Akron Family @ The Music Gallery

Back in March Akron Family returned to Toronto as part of their North American tour heavily weighted with Canadian venues. These Brooklyn boys are quickly becoming Toronto favorites. At first I was apprehensive about seeing such an exhibitionist band at The Music Gallery, a church, where I thought there antics might be stifled. Fortunately for us, Akron showed how versatile a rock band they are.

Entering through the back of the church, they started off by the show with a little jam session involving some acoustics and a lion on stick. Yeah, you really just had to be there. Unfortunately they were suffering from a colds, but luckily someone in the friendly Toronto crowd came to their rescue with Vicks, and was promised non-drug-related compensation at the end of the show. A highlight of the night was during one of their long psychedelic rock outs, they moved from the stage to the grand piano, and then added the church's organ.

The night started off with the lovely Laura Barrett. This was my first time seeing her live and I was extremely impressed with her charm and witty lyrics. Truly whimsical. It's amazing what she can do with that kalimba. I was also quite impressed with her side kick Richard on the standup bass. They are by far the freshest sound I've heard come out of Toronto since Final Fantasy.