Vive Karkwa !

CMF night 3 review

All our reviews from a Friday night loaded with CMF action. Starring CMF: The Sadies, Bachman-Turner, Freedom or Death, Kurt Vile, Karkwa, J. Mascis and more...

Karkwa (Wrongbar, 10pm): Honestly, I was expecting a capacity crowd for this. The Polaris Prize winners, fresh off an opening spot for Plants and Animals at Lee’s last weekend and a televised performance on the Gemini Awards on Thursday night, in a rare Toronto sighting at a small club attracted only a two-thirds full audience. Could it be true that Anglos can’t dig French-language bands? Is Wrongbar too far west for visiting conference goers? No matter, the Montreal five-piece played like it was a massive, sold-out gig, exhibiting the confidence of seasoned pros through some initial sound mix glitches on the more delicate dream-pop material from their lauded Les Chemins de Verre album, ramping up to full-on dual-drummer propelled rock bombast. 

Louis-Jean Cormier has a near flawless voice, and his limited English skills exhibited in between song chatter were nothing short of charming. (He even earnestly and graciously thanked everyone for coming — including the CMW crews, even though it was the band loading out all their gear in about ten back-and-forth trips.) Vive Karkwa. LL

BY LIISA LADOUCEUR, EYEWEEKLY, March 12, 2011