Coldplay never intended to become England’s favorite band when their signature rock melodies ruled the charts throughout 2000. The Brit rock quartet — composed of Chris Martin (vocals/piano), Jon Buckland (guitar), Will Champion (drums), and Guy Berryman (bass) — yearned to mess around a bit, plucking their own acoustics for fun while attending the University College of London. All had been playing instruments since their early teens and had been influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, the Stone Roses, Neil Young, and My Bloody Valentine.
We’ve discussed before how British bands are revered in Toronto and Coldplay is no different. They had the streets shut down when they made an appearance at the Edge, everyone engages in ’Coldplay spotting’ when they’re in town and their shows sell out in a heartbeat.
Morals of the story? Don’t drive down Yonge Street when they’re scheduled to be on the radio, hangaround in Yorkville when they’re in town and be sitting by the phone 20 minutes before the tickets go on sale…just so you’re ready.
Stay tuned to The Edge and Toronto Unplugged for pre-sale information on Coldplay’s October 29th and 30th shows at the ACC.
Below is a great clip of Coldplay’s last trip to town.
Big concert announcement - The Raconteurswill be supported by The Sadies when they come to Toronto to play The Ricoh Coliseum on June 5th.
A self-described “new band made up of old friends,” the Raconteurs feature the White Stripes’ Jack White and power pop maestro Brendan Benson on vocals, keyboards, and guitars, and the Greenhornes’ drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence as the group’s rhythm section.
As if the gig wasn’t hyped enough…the addition of The Sadies adds a local flavour to the bill. This isn’t one of those shows where you sneak in just in time for the headliner…this is one to make a night of.
It’s Monday…add a little crooner culture into your life.
All about the style, swagger, and sexy hip of the smooth-voiced singers from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s era of music and life.Crooner Culture is all about the style, swagger, and sexy hip of the smooth-voiced singers from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s era of music and life.
Some crooners, most notably Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby or Jean Sablon, incorporated other popular styles into their music, such as Blues, Dixieland and even native Hawaiian music. Crooning became the dominant form of popular vocal music from the late 1920s to the early 1960s, coinciding with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. For example, Bing Crosby’s radio show, Kraft Music Hall (1935-1946) was heard by 50 million listeners every Thursday evening (Giddins, Gary. “A Pocketful of Dreams”)
Big concert tomorrow night in the city - The Mars Volta will be playing the Sound Academy. The Mars Volta are a very cool band with a rockin’ smooth vibe.
The Mars Volta is an American Progressive rock group founded by Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López in 2001. They are generally considered progressive rock, with jazz and Latin influences. They are known for their wild, energetic and improvised live shows, as well as their usually concept-based studio albums.
The roots of The Mars Volta are found in the side project of At the Drive-In members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez known as De Facto; which also included Jeremy Michael Ward: audio technician, close friend, and cousin of At the Drive-In member Jim Ward.
Hello Operator is a breakthrough band. They were called a “newsmaker” in Macleans magazine, and listed as “one of 12 bands to watch out for” by Canoe.ca after their exciting Canadian Music Week performance. Their video for Chasing Satellites has been in regular rotation on Much Music and Much Loud since November 2007 and have been featured on MTV Live.
The band just returned from an 8 week tour zig zagging across North America. Throughout the tour we would get random updates through msn, Facebook and email. Cameron’s Brewing is a big fan of the band and threw in some sponsorship for the tour. Upon the band’s return this video surfaced on Cameron’s blog.
Press play on the bottom left play button to check out this sweet video. Stay tuned for more pictures and video.
This week we’re still pulling some key tracks from other blogs in the channel. We are diversifying our portfolio so to speak. Start out your day with some quality Jazz. Some people don’t ‘get’ jazz. Appreciation can be simple for jazz and any other genre - listen to it and pick out why it’s different from what you normally listen to. For jazz, your mind will race at the complexity and magic of the sounds. The Jazz and Blues Lounge is our online authority for Jazz and Blues and here are two key tracks. Keeping with the jazz era The Good Musician gives us two of the greatest of all time.
Next, add a little Hippie to your life. Love your neighbor, get outside and take in the beauty of nature, and add these tracks to your portable record player…or iPod if you’re a New School Hippie. Hippie Sounds offers a fantastic track from the most famous singer songwriter of our time and an absolute gem from Crosby Stills and Nash.
Image Credit: Crosby, Stills and Nash Wikipedia
We’re huge fans of British music. Both Toronto Unplugged and I think Toronto (and most of Canada’s metropolitan areas) as a whole. There is a shared vibe. We dig their sound and they seem to catch on to Canadian artists and bands before anywhere else.
Brother blogger Dave at Brit Music Scene has just posted two somewhat mellow tracks that are recent releases to the British Music Scene.
Have a listen an do let us know what you think. This is an audience participation show…
In an unprecedented and exclusive collaboration, MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) Campaign and Radioheadhave partnered to produce a music video for Radiohead’s track “All I Need” off the album In Rainbows.
The collaboration represents an innovative and creative example of fusing musical content with MTV’s pro-social messaging. The “All I Need” video is being released globally across all platforms, and will potentially be seen in 560 million households worldwide.
The “All I Need” video was filmed in Australia by Oscar-winning Cinematographer, John Seale (The English Patient, Cold Mountain ), and award-winning director, Steve Rogers. It provides insight into the realities of trafficking, emphasizes that everyone plays a role in the issue, and provides a link to information about how to help end exploitation and trafficking. The video itself is shown in split screen: one side depicting a day in the life of a young child from an affluent, developed area; the other showing the day in the life of a child being forced to work in a sweatshop.
This is a very powerful piece, let us know your thoughts - Toronto Unplugged
Start off your week with music. Here are two random Monday tracks that we think they are worthy of any iPod. Cheers.
This is a great track from Sam Robert’sChemical City album. The band is scheduled to release Love at the End of the World…shortly. This is sure to be another solid album because this band just keeps moving themselves closer to legendary status with every release - their collection is incredible.
Sam Roberts will be in Toronto at Edgefest on July 12.
Love this tune.
The Constantines come from a planet held together with power chords and safety pins. We live in a rickety house in a dirty, dismal street, where the naked hide from day and thieves and drunkards meet. We come from a long line of bad teeth. We’ve got foul mouths full of black and gold. The band is originally from Guelph and later moved to Toronto. They are one of the most hyped bands in the city right now. Go see them live in a cool venue while you have the chance.
beauty of nature, and add these tracks to your portable record player…or iPod if you’re a 
