Broken Social Scene with Frightened Rabbit- Pabst Theater, 9/27/17

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Canadian indie rock juggernaut Broken Social Scene brought their nine piece multi-instrument party to the Pabst Theater, playing a blistering nearly two hour set on Wednesday night.  Touring for the first time in nearly six years in support of their most recent release, 2017's Hug of Thunder, Broken Social Scene brought out all the stops and played a career retrospective of tunes. Arguably one of the most dexterous bands around, Broken Social Scene's members frequently traded off instruments and lead vocal duties.

With founders Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew front and center, the super group ripped through classic tracks like "KC Accidental," off of 2003's You Forgot It People and "7/4 (Shoreline)" from 2005's self-titled release to kick off the show.  New front-woman Ariel Engel's superbly soulful vocal range helped replicate the magic of former Broken Social Scene members, including most noteworthy, Leslie Feist, as she dove head first into older material.  While Engel did a stellar job reinterpreting older tracks, she stood out even more on the smattering of tracks Broken Social Scene from Hug of Thunder, .  The poppy "Halfway Home," and slinky "Hug of Thunder," and softly introspective "Skyline" were stand outs of Broken Social Scene's most recent material.

The highlight of the concert, however, was the ending of the main set, where Kevin Drew quipped with the crowd, "Alright folks, here come the jams," before Broken Social Scene launched into a set finale with a ruckus rendition of "Almost Crimes" transitioning fluidly into "Cause=Time" from You Forgot It People, and then ending the main set with "It's All Gonna Break" off of Broken Social Scene.  The combination of these three tracks weaved together created a solid tapestry of sound that had the crowd bobbing their heads, throwing fists in the air, clapping along, and enjoying a heavenly state of pure rock catharsis.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

For an encore, Engel tackled Broken Social Scene's arguably most well-known tune "Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" (also dusted off from You Forgot It People) before closing the entire show with, "a song to make you want to go out and make a difference in the world," per Kevin Drew, the foot stomping show stopper, "Meet Me in the Basement" from 2010's Forgiveness Rock Record.  For the encore, Broken Social Scene invited Radio Milwaukee's Amelenda Burich to join the band on viola.  She did an amazing job using her classical chops to enhance the songs.

Opening for Broken Social Scene was Scotland's Frightened Rabbit.  Frightened Rabbit made a point of complementing Pabst/Riverside/Turner Hall Group's chef extraordinaire, Kevin Sloan, before launching into a forty five minute set which included a cross section of new tracks from this year's EP Recorded Songs, along with a retrospective of earlier material.  Having seen Scott Hutchinson and company before, Frightened Rabbit brings an emotionally gripping level of intensity to their performance.  Highlights included "Get Out,"off of 2016's Painting of a Panic Attack  and their most well-known hit, "Woodpile" off of 2013's Pedestrian Verse.  While it was a little unusual to see Frightened Rabbit in a support role, they performed a solid set and provided great support to get the crowd engaged before Broken Social Scene.

photo courtesy of Pabst/Riverside/Turner Hall Theater Group

Click here for Broken Social Scene's Setlist from their Milwaukee show on 9/27/17