By: Mehek Seyid (@whatthemehek) –
Fall Out Boy. (Photo: Sarah Rix/Aesthetic Magazine Toronto)
Philanthropy, holiday spirit, and good music brought many Canadians to Much’s The Big Jingle last night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The Canadian television music network partnered with Virgin Mobile Canada to raise funds for Regeneration, a project that tackles youth homelessness in Canada, an issue that affects over 65,000 Canadian youths. They enlisted Fall Out Boy, Hedley, Serena Ryder, Serena Ryder, Ylvis, Icona Pop, Fefe Dobson, Mia Martina and Down With Webster to perform short but entertaining sets to support their charitable cause and kick off the holiday season.
Performances took place over the course of four hours, with nearly every artist playing between three to five songs. Save for the half hour delay at the beginning of the evening, there were not any snags on the production front, with transitions between sets running smoothly and fairly quickly. As the crews worked to change-up the equipment for each artist, Much VJs Liz Trinnear and Scott Willats were on hand to maintain the momentum for the evening, interacting with audience members through contests and kiss cameras, dancing on stage, and promoting the Regeneration campaign. It was sometimes a bit of a challenge for Trinnear and Willats to keep the audience’s excitement going given the length of the event as well as the fact that there were a lot of young kids in the audience who may have tired out early, ultimately finding some of their attempts significantly more successful than others. However, when it came to the performances, fans were more than ready to exhaust themselves.
Such was the case during Fall Out Boy’s set (who headlined the evening), which found fans dancing in the stands at the Air Canada Centre and enthusiastically singing along to some of their classic hits and new songs, including “Thnks fr the Mmrs” and “The Phoenix”. Bassist Pete Wentz and singer Patrick Stump embodied their leadership roles with ease, constantly jumping up on tables set near the edge of the stage and playing right into the audience, with Wentz even waving a white flag with “F.O.B.” emblazed across it. But like any leadership role, there is a responsibility to uphold, and for Wentz it was to inform his fans that sometimes life does not get better. It was an odd statement to hear at an event centered around the spirit of giving and helping others, but was quickly brought back on track when he encouraged his audience to just keep fighting on, even through the tough times, so that they could change the world.
It’s possible that this statement did not really register with the teenaged and older members of the audience who were ecstatic to hear “Sugar We’re Going Down” and “Dance Dance”, both of which garnered some of the largest reactions of the night. However, it was also nice to see younger fans join in on the chorus of these songs, especially given that Fall Out Boy’s brand of pop punk, specifically their older material, is not in tune with some of the more popular music trends today. Perhaps that’s just an indication of the accessibility and fun factor involved in their music. Regardless, by the time they closed their set with “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em’ Up)”, they managed to unite the entire crowd, all of whom had their fists pumping in the air, singing the “Oh, ohs” on the bridge back to the boys, empowered and elated by their appearance.
Down With Webster opened The Big Jingle with their popular single, “Woah Is Me”, which immediately provoked fans to flood the barricades, W’s high in the air. It’s no surprise that their reaction was so passionate from the offset. Down With Webster has developed a dedicated following because of their reputation for simply being a fun band, particularly in a live setting. Alongside their responsibility for the rapping, members Cameron “Camm” Hunter and Martin “Bucky” Sejahave perfected their roles as hypemen, often jumping around the stage, sliding around members Dave “D!ggy” Ferrisand Andrew “Marty” Martino, and even feeling ambitious enough to work on getting the whole audience bouncing, which did not take them long to achieve. During a performance of their newest single, “Party For Your Life”, they threw plastic red party cups into the crowd, another indication of their intent to provide the entertainment. The promise wasshort lived because their set was confined to four songs, an unfortunate move given their immense stage presence and impact on the atmosphere. Their set ended on an inspiring note with an extremely well received rendition of their 2013 hit, “One In A Million”, which found audience members pointing high their index fingers straight into the sky, truly believing Down With Webster’s encouraging lyrics.
Hedley. (Photo: Sarah Rix/Aesthetic Magazine Toronto)
Mia Martina appeared on stage in a sleek black and silver ensemble, sporting big hair do to match her even bigger voice, which rang pleasantly through the Air Canada Centre during her twenty-minute performance. Though her voice sounds less polished than it does on her records, it was incredibly strong, clear, and grew with every song. She jumped from the quietly bittersweet “Stereo Love” to the clubby “La La” with confidence, convincing the audience to clap with her before moving into her more recent hit, “Heartbreaker”. The dance-centric song was enjoyable, but the use of the percussionist on stage subdued the electronic instrumental and took away from the potential impact it might have had on the crowd. She later invited fellow Canadian singer Massari to join her on stage to perform their duet, “Latin Moon”, which turned out to be a sweet surprise and a showcase of some great Canadian vocal talent.
