The Dears

An event billed as one of the festival's centrepieces felt like just another night, as Montreal's the Dears played to a half-capacity crowd at the Phoenix. The past months spent touring Europe and the U.S. were evident in the bands tight performance, with Lightburn and company squeezing every ounce of emotional grandeur out of tracks from the group's two full-length releases. Though abundantly satisfying, the evening was devoid of any unexpected musical nuances (no 20-minute improvisations tonight), and having rear stage spotlights shining out into an already brightly lit room meant seeing only an annoying silhouette of the band for the better part of the night.