Sound Academy -Toronto Ontario

This past week we ventured into Toronto to see Ra Ra Riot and The Shins at Sound Academy. I have never been to this venue before, and I was pleasantly surprised. The Sound Academy is down at The Docks. It has a patio, a large main floor with a stage and bar, and a VIP upper viewing area. There was even a food stand selling pizza and poutine in true Canadian fashion.

The sound quality was good, in that the music was clean and crisp regardless of where you stood, and wasn't loud and ear piercing, even close to the stage. It was an all ages event, so we were branded with wristbands to announce our drinking age. The crowd was really mixed too. Some younger, lots of twenty and thirty something's, and then some quite a bit older, which was cool. Nice crowd. People weren't pushy or rude. There is a somewhat uniform pushing feeling at this venue, as people try to make their way closer to the stage. It's a little difficult to go refresh your beverage and try to get back to your spot without people thinking you're one of the douches pushing his way forward, but all in all, not too bad.

There are lots of hipsters out on foot and on bikes here. Lots of thick rimmed glasses and touques, high waisted denim shorts and busy floral prints. It's pretty entertaining. All in good fun. 

Merchandise is on sale, and up on a little platform at the back. People seemed to voluntarily form a single file line to view it and purchase it one at a time, which was neat and orderly, but a little slow and inconvenient. 

Ra Ra Riot opened, and put on a great show. Highly recommend purchasing their album The Orchard

The Shins came on around 10, and continued for a good hour, including a three song encore. They are 

fantastic live. What a great show! I loved hearing some of their old stuff too. I'm a sucker for 

"Caring Is Creepy" and "New Slang" and "Bait and Switch". 

By the end of the night, I was wishing we splurged the extra five or ten bucks for the VIP section. They had seats. I like to sit down at concerts. Am I alone with this? My favourite venue has been Massey Hall, because you pay for a seat and everyone stays seated. It's wonderful. At the Amphitheatre, you pay for a seat and then everyone stands and it gets very frustrating halfway through when you're all tired, and achey and you want to clap along and give your feet a break from the comfort of your own seat. For Iron and Wine in September, we will have seats!

I took this one for the evil bunny they had on their backdrop. Love the bunny Shins.