The problem with writing inherently catchy tunes is that somewhere along the way, it becomes wholly un-hip to like you. For The Fray, the Denver pop rockers find themselves in this category of bands that might be good – just unlikely to be lauded by Toronto’s trendsetting masses. It’s lead to an interesting career trajectory for the band, finding early success with singles such as “Over My Head (Cable Car)”, “How to Save a Life”, and “You Found Me”, and also, as it turns out, an interesting demographic that goes to a Fray show.
Attendance to the band’s Toronto show at Echo Beach was pretty low, all things considered. Since 2005, They Fray has played Toronto a number of times – including four stops at the Molson Amphitheatre (once opening for Pixies/Weezer, once for Kelly Clarkson, and also twice headlining it themselves) and at a couple of smaller club shows at the Kool Haus, the Opera House, and the Phoenix, respectively. While they’ve done well to sell out many of those other shows, Echo Beach’s 5000-person capacity was only about half-full on a beautiful Friday night.
But more interesting, however, was the audience itself – a split between teenagers eagerly crammed at the front and the more relaxed 20 or 30-something crowd, standing and sitting further back from the stage. It’s nice to see the band is able to pull in a new crowd while still balancing it out with more casual supporters, but you can tell many who lauded the band’s early efforts haven’t stuck around. Case in point: whenever I mentioned I was going to see The Fray, friends would raise an eyebrow and either ask: “Really? Why?” or “They’re still around?”
The Fray themselves seem pretty aware of who they’re playing to, vocalist Isaac Slade at one point noting the band’s touring history in Toronto and mentioning that tonight was a special night – that everyone in the audience was there by choice and that it was 20 years ago this summer that Slade was a 13-year-old at a rock camp in Toronto and decided he wanted to be a professional musician.
Slade has clearly put a lot of effort into this dream over the years, every bit the booming front man who led The Fray (a core four-piece with two additional touring members) through anthemic, road-tested rock. Years of touring have given the band a comfortable, commanding stage presence and by their third song, “You Found Me”, it already felt like they had arrived at the climax of the evening.
It is, to be fair, all rather in-your-face. You can tell The Fray have an ear for radio, with songs like “Keep on Wanting” and “Hold My Hand” – both from The Fray’s fourth studio album, 2014’s Helios – building up the energy and greatly helped by drummer Ben Wysocki’s efforts.
They also made a point to switch things up, with guitarist Joe King dedicating “Rainy Zurich” to a madly in-love couple they had met backstage before taking his turn at the microphone, Slade dropping back to play the grand piano. King’s vocals are naturally less assured than Slade’s, but it was still a romantic-in-a-Twilight-kind-of-way departure. (I’m not sure if that says more about the song or more about my romantic reference points. But I digress.)
Comparisons to Coldplay have been raised before and they’re certainly warranted, both bands tapping into that driving, uplifting ballad terrain that mom’s find appealing and kid’s find catchy. But where Coldplay has found success despite departures from the public eye for some time, The Fray seem to have a bit more trouble reminding people they exist. This is a shame, really, given their apparent willingness to take creative liberties and put on a fairly entertaining live show (including: triple drummers on “Give It Away” and King stealing someone’s phone to record a video from the stage.)
Of course, it was “How to Save a Life” and “Over My Head (Cable Car)” that had everyone else’s smartphones in the air – both strong singles for good reason. Guitarist Dave Welsh carried much of the heavy lifting for the latter, but the band wasn’t done yet, choosing to end the main portion of their set with another new one: the upbeat “Love Don’t Die”.
Their encore included a stirring rendition of the crowd singing “O Canada” and The Fray’s final song, “Same as You”, again from 2014’s Helios. As a final number, I can understand why they made the choice (as in: please go buy our new album, thank you very much,) but I’m not entirely sure it worked. They could have gone out big. Instead it was a bit more of a whimper – albeit an atmospheric, pretty-sounding one. In comparison to the rest of their set, it was sleepy and subdued.
After proving throughout the night that they’re capable of being big and bold, it would have been nice to have The Fray send the crowd off wanting more rather than wrapping it all up in a nice little bow. There’s a reason that “leave the crowd wanting more” is a tried and tested saying in showbiz… and, unfortunately for The Fray (who certainly sound like they could be playing to bigger crowds,) that might be why Coldplay is still able to sell out arenas while The Fray seem more focused on just reminding people they exist.
