Monday Roundup #231

Concert announcements:

Colin Fisher/George Koller/Jeff Luciani/Diane Roblin / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-23 (Monday) [FB event]

Exit Points #61 (feat. Liz Hyzen/Jinu Isac/Xavier Lucente/Judy Zhu/Sarah Belle Reid / Pavan Ubhi/Ryan Gaston/Pablo Leñero/Ariadna Ortega/Jamie Thompson/Michael Palumbo / Switchemups) / Array Space 2025-06-27 (Friday). $15 (early bird)/$20 (adv)/$25 (door). [FB event]

The Ryan Driver Quintet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-27 (Friday) [FB event]

Cosmic Homeostasis XXVIII / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-29 (Sunday – 2 p.m.) [FB event]

Carlton Park Concerts (feat. Karen Ng / Shabason & Krgovich [full band] / Arma Agharta / Sparkling Water) / Carlton Park ["by the wading pool"] 2025-06-29 (Sunday – 4 p.m.). $pwyc, outdoors, "very kid friendly". [more info]

Wolf Eyes / The Baby G 2025-06-29 (Sunday). $29.10, 19+. [FB event]

to gather string ["an evening of contemporary music for strings and electric guitar, featuring new music for solo instruments, string quartet, as well as electric guitar + string quartet, and including works by the performers, Gavin Bryars, Steven Webb and more"] (Andrew Noseworthy) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-29 (Sunday) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #106 (feat. Cudmore/Perera Duo / Ariadna Ortega / Grace Scheele) / Wenona Craft Beer Lodge 2025-07-01 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Summer Music in the Garden: Songs of Birds and Love (feat. The Musicians of the Egg) ["a delightful program of music from the English and French Renaissance."] / Toronto Music Garden 2025-07-10 (Thursday). $free, outdoors. [more info]

Ayal Senior and Friends ["Ayal's on tour" edition with guest host Joe Strutt] (feat. anthéne / {AN} EeL / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-07-13 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

Summer Music in the Garden presents Labyrinth Ontario: Wild Strings and Tuning Things (feat. Roa Lee/Aysel Taghi-Zada/Sasan Salaseli) / Toronto Music Garden 2025-07-13 (Sunday – 4 p.m.). $free, outdoors. [FB event]

Josh Cole presents (feat. Dun-Dun Band) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-07-15 (Tuesday)

Summer Music in the Garden: Baroque-Middle-Eastern-Cyberpunk (feat. John Kameel Farah) / Toronto Music Garden 2025-07-24 (Thursday). $free, outdoors. [more info]

Summer Music in the Garden: Voice is the Original Instrument (feat. The Local Singers [Jill Harris/Robin Dann/Felicity Williams/Mara Nesrallah/Dorothea Paas/Alex Samaras]) / Toronto Music Garden 2025-07-31 (Thursday). $free, outdoors. [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Nadja [20th anniversary celebration] / Völur [Breathless Spirit album release]) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2025-08-08 (Friday). $28.27 (advance)/$30 (door). [FB event]

Summer Music in the Garden: What Is Time For? (feat. Tara Kannangara & Chris Pruden) / Toronto Music Garden 2025-08-17 (Sunday – 4 p.m.). $free, outdoors. [FB event]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

Cassiar Records presents (feat. BLOOP / Josh Cole [solo double bass]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-17 (Tuesday). $15/notaflof. [FB event]

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Arie Verheul van de Ven / Double Teams [Tania Gill/Karen Ng/Colin Cudmore/Aidan McConnell]) / Wenona Lodge 2025-06-17 (Tuesday) [more info]

Sarah Greene Trio [Sarah Greene/Paul Kolinski/Michael Herring] / The Local 2025-06-17 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Jessica Ackerley / Sellers & Newel 2025-06-18 (Wednesday). $20. [FB event]

Open Thread [Peggy Lee/Julien Wilson/Theo Carbo/Dylan van der Schyff] / Sellers & Newel 2025-06-19 (Thursday). $20. [FB event]

Music of Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden (feat. Lina Allemano/Ben Boye/Nate McBride/Karen Ng/Frank Rosaly/Nick Fraser) / The Emmet Ray 2024-06-19 (Thursday). $15. [more info]

Labyrinth Ontario's Makam Nights (feat. Mehrdad Jafari Raad) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2025-06-19 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Earth Ball (Thresher / Brian Ruryk / Dixie Cups) / The Doc Ellis (No-No Room) 2025-06-19 (Thursday). $12 [more info]

TONE & Uma Nota present (feat. Mestizx [Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly] / Mas Aya / Artu) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2025-06-20 (Friday). $22.89 (advance)/$25 door, all ages. FB event]

C'est la fête / Le Monde 2025-06-20 (Friday). $20/pwyc. [more info]

TONE presents (feat. Farida Amadou with Karen Ng / chik white / Naomi McCarroll-Butler) / Collective Arts 2025-06-21 (Saturday). $22.89 advance/$25 door, all ages. [FB event]

Last Sundays Residency (The Sympathetic String Band / Robert Planet & Farm Implement) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-22 (Sunday – early). [FB event]

Triio (Folding Trio [Aidan McConnell/Steven Noronah/Keon Narinesingh]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-06-22 (Sunday) [more info]

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It happened this week...

• ...on June 19, 2015 at 159 Manning (M For Manning).

Vallens - Karen

• ...on June 17, 2015 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Ken Aldcroft/Scott Thomson/Germaine Liu/John Oswald - [excerpt from quartet improvisation]

• ...on June 18, 2015 at The Great Hall.

Lloyd Cole - Impossible Girl + Lost Weekend

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Lloyd Cole

Artist: Lloyd Cole

Songs: Kids Today + Late Night, Early Town + Impossible Girl/Lost Weekend

Recorded at The Great Hall, June 18, 2015.

Lloyd Cole - Kids Today

Lloyd Cole - Late Night, Early Town

Lloyd Cole - Impossible Girl + Lost Weekend

With the city's venues filling up with buzz-chasers at a big local corporate rock fest, I decided to do the other thing, and went to see Lloyd Cole — someone who's never been one of my top-shelf favourites, but someone whose works I've consistently admired for two decades now. With all the hype for this and that at the corporate rock fest, I wondered if there'd be anyone left to go to this — the official facebook event listed precisely three attendees — but I was rather pleased to see a robust crowd filling the chairs on the Great Hall's floor. A reminder, I guess, that there's more than one crowd of people looking for rock gigs.

Given the electricity of his latest album, I was a little bemusedly surprised to see that this "evening" with Cole was to be an all-acoustic affair, just one man and his guitar for two sets, plowing through a pretty large number of songs from all stages of his career, mixing new ones with favourites from the Commotions and his 90's solo peak.

Although he took pains to warn the audience in advance about the high notes he could no longer reach, he was in great voice and the audience was pretty quiet for what was probably the lowest-volume show I've ever seen in the Great Hall. (This would have totally slayed down the street in the basement of the Drake, but considering how the voluminous space of the Great Hall can eat quiet performances like this the sound was rather well-handled.)

Cole was cheerful throughout on stage, telling stories as he put on his glasses to tune between songs and sending shout-outs to the significant others who got dragged out by more ardent fans. Experiencing the sweep of the songs all together gave a chance to see Cole's lyrical/life standpoint slowly shift, and see his present self (much more sympathetic to some of his past protagonists) react to the words of the cynical young know-it-all who wrote them. Someday we'll all live in our former cautionary tales.