Written by Kylee Winn-Thurrott and Photographs by Stephen McGill
May 1, 2012, in Toronto, Swedish band, Miike Snow played to a random crowd of suits, hipsters and high schoolers.
As you walked through the doors of The Sound Academy, you were welcomed by being patted down from security. In April, at the Young Jeezy concert, there was a shooting, leaving The Sound Academy to up their security, having yellow shirted staff making rounds throughout the night in crowd.
Penguin Prison took stage with their 80’s style music, dropping heavy beats for the Toronto crowd to dance to. For a city known for not dancing, I was surprised to see Torontonians actually fist pumping and swaying. Greeting the audience by asking for a seal of approval of lead singer, Chris Glover’s Canadian tuxedo. I was pretty impressed with the electro-funk band, after the second song, I bought their CD. The New York band did a cover/remix of Lana Del Rey’s Blue Jeans, pulling in more justice than the original. Ending the set on a high note with songs Mult-Millionaire and Don’t Fuck With My Money, they left a lasting impression on Toronto.
Starting 30 minutes late, Miike Snow came out wearing black hoodies and gold masks as the stage had an impeccable lighting backdrop; was I at a Blue Man Group show? Clearly this could have not been pulled off at any other venue in Toronto. The Sound Academy may be one of the excluded places to see a band in Toronto, with it’s look-back of the city skyline, but the lighting aspect was needed for this show. The crowd had its favourites, single Burial being one. They didn’t say much throughout the set, but as they made their way through the songs, the atmosphere seemed to reach higher levels of excitement. As a whole, they sounded tight, I had heard good things about them live and without a doubt, was pretty impressed.
