the first time.
“Alma” showcased the vocal talent of Arianna Rueda whose Spanish energy came out to enlighten us and the crowd was held in a sense of rapture while she sang. Her voice helped us climb to the top of a skyscraper and have us look out to a breath taking new view of life.
During the set, there were darks moments like “Streetwise”. In this, Mike let us know the seedier side of the city of Thunder Bay. You can feel the thugs wandering the streets and just looking for trouble.
Then we all had fun with his tune called “B.L.A.H.” (What does this mean? Well, I wanted to scream out Blind Llamas Abhor Holocausts. It turns out that I was wrong. I guess you will have to see Mike live to find out the real answer.)
Near the end of his set, Mike brought on Shourya Jain to take over some more vocals. She started with an incredibly soulful and heartfelt song called “Next to Me”. The track is romance for the soul and everyone that night agreed. She stayed on for one more song that Mike was really excited about. Called “Point of Origin”, this one (put simply) was a wild ride on a cosmic spaghetti monster, as it twisted you into illogical shapes and thrashed through your emotional core.
Mike Murray Live:
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Pilot shows seem to only get better with their new stealth lounge and Mike get better with each performance. This was an evening where al energy converged and it was real and spectacular!
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