Boygenius, Broken Social Scene, Claud
Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
June 21st, 2023
Canadian Beats Passport
Author/Photographer’s Note: Recounts of the opening acts are partial, as lineups and routing from the photo pit to the seated area couldn’t allow for time to observe opening sets in their entirety. However, the Boygenius set was able to be observed in full.
On June 21st, indie supergroup Boygenius played their biggest show to date at a sold-out Budweiser Stage. Supporting them was Toronto’s own Broken Social Scene and fun-loving indie pop artist Claud. It was the perfect night for an outdoor concert; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and there wasn’t a voice not singing.
Claud walked on stage with a big grin and asked the crowd “Hello?” as though they were walking into a small room. Everyone cheered. Claud performed as a three-piece with Molly Kirschenbaum of Goblynne on guitar and Francesca Impastato of Macseal on drums. Claud’s songs are bubbly and playful but have an underlying poetic and confessional quality to them. Claud also carries a special kind of charisma on stage where they can get a crowd brimming with energy while they themselves keep a calm demeanor that’s not overly eccentric. One of the highlights of Claud’s set was their performance of “That’s Mr. B*tch To You” where Claud introduced the song by proclaiming to the crowd “He called me a b*tch!” as though they were retelling a story over coffee. Claud stuck their middle finger in the air with a smile as the crowd sang along to the chorus with them. Claud is an artist who’s truly comfortable on stage and knows how to address a huge crowd and make it feel personal.
Broken Social Scene took the stage right at golden hour. The sun was just peering onto the stage and lighting up the members’ faces. Kevin Drew lifted his arm to kindly greet the crowd—introducing himself and the band to an audience that was already well acquainted. They opened their set with “Pacific Theme”—a five-minute journey of a song embellished with horns and lush guitars. The band then went into playing “Cause = Time”—another song off their seminal 2002 album You Forgot It In People. The band then invited more members to the stage for a total of nine members present. The first few notes of “Shoreline” rang through the air and the crowd started cheering. There are very few performances that evoke the same feeling as seeing Broken Social Scene live; to see so many musicians on stage be in sync with each other, and make it look effortless. You could notice members making little jokes to each other onstage and laughing, and other members dancing when they weren’t playing their instruments. It’s a party with a purpose and it’s truly captivating. Broken Social Scene ended their set with “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl”. A force of voices came from the seats and the hill singing “Park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me”.
Before Boygenius took the stage, a group of indigenous youths from the local non-profit 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations were invited to the stage to lead in a land acknowledgement for National Indigenous Peoples Day. They highlighted the organization’s harm reduction support, their 24-hour crisis line for indigenous people, and many other resources they offer for 2SLGBT+ people in need of healing and support. The speakers had to pause briefly between sentences because the audience kept cheering for them and the work they do. It was one of the most touching moments of the night.
Boygenius opened their set with a live video feed of them singing “Without You Without Them”. They sang around one mic acapella. The crowd sang it with them though they hadn’t even taken the stage yet. To the beat of a drum, they rushed out onstage. Julien Baker slid her guitar pick across the strings and went into the intro riff of “$20”. Fans reached their arms across the barricade and screamed the words. For both “$20” and “Satanist”, the band would move between singing beautiful harmonies and screaming while throwing their guitars around. Boygenius are masters in dynamics, both in the studio and on stage. As the band tuned and switched their instruments, Lucy Dacus sat in a chair and explained why she would be wearing sunglasses for the duration of the show: “Not only do I look really cool right now, but I’m also concussed”. Dacus’ doctor told her she could do the show but only if she takes it easy. So, for much of the night, Dacus performed sitting back in a chair with shades on and a smug smile on her face as though she were winning a poker game.
Phoebe Bridgers began to play “Emily, I’m Sorry” on her acoustic and the audience screamed. There’s an ambient section in the song just before the final chorus, and lights were swelling in and out with fast-moving projections on the screen. It felt like watching planets swirl around. During the song “Cool About It”, fans surprised the band by holding coloured paper over their phone lights to display a rainbow with each section having a designated colour. Phoebe Bridgers confessed that this was not only their biggest show to date, but very likely their favourite show of the tour. The crowd erupted. Every song seemed to have a special moment to hang onto: like the outro to “Revolution 0” sounding bigger than imaginable, Dacus singing “Leonard Cohen” acoustic and solo to a crowd singing the words back, and the crowd knowing when “We’re In Love” was about to start just by Baker sitting at a piano.
Bridgers led into “Me & My Dog” by telling a story of her trying to perform with strep throat at The Drake in Toronto. Bridgers recalled being backstage weeping and looking up to find Julien holding out a hot toddy for her; they had only known each other for a little while then. On the last line of “Me & My Dog” the audience shouting “I WANNA BE EMACIATED” felt like an impenetrable wall of sound. Before playing “Letter To An Old Poet”, Bridgers asked everyone to put their phones away; “Do it for me,” she said softly but sternly. She sang the song crouched over the lip of the stage, and by the end, she was laying against the crowd and holding their hands. Bridgers’ mic caught the sound of fans crying from the barricade.
Boygenius ended their set with “Not Strong Enough” and performed “Ketchum, ID”, “Graceland Too”, and “Salt In The Wound” for their encore. Baker ripped her famous guitar solo for “Salt In The Wound” while Bridgers pushed her in the chair on top of Lucy and started kissing Baker’s feet. After hugging and kissing each other, Boygenius gathered at the foot of the stage with their backing band and took their bow to “Dumbest Girl Alive” by 100 gecs playing over the speakers.
