Sloan in-store performance on May 14th, at Sonic Boom

The heart warming in-store show performance by Sloan at the one of the biggest record stores in Toronto, Sonic Boom, on May 14th, 2011,  mirrored the impact of their music on our lives from generation to generation.

Thanks to the ever-present delays of Toronto's TTC - I managed to get to the store just 10 minutes prior to the event. As usual, the show was in the basement which is full of cassette tapes and records and today it was jam-packed with people. I have never seen such a diverse audience before; from seniors, to teenagers, to families, to couples. Each group was so different, but they all had one thing in common: Sloan.

When the quartet showed up on the little stage up front, the basement - surprisingly - became momentarily silent. They started with a song from theirs 10th album, "XX" called "Follow the leader", immediately breaking the silence as anxious fans started jumped up and down in time. Chris Murphy claimed that it was very first time that they were performing songs from the new record, and they continued with their beautiful acoustic "Green Garden, Cold Montreal"; to a boogie-woogie type tune "It"s Plain to see". 

I was only able to see the tip of their heads from the very back of the basement. Even still, I was having a blast watching how the audience's reaction. Lots of them were very attentive, carefully studying every details of the new songs. Some people in a group were dancing around with their friends. What I loved the most was families. There was a father and a son on his shoulder standing in front of me. With big smiles on their faces, they were humming and bouncing along with the songs. I was worried if the kid was going to hit his head on the low-ceiling. It was very sweet. 

For the encore, they played their three good old songs, " Your Daddy Will Do", "The lines you Amend" and "The Good in Everyone",  which enticed the audience to sing along. Their performance was like sunshine brightening up my rainy day. If you missed the performance, don't worry. Sloan is touring in North America with the new record, "XX" and they will be performing on June 22nd at the Mod Club.