Watch Indie Legends Sloan Celebrate 30 Years as a Band by Playing “Underwhelmed” at The Phoenix

Watch Indie Legends Sloan Celebrate 30 Years as a Band by Playing “Underwhelmed” at The Phoenix

The song helped break the band and was the first they had ever played live.
PHOTO CREDIT:

Prolific power pop band Sloan finally played an intimate concert The Phoenix Concert Theatre last night to celebrate thirty years as a band.

With two split sets that spanned their twelve albums, adjoined by a thirteenth in 2022, the band played for two sold out crowds separated by an early and late show. It was not difficult to fill the venue however given Ontario’s recent pause on continuing to lift lockdown due to higher-than-expected cases.

Fans who were expecting to jump or stand shoulder-to-shoulder were instead led to pairs of seats each with a small coffee table and electric light.

The band came out at 10:33 PM and played a ninety-minute set filled with classics and fan favourites. The band committed to their well-known mid-set instrument switches with bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott swapping places and guitarist Jay Ferguson alternating on bass.

After a brief encore call had even the band’s always moving sound tech clapping side stage, they came out to play their final three songs, the last of which held extra significance to the band’s belated birthday.

With the original intention for the set to overlap with the band’s 30th anniversary of the band’s formation, declared by their first concert at NSCAD School of Art and Design in Halifax, the band closed out with “Underwhelmed,” the first song they played at that concert.

The classic holds more cruciality to the band’s history and identity than as their live introduction, as its inclusion on the East Coast compilation Here and Now ’92 took them to a wider audience and essentially broke the band, pulling attention from Geffen who signed them in 1992 and making them labelmates with Sonic Youth, Guns N Roses, and Nirvana.

It was a serendipitous choice to celebrate the delayed anniversary as well as the in development return to live music.

Check out footage of Sloan playing “Underwhelmed” last night at The Phoenix below.

Sloan are a Toronto FM rock institution. The band is known for their unmistakable, contagious garage sound, shared songwriting and vocal duties between members, and their consistency, releasing 12 albums in 30 years.

In 2010, bassist Chris Murphy developed music for the Toronto-set cult icon Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World and helped coach the film’s actors, teaching them his stage moves. Earlier this year he was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, losing control of the muscles on one side of his face. His condition has since improved with progress updated for his followers on social media.

Regulars and fans of The Phoenix Concert Theatre on the other hand received a scare on Monday when news broke that ownership had filed for a rezoning permit to develop a multi-storey building, potentially putting the venue and its adjacent medical building in jeopardy. Read more about that here.

Expect our review very soon.


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Prolific power pop band Sloan finally played an intimate concert The Phoenix Concert Theatre last night to celebrate thirty years as a band.

With two split sets that spanned their twelve albums, adjoined by a thirteenth in 2022, the band played for two sold out crowds separated by an early and late show. It was not difficult to fill the venue however given Ontario’s recent pause on continuing to lift lockdown due to higher-than-expected cases.

Fans who were expecting to jump or stand shoulder-to-shoulder were instead led to pairs of seats each with a small coffee table and electric light.

The band came out at 10:33 PM and played a ninety-minute set filled with classics and fan favourites. The band committed to their well-known mid-set instrument switches with bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott swapping places and guitarist Jay Ferguson alternating on bass.

After a brief encore call had even the band’s always moving sound tech clapping side stage, they came out to play their final three songs, the last of which held extra significance to the band’s belated birthday.

With the original intention for the set to overlap with the band’s 30th anniversary of the band’s formation, declared by their first concert at NSCAD School of Art and Design in Halifax, the band closed out with “Underwhelmed,” the first song they played at that concert.

The classic holds more cruciality to the band’s history and identity than as their live introduction, as its inclusion on the East Coast compilation Here and Now ’92 took them to a wider audience and essentially broke the band, pulling attention from Geffen who signed them in 1992 and making them labelmates with Sonic Youth, Guns N Roses, and Nirvana.

It was a serendipitous choice to celebrate the delayed anniversary as well as the in development return to live music.

Check out footage of Sloan playing “Underwhelmed” last night at The Phoenix below.

Sloan are a Toronto FM rock institution. The band is known for their unmistakable, contagious garage sound, shared songwriting and vocal duties between members, and their consistency, releasing 12 albums in 30 years.

In 2010, bassist Chris Murphy developed music for the Toronto-set cult icon Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World and helped coach the film’s actors, teaching them his stage moves. Earlier this year he was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, losing control of the muscles on one side of his face. His condition has since improved with progress updated for his followers on social media.

Regulars and fans of The Phoenix Concert Theatre on the other hand received a scare on Monday when news broke that ownership had filed for a rezoning permit to develop a multi-storey building, potentially putting the venue and its adjacent medical building in jeopardy. Read more about that here.

Expect our review very soon.


<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWRJuLpLy-Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWRJuLpLy-Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"><div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div><div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"><div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; 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