It feels like August 17th is an especially good day for concerts in
Toronto. Over the years I've seen shows by
Roger Waters, Bryan Ferry, Stevie Nicks, Sinead O'Connor, and Actors,
all on August 17th. Maybe there's some kind of celestial musical
convergence that happens every year on that day? Or maybe it's just
coincidence. Either way, August 17th stands out as having been the date of some pretty great shows that I've been to.
On August 17th 1987 I saw Roger Waters at Kingswood Music Theatre, and Waters used the radio and DJ themes from his "Radio KAOS" album as a framework to play songs from his solo career along with a bunch of Pink Floyd classics like Welcome to the Machine, Money, Have a Cigar, Not Now John, and a suite of songs from "The Wall". I remember being really struck by the theatricality of everything, the
way the whole show was planned out, choreographed, organized in a way
that was very different from
any of the concerts that I'd been to before. It was an incredible conceptual approach to live music that was different from anything I had seen to that point in my life. Awesome stuff...
On August 17th 1988 I saw Bryan Ferry in support of the "Bete Noire" album and it was just as slick and elegant as you would expect. Ferry looked amazing in a black suit with paisley lapels, suave and sophisticated as he ran through a collection of his own work and Roxy Music classics. He had particularly good hair that tour, gelled but still a bit bouncy, hair that was well suited for songs like The Bogus Man and Love is the Drug. The highlight of the show was an apocalyptic version of In Every Dream Home a Heartache where Ferry sang the opening verses over a sparse synth line while a spiral of white light slowly spun on the backdrop behind the band. It was hypnotizing, mesmerizing, absolutely enthralling, and the music swelled and the band launched into a manic frenzy for the outro. It was a truly beautiful moment, and I'm kind of breathless just thinking about it.
Seeing Stevie Nicks on August 17th 1989 was amazing. She was touring for "The Other Side of the Mirror" and she performed a solid set of songs that spanned her solo albums and her time with Fleetwood Mac. It was a pretty great show with some awesome highlights including a long drawn out version of Edge of Seventeen where the band stretched out some of the instrumental segments, making an already epic song into something magnificent. I've seen her a couple of times since then, and she's always delivered great performances, but this show at the CNE Grandstand was particularly excellent, particularly powerful, with her voice in fine form and her command of the audience exceptional.Sinead O'Connor's show at the CNE Grandstand on August
17th 1990 was a revelation, a shockingly amazing performance by an
incredible talent. In the space of three years she had gone from playing
club gigs to the Grandstand, which was a testimony to both her
incredible talent and to how her music had captured the imagination of such
a large audience. This tour was in support of her second album "I Do
Not Want What I Haven't Got" so the set list drew from that and her
debut "The Lion and the Cobra", and if you're familiar with those albums
and all of the magic and wonder therein then you'll be pleased to know
that she was able to recreate and even surpass that greatness in a live
setting. She had an impeccable control of her voice, a fantastic ease
and confidence in delivery, and her
version of Troy that night gave me shivers.
Actors' gig at the Garrison on August 17th 2019 was excellent, a triple bill with Mary and TRAITRS. The Garrison is a great place to see a show, a great room that holds about three hundred people so it's a perfect spot to see a band up close, to really surround yourself with the music. Actors played an especially solid set that evening, drawing heavily from their debut "It Will Come to You", including really strong versions of Crystal and Bury Me which are my two favorite tracks from the album, so that was kinda nice. I have a ticket for Actors at the Horseshoe in September and I'm really excited to get back to seeing concerts and to hearing them play their new material live. Judging from the strength of the new songs I think that it's gonna be another great show...
So what is it about August 17th that brings out so many shows? I'm not really sure. A cynic may argue that it's just coincidence, that it's a warm summer day that's perfect for outdoor concerts, that it's a time when lots of artists are in the midst of their summer tours. And that may all be true but I'd also like to think that there's something more happening here, that maybe there's some kind of synchronicity or musical alchemy at play. Whatever it is, I look forward to many more August 17th concerts in the years to come...
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