Rock

Music insiders on the extraordinary legacy of Garth Hudson and the Band: ‘It was unlike any other music I’d ever heard’

Colin Linden, Rob Fraboni and John Simon, all of whom worked with the Band, offer remembrances. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In 1968, when Colin Linden was eight years old, he heard a song on the radio that boggled his young mind. He was at Alexander’s department store in White Plains, N.Y., when rock radio station WNEW-FM played “The Weight” by a Canadian-American band simply called The Band….

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What do Blue Rodeo and Broken Social Scene have in common? Both are celebrated in new documentaries premiering in Toronto

Blue Rodeo: Lost Together and It’s All Gonna Break will screen at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In the next 10 days, new documentaries on two beloved Canadian bands will have their Toronto premieres at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. They promise to be music to your eyes. On Jan. 24, Stephen Chung’s 89-minute It’s All Gonna Break, the story of Toronto indie collective…


He helped bring the Ramones, the Police and the B-52’s to Toronto for the first time. Nearly 50 years later, he’s being celebrated in a new book

Nearly 100 key players, including performers, scenesters and other promoters, were interviewed for “He Hijacked My Brain: Gary Topp’s Toronto.”  By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In a career that has lasted nearly five decades and involved thousands of concerts, eminent Toronto promoter Gary Topp has but a few regrets. One of his biggest involved an act he and partner Gary Cormier (known collectively as the Garys) tried to book…


Taylor Swift may be the hottest ticket in town, but our city has always loved a good gig. Here are Toronto’s 10 biggest concerts of all time

The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and U2 are a few of the artists who drew the largest crowds. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star A rolling stone may gather no moss, but the Rolling Stones certainly gather the masses, especially in or near Toronto. With Taylor Swift and her six-date run at Rogers Centre swiftly approaching, what better time to take a look at Toronto’s all-time biggest concerts. Swift’s…


Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band bring rock’s greatest show to Toronto

The Boss brought his E Street Band to Scotiabank Arena after postponing last year because of illness. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star **AUTHOR NOTE: Sometimes articles and reviews are edited for brevity. Usually I don’t have a problem with it, but in this case, quite a lot of important info was omitted. In this case, I’m re-inserting text that was extracted in order to give a more complete…