Broken Social Scene, Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY. 9-25-10

Broken Social Scene is quite the collective. The band's members are all pillars of Toronto's notoriously experimental music scene, and most are involved in numerous projects outside of BSS. The core of the band is quasi-leader Kevin Drew and Brenden Canning, but the group also includes: KC Accidental's (KC is considered the band that formed the basis for BSS) Charles Spearin, drummer Justin Peroff, guitarst Andrew Whiteman, Leslie Feist, Metric's Emily Haines and the newest member, singer Lisa Lobsinger, just to name a few. To pin-point BSS' exact sound would be difficult, with so many incredibly creative collaborators, the band's albums tend to include a little bit of everything. Their newest album Forgiveness Rock Record (which arrived 5 years after their self-titled 4th album) has already been established as one of the years best. Forgiveness finds the band in a much different place, most of the members had firmly entrenched themselves in other projects while BSS was on a sort of hiatus, and their collective maturity is apparent. Working from the title, it's clear that BSS is forgiving someone, maybe themselves, maybe each other, maybe something else entirely, but the main concept is there. Forgiveness contains the group's most easily accessible songs, shirking some of the more experimental instrumental tracks for genuine pop songs. I saw Broken Social Scene for the first time this summer at Toronto's Olympic Island Festival. That performance was filled with cameo after cameo and fan favorite after fan favorite, it was simply incredible. Being in Toronto made it possible for the entire band to be together, and appearances by Leslie Feist and Emily Haines sent the crowd into an uproar (rightfully so.) BSS is still touring behind Forgiveness Rock Record, so the Buffalo show was heavy on that material, but the band played a substantial amount of You Forgot it in People as well, which is always a welcome experience. Watching Broken Social Scene is pretty spectacular, the minimum number of people on stage for the night was 9, including guest appearances from The Sea and Cake members (The Sea and Cake's drummer John McEntire played co-producer for Forgiveness.) The amount of instruments used is really something to behold, 5 guitars, 2 drum kits, keyboard, synth, flute, trumpet, saxophone, banjo and 5 different singers. New member Lisa Lobsinger does a good job filling in for Feist and Haines, her rendition of the traditionally Haines sung You Forgot it in People track Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl was spot on. Highlights of the night included the always awesome instrumental semi-close out Meet Me in the Basement, You Forgot it in People's Looks Just Like the Sun, a version of Lover's Spit dedicated to the band's engaged friends, and Forgivness' World Sick and Sweetest Kill. This is one of those shows that I doubt I'll ever forget, the vibe in the crowd was fantastic and BSS made it pretty apparent that they're one of the most talented bands around.