Toronto band demonstrates mastery of the stage
Weaves makes stupidly fun music, and they know it. Just look at guitarist Morgan Waters and bassist Zach Bines scrunching up their faces as they dig into goofy hook after hook. Just look at the slight smile barely sneaking across singer Jasmyn Burke’s mouth as she plays the audience like a piano, milking every drop of drama out of each restrained gesture.
[media-credit name=”Photo by Dana Bellamy” align=”alignnone” width=”1020″]
Oh yeah, I forgot. Waters frigging sings into his guitar too.
This past weekend at the Guelph Concert Theatre, Weaves returned to Guelph for their first Canadian date after an American tour. Following memorable sets by Guelph’s Baby Labour and Montreal’s Lonely Parade, the Toronto group drew from across their rapidly increasing catalogue in a performance that highlighted their numerous strengths.
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The songs are good — from the rambling polemical “Scream” to the tight, four-on-the-floor rocker “Walkaway” — but even better is the way Weaves knows how to present them. Weaves is a band that takes joy in arrangements, understanding that a perfectly timed feedback squeal, a split-second rest, or a tightly synchronized fill can light up a listener’s nerves like a Christmas tree. Few bands are able to harness an audience’s energy this way, launching their material to new heights — and Weaves makes it look easy. You almost forget you’re at a concert.
Their zany, ping-pong theatricality is baked into the tunes from their 2016 self-titled record, like “Candy,” still one of their craziest live tracks. Their 2017 follow-up, Wide Open, finds the band more restrained, but those tunes become delightfully unbuttoned in a live atmosphere. The band even plunged deep into their catalogue for the lurching “Hulahoop,” off their debut EP.
The band grinned. The audience grinned. Weaves makes stupidly fun music.
Photo by Dana Bellamy