Our Lady Peace close out the summer with a homecoming show at Echo Beach in Toronto

Words by: Chris D’Alessandro | Photos by: Curtis Sindrey –

If you didn’t go and see Our Lady Peace at Echo Beach with Said the Whale and Mother Mother last Sunday you missed out on one hell of a quintessential summer concert experience.

Vancouver indie rock darlings and 2011 Juno Award winners Said The Whale opened the show with “This City’s a Mess,” from their 2008 album Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia, which is a re-release of their debut album Taking Abalonia.

Tyler Bancroft of Said The Whale at Echo Beach in Toronto. August 19, 2012. Photo: Copyright 2012 Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

They forcefully blasted into tracks from their recent album “Little Mountain,” which was released back in March, including “The Reason,” “O Alexandria,” and “We Are 1980,” which criticizes the current generation for having “information passing right through our skin and bones.”

Their indie rock and acoustic sensibilities effectively warmed up the crowd for fellow Vancouverites Mother Mother who jumped right into a three-song medley including their hit “Body of Years,” and the Pixies track “Gouge Away,” from their critically acclaimed 1989 album Doolittle.

Ryan Guldemond of Mother Mother at Echo Beach in Toronto. August 19, 2012. Photo: Copyright 2012 Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

With their new album The Sticks set to drop in September, they performed three new tracks from the album including, “The Sticks,” “Love It Dissipates,” and their new single “Let’s Fall In Love,” where lead singer Ryan Guldemond crooned “Mommy did it, daddy did it, the funny little monkeys in the zoo will do it, let’s fall in love,” which was seemingly appropriate for the pseudo-beach setting that was Echo Beach.

One of the staples of their set was their energetic performance of Wintersleep’s breakout track “Weighty Ghost,” from their debut album Welcome to the Night Sky which was a welcoming conclusion to an already impressive set.

Ryan Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin of Mother Mother at Echo Beach in Toronto. August 19, 2012. Photo: Copyright 2012 Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

Our Lady Peace (OLP) is one of those bands that you’ve always wanted to see live, but never quite got around to, even if you were a life-long fan. Their new material, like “Heavyweight,” and “As Fast As You Can,” both from their recent album Curve, released in April, doesn’t hit as hard as their older songs, and it probably never will, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a blast to watch these guys rifle through all of their hits. Even tracks you’d forgotten about like “In Repair” made an appearance.

Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace at Echo Beach in Toronto. August 19, 2012. Photo: Copyright 2012 Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

With a supporting cast of seasoned musicians behind him, lead singer Raine Maida was far from a one man army, but it’s with his vocal performance on tracks like the aforementioned “One Man Army” from their 1999 album ‪Happiness… Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch‬, where he extensively used a megaphone to project his voice, like an army general directing his troops into battle, and the intense “Monkey Brains,” from their 2009 album Burn Burn, that produced hints of his signature falsetto voice that fans have come to love.

While there were some technical glitches along the way, including lead guitarist Steve Mazur’s E String breaking during “Clumsy,” and Maida’s wireless mic cutting out halfway through “Heavyweight,” OLP performed a very tight set that was firmly focused on the present with many of the tracks coming from Curve and Burn Burn, but still has a hint of the past especially when they performed “Paper Moon,” from Burn Burn, which included a tease of their hit “Life,” from their 2000 album Spiritual Machines.

Mother Mother Set List

1. Body Of Years / Sorry Entertainer / Gouge Away 
(Pixies cover)
2. The Stand
3. The Sticks
4. Let’s Fall In Love
5. Chasing It Down
6. Wrecking Ball
7. Love It Dissipates
8. Ghosting
9. Weighty Ghost 
(Wintersleep cover)
10. Simply Simple
11. Hayloft

Our Lady Peace Set List

1. Rabbits
2. Allowance
3. One Man Army
4. Innocent
5. Superman’s Dead
6. Paper Moon 
(with “Life” snippet)
7. Monkey Brains
8. Not Enough
9. Blister 
(Acoustic)
10. Heavyweight
11. Is Anybody Home?
12. In Repair
13. Somewhere Out There
14. Clumsy
15. As Fast As You Can

    Encore:

16. Angels/Losing/Sleep
17. 4 AM
18. If This Is It

    Encore 2:

19. Starseed

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