Pride Toronto: Kids on TV / Gentleman Reg / Hooded Fang

Hooded Fang / Gentleman Reg / Kids on TV

South Stage, Pride Toronto. Saturday, June 27, 2009.

Ah, Pride. Political statement, cruising ground, big-ass party,¹ corporate sell-out. Or for some of us, a break from imposing our heteronormative patriarchal agendas² and a nice day out. On a warm, clear day, absolutely perfect for an outdoor concert, the big draw for me an well-curated evening programme at the South Stage under the rubric of "Just Gimme Indie!" so A. and myself braved the snaking queue on Church St. and inched our way closer, finally getting in as the crowds eased out after The Cliks' set. For all the waiting it was unsurprisingly empty inside, so we had plenty room to sit for a few minutes and still find some nice turf to watch once Hooded Fang hit the stage. Decorated with rainbows, the band (now down to six members) is still playing basically the same set of dance-worthy, catchy new-wave pop as when I saw them this spring, but they did a great job up on the big stage and seemed like utter naturals up there, uncluttered and confident. Except for Lorna Wright's vox being buried a bit at the start, the sound was very good, and Daniel crooned with authority. The half-hour set hit all the right notes. The area in front of the stage wasn't all that crowded at this point, but if you added up all the people inside the fence, it was probably more than you'd see at a club show, so hopefully the band turned a few heads.

J. found us during the set and we had some time to chat during the changeover. Not to mention some time to move away from the filthy, wigged-out dude, looking like he'd woken up in a flowerbed, who was staggering around erratically and kicking empty beer cups around randomly. He was somewhere away from us by the time Gentleman Reg hit the stage, launching into an intense, amped-up version of "How We Exit". "This is the rock set," he told us, and the band backed up his words, the set starting up with a couple mean two-guitar attacks. A couple covers in the middle, including a reinterpretation of Stevie Nicks' "Wild Heart"³ and what Reg promised to be "maybe the gayest thing you see today," a take on the Brian Adams/Mel C. number "Baby When You're Gone". That was followed by "one of our own hits", a version of "We're in a Thunderstorm" that totally nailed it. A closing romp through "The Boyfriend Song" was just icing on the cake. Quite fabulous — this band has gelled since I saw them at CMW and are firing on all cylinders.⁴

Listen to a track from this set here.

There's a fascinating — and as of yet untold, so far as I know — story to be told about Kids on TV. Here's a band that played the same stage a year ago and is now playing an almost entirely different set and developing a new sound. KoTV are reinventing themselves — the new songs getting over on less raw, dirty energy, but still keeping the groove moving. Of the new stuff, at least two songs sound like clear winners: the X-Men disco tribute "Dazzler" as well as "Poison".⁵ What has become the core trio (Roxanne/Scott/John) were supplemented by Isabelle Noël on beats⁶, as well as some guest vox. KoTV appear to be working hard to reconcile their radical art origins with their presence at the rather corporate Pride — Roxanne in particular seemed to be chafing at the sponsor-heavy environment and rueful that the band could have a big Bud Lite logo or nothing on the screen behind them, but not their own well-constructed projections. The set ended with a mildly chaotic version of "Breakdance Hunx" that gave the impression that after the new, less familiar stuff, the band was "giving one back" to the audience. A good set, and KoTV should be saluted for not resting on their laurels.

Listen to a track from this set here.

I forgot my camera at home for this one. Thanks to A. for lending me some of his pix. He has a kick-ass camera that takes very good pictures, so I had to meticulously digitally fiddle with them to match my usual standard of distant/blurry looking.⁷

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¹ This could also be rendered as "big ass party", for those so inclined, I suppose.

² I don't, like, carry pamphlets around or anything.

³ This might owe something to a similar arrangement of the song by L.A. band Abe Vigoda. Anyone know of any interesting connection that might have led to this?

⁴ Worth noting that Reg is playing a free show at Harbourfront, on July 25th. Attendance is de rigeur.

⁵ Hopefully this doesn't preclude a future cover of the Bell Biv DeVoe track with the same name.

⁶ Excitingly, she was playing a tenori-on, the first time I've actually seen one in real life action.

⁷ I also noted that suckingalemon was onstage taking pictures, so those'll be cool to see if they turn up.