Concert Review: Do Make Say Think & Absolutely Free Provide Blissful Explosion Of Noise In Toronto

By: Stephen McGill –

Ohad Benchetrit of Do Make Say Think at The Opera House in Toronto. December 7th, 2012. (Photo: Stephen McGill/Aesthetic Magazine)

Do Make Say Think is a Toronto band through and through, it’s members make up other legendary Toronto bands such as Broken Social Scene, and Lullabye Arkestra. “It’s a real honor to be home,” declared guitarist Justin Small at the start of their set. They’d been quiet for a couple of years since the release of their 2009 album Other Truths which had clearly created the demand for this show, as the Opera House was packed.

Taking the stage to near darkness and to the hum of ambient wildlife, the five piece, including two drummers, two guitarists and a bassist, created a set that relied on epic post rock songs consisting of lulls and crashing crescendos. It was clear immediately however because these sort of shows are very reliant on atmosphere with the lack of engagement. When you get an audience that’s rapt with attention and in the same space as the band it can be amazing. When you get a bunch of drunken assholes who insist on yelling over the band and shouting obnoxiously during any quiet parts, you get this show. While it became extremely hard to tune out the ambient noise of the room, things picked up during the last half of the set as they brought out violinist Julie Penner and several other members to fill out their sound.

Absolutely Free at The Opera House in Toronto. December 7th, 2012. (Photo: Stephen McGill/Aesthetic Magazine)

Musical highlights included tracks like “Ontario Plates” from 2003’s Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn and “The Universe!” from 2007’s You, You’re a History In Rust. The band tried to keep the audience engaged between songs, telling some bad jokes, and mid way through the set bassist Charles Spearin declared “Me and some of these guys played here 20 years ago, on my 18th birthday,” giving you a small sense of some of the history of this band. They closed their set powerfully after an hour and half, with a deafening explosion of noise, sending the audience out into the night.

Opening the night was Toronto’s Absolutely Free. Made up of former members of DD/MM/YYYY, their set was a blistering 40 minutes full-out jamming, members swapping instruments between songs and backing echoing vocals, and also included their new single “UFO” which was released on November 28^th. They had the right combination of Radiohead’s experimentation with Animal Collective’s ability to jam into a indistinguishable blur between art rock and the avant-garde.

While it’s anyone’s guess when a new Do Make Say Think record will be released, this show proved to fans that despite their inactivity In the studio, they can still make magical moments on stage.