Unlike other artists, Fefe Dobson seemed to possess a minimal amount of energy as she wordlessly came on stage before jumping into “I Want You”, shaking the tambourine in her hand. She later explained that she had a bit of a cold, and slowly grew into the performance. She even impressively ran around in a pair red suede boots, dropping to the ground and pounding her fist into the brightly lit stage as she shared her more recent songs “Legacy”, “Stutterin’” and “Ghost”, all of which received with screams from the many females in the audience, who nodded to the words and often joined in the retelling of Dobson’s bitterness. It would have been interesting to hear older material performed, but perhaps much of the audience was too young to even know of “Bye Bye Boyfriend” and “Everything”.
Much has always been conscious of its audience. Such awareness was not lost last night, as they brought in two huge Internet-based sensations, Icona Pop and Ylvis, to join in on The Big Jingle festivities. There were a lot of great elements to Icona Pop’s set, including members Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo’s ability to harmonize with one another. It sounded particularly lovely on set opener of “We Got The World”. This, along the changing neon-lit LCD screens and continuous series of dance-house-based music should have encouraged more of a response out of the audience, but it did not. It may take longer for Icona Pop to develop a following with a younger audience, especially those in the teenage group who may not seek out their music as actively as others who are a particular fan of that subgenre. If they were in a smaller club venue, they probably would have created havoc, not calm people down back into their seats. Although there was a little more of a response when they performed their most recent single, “All Night”, the highlight of their performance came at the end when they performed their break-out hit, “I Love It”, as it garnered the biggest reaction. To the dismay of some parents, there may have been one too many young ones yelling “I’m a 90s bitch!” around their ten-year olds, but it made for one of the best moments of the evening.
Norwegian-based Ylvis appeared on stage in full-fox attire to answer the highly controversial question “What Does The Fox Say?” Part of the hilarity, outside of the sheer ridiculousness of the song itself, is how nicely produced and polished it sounds. This unfortunately does not translate well into a live setting, especially as the song progresses, making Ylvissound more annoying than hilarious. Regardless, there were plenty of audience members who danced along to the “Ring-ding-ding”’ part of the song and sang “Jacha-chacha” even louder.
Fortunately, Serena Ryder shortly appeared on stage to appease those who just did not understand Ylvis’ appeal. It was an extremely pleasant change as Ryder, who has had a tremendous 2013, confidently handled her arena settings, often asking how her fans were doing and briefly talking about Regeneration. She launched her set with her popular single, “What I Wouldn’t Do?” followed by “Fall”, which encouraged everyone, including many of the adults, to stand up and clap their hands to the folk-pop-rock rhythms. Ryder even brought in some festive cheer by performing her sweet Christmas song, “Calling To Say”, sharing the idea of reconnecting with loved ones during the holidays. She closed her performance with a perfect rendition of “Stompa”, which is inherently perfect for reigniting a large audience because of it’s chorus, which prepared the audience for what lay ahead.
Canadian pop-rock darlings Hedley, to the joy of many female audience members, opened their performance with “Kiss You Inside Out”. Lead singer Jacob Hoggard, though an entertaining liaison for the group, has definitely toned down his antics during Hedley’s live show. This allowed you to appreciate his sweet, romantic suggestions a bit more, which brought a certain intimacy to the show. Hoggard greeted the audience in one long breath, “It’s so nice to see your bright, merry Christmas holiday faces,” commenting on the appropriate attire of red hats and jingle bells adorned by many fans. The West Coast boys then shared some new material by performing “Crazy For You” and “Anything” from their recently released fifth album, Wild Life. “Anything” was particularly well received and found a lot of fans yelling “Forget that! I can do anything” with defiance and confidence. Unfortunately, just as they were getting into Hedley’s performance through this song, the boys departed from the stage. It would have been better to shorten one of the other performers’ sets because Hedley’s was garnering the crazy energy that was much sought after throughout the night. Fortunately, therewas a very short break between their set and Fall Out Boy’s, who topped off the evening and made the most of the atmosphere that Hedley facilitated for them.
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Fall Out Boy
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Hedley
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Serena Ryder
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Ylvis
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Icona Pop
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Fefe Dobson
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Mia Martina
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Down With Webster
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