The Wooden Sky @ La Sala Rossa

Presented by POP Montreal, Blue Skies Turn Black, and CMW

It was in a packed Sala Rossa that Toronto indie-rockers The Wooden Sky took the stage on the opening night of POP Montreal. The Wooden Sky's performance was intimate with a lovely, folky mood, which satisfied the crowd as people sang in unison along with the band. They started the night with "Child of the Valley" and "Bit Part", but quickly inserted recent material from their latest album entitled Let's Be Ready, released on their own label, Chelsea Records. The songs on Let's Be Ready are quite colourful, and the album contains a lot of percussion and electric guitar variations boardering on the side of rock.  

The crowd immediately started dancing when the band played "Saturday Night" off the new album. Drummer Andrew Kekewich, guitarist and pianist Simon Walker, and the newly-added bassist Jon Hynes played really well together, which allowed lead singer Gavin Gardiner to free-style and add his own personal touch to his performance by dancing and devoting himself full-heartedly to his vocal range. He also seized every opportunity to produce ample distortion on his electric guitar! 

As this band is a mixture of rock and folk, softer moments were introduced with the song "Write Them Down", and Gardiner even add a little bit of country by playing the harmonica, which provoked strong reactions from the crowd. Throughout their entire performance, the band's sense of humour made people dance and clap tremendously, especially during the intense song "Day is Fresh". 

Even after an hour of dancing, the audience begged for an encore, and the band happily obliged, performing two extra songs. The Wooden Sky were immensely generous and pleasurable in their performance, and the band even came out after the show to drink some beers with the crowd! If you are looking for a concert filled with long hair, Shania Twain jokes, and folk harmonies, The Wooden Sky is the band you should look out for as they head back out on their Canadian tour. 

--Carmen Rachiteanu hosts Plebeian Pleasures, every Thursday at 9 AM on CJLO