• Lord of the Rings ‘musical’ with Sakina next weekend
• Spamalot with Sven, Mandy, and Laura a few days later on the Tuesday
• Toronto Film Festival starts on the Thursday, and I’m taking the following week off to geek out on movies
• just found out that The New Pornographers (including Immaculate Machine!) will be playing the Kool Haus on October 11th. I’m so there … anyone else in?

Despite the crazy heat of the day, the only time we were really stuck in it was while waiting for the ferry to get us to the islands. Once there, plenty of shade could be found and while the prime spots were already taken we found reasonable places close to the stage at various times. For some of the earlier acts we wandered the island a bit, before settling in to pay more attention to the music. I remember being impressed with The Most Serene Republic, so I’ll definitely have to track down some of their stuff. It might be the same with Do Make Say Think, but I honestly don’t remember my reaction to them. I wasn’t all that impressed with Metric, although they seemed to have a following in the crowd; it wasn’t until they finished off their set with Dead Disco that I realized I had heard of them before.

After some too-expensive dinner, we made our way closer to the stage for a better view of the final two groups. Broken Social Scene, who were basically the hosts for the show, put on a fun live set. Even their basic stuff often involves multiple singers and an array of musicians, but when guest vocalists and the brass section all join in, it’s like a big, family event. Add to that the crowd of friends and family on the wings, it makes for a pretty cool atmosphere and you can really tell how much the group enjoys it all.

Modest Mouse capped things off and definitely rocked out the most. They were noticeably edgier and more intense compared to listening to the songs right off the record, but equally good. It’s actually rather impressive that their sound can go from somewhat laid-back to something heavier for a live gig and not sound like a weird cover of themselves.

All in all, I enjoyed the afternoon/evening. There was a similar show at Olympic Island last year with Broken Social Scene, Sam Roberts (and possibly Sloan??) that I had thoughts of going to while I was in Toronto, but didn’t make it. Perhaps BSS & Friends will be back next year; if so I’ll definitely try to check it out again. And barring a downpour, the venue makes for a nice, shady hang-out in the summertime for listening to good music.

A couple of nights later involved a rather different musical experience. Luke, Jen, and I made our way to Roy Thompson Hall for the Star Wars Concert, performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Erich Kunzel (apparently he’s famous). As if that weren’t enough, Anthony Daniels – Mr. C-3PO himself – narrated the SW saga between pieces. They summarized the story well – although for some reason, a certain protocol droid was often cast in a very flattering light — tying everything together with a two hour performance of music from all six movies. Understandably, it was Original Trilogy-heavy, with the more well-known and endearing pieces featured prominently. I was pleasantly surprised at how often Duel of the Fates showed up: as the final Episode I selection, a bit done after intermission, then again during the encore. It’s good to see that one of my favorites is thought highly of by the ‘professionals’. Another highlight was Cantina Band showing up as part of the encore (after Jen had noticed it wasn’t part of the listed lineup). What a cool show!

So I’ve got to take more advantage of the variety of stuff to do in Toronto. I’ve got my eye on geeking out on movies at the Film Festival in a couple of months, and have chatted briefly with Mike about that. There’s also the Lord of the Rings musical debuting in Toronto in the spring; Sakina and I have decided we must go, although it’s a pretty pricey bit of entertainment. Anyone else interested in this stuff should let me know.

• Firefly Marathon. Firefly: an exceptionally entertaining show from Buffy/Angel creator Joss Whedon, poorly scheduled by Fox and cancelled after less than a dozen episodes, big hit on DVD where you can watch episodes in proper order and see a few unaired ones. Such a hit, in fact, that a movie will be coming out in September and early reviews sound great! Luke and Jen have yet to see it, so we’ll fit in the entire series, tentatively scheduled for some weekend in July.

• The Star Wars Concert. Thanks to Luke for finding this! We’ll be getting tickets this week, and here’s the description from the TSO’s website
  

  Erich Kunzel and members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will take you to a musical galaxy far, far away for these world premiere performances of the most powerful music from all six Star Wars films, featuring Special Guest narrator Anthony Daniels, who has played C-3PO in all six films. The concert also features dramatic choruses from the films, performed by the Mississauga Choral Society.

  Shows on June 28th and 29th.

• Pearl Jam. Canadian tour in the fall, including shows in small venues like London and Kitchener. But not for me. I’m an idiot and didn’t get organized in time before tickets went on sale this morning. But from the sounds of it, that may not have helped anyway, as they sold out super fast. From my reading, there are a lot of hard core fans going to a number of shows (like 3 in 4 nights, etc). I gotta get up to speed on the concert-going process.

• Summer Movies. Batman Begins (June 15), Land of the Dead (if it doesn’t look like it’ll suck; June 24), War of the Worlds (ditto; June 29), Dark Water (again ditto; July 8), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (July 15), The Island (July 22) and probably many more once I really take a good look at what’s coming.

Reminder to write about Rilo Kiley.