Just Giver! Mike's Adventures in New Zealand

While I was away on the Stray trip Broken Social Scene came to Auckland. Michelle scored some tickets but unfortunately I was unable to attend. I asked Michelle to guest blog about the show. 

Broken Social Scene at the Kings Arms, Auckland NZ

Last night I went to finally see BSS perform at one of Auckland’s Kings Arms Tavern. The Kings Arms is one of the oldest pubs in town with one of the biggest and sunniest garden bars around.

The ‘K.A’ is the city’s premiere rock’n’ roll venue with live music 4 or 5 nights a week and in the garden bar on Sunday afternoons.

BSS for those of you who dont know are an Indie rock band from Toronto. I cannot keep track of how many band members there actually are, but there are quite a few. Ive missed these guys on 2 separate occassions in Toronto so I was stoked to see them in my hometown. Unfortunately for Mike he was away on a work trip so he missed the show. Luckily I managed to convince one of his workmates, Katie, to go along with me to the show. She agreed eventhough she had never even heard of BSS before. We met up for some dinner at one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in town, Renkon. This place is tiny and is always packed, good luck getting a seat. They have an agreement with the bar next door where you can have a drink and they allow you to eat your dinner at the same time.So all you have to do is order your dinner and head next door to wait for your food to arrive – service! After dinner we headed to the beer store and picked up a bottle of pre-mixed Pomegranate cosmopolitan which was delicious. I then gave Katie the grand tour of Le Chateau de Michelle et Mike, we finished our drinks and caught a cab to the tavern which was about 5 minutes away. The first thing I noticed was that everyone seemed really young, which made me feel really old. The opening act was a kiwi band called Dictaphone Blues who had a bit of a Weezer thing going on, they were really good. Once they were done we grabbed some drinks and by the time I was served and turned around there was barely any more room to stand and watch the main act – how did that happen? We managed to fine a spot to squeeze into, ofcourse right behind Amazon woman! BSS came on stage about 10.30ish, yay! Half the band members were kitted out in their plaid shirts (ofcourse) and the main singer wore a hoodie and a beanie – gotta love Canadians! The show started with a bang and everyone went nuts. Half way through the show I had to go to the washroom – oh no! Getting out of the crowd was one thing but getting back to my spot was something else. People just refused to move out of the way so I had to elbow a few bellies (after asking nicely to please move) and just force my way through this sardine packed crowd. It was super hot inside despite all the patio doors being open in the middle of winter. Needless to say there was no spac to move, let alone dance. What do you do when your body wants to move to some awesome tunage and there is just no space?…jump up and down ofcourse! The show was definitely worth the wait and I cannot wait to see BSS again. They sound amazing live and came back for an encore, twice! The show ended at 12.45am – how time flies when you are having fun!On the way out we noticed some of the band members standing outside chatting to a few fans while enjoying a few local beers, Macs Gold to be precise – good choice! I walked home, grabbed some BK and climbed into bed.