A couple weeks ago, Lal, Alan, various and sundry spouses and I went to see Great Lake Swimmers at the Church of the Redeemer. It was my second concert in 10 years, so I was psyched.

We saw the early show, which began around 6:50 with the lead track off their new album, Onigara, called Your Rocky Spine. It was exactly what I'd hoped they would start with. It was banjo-riffic and instrument-laden and the female harmony and echoing made it feel rather holy (the buzzing speaker and patchy jack in singer Tony Dekker's guitar only distracted me only slightly and sporadically).

As it turns out, I like my live music much like I like my opera—loud and full. My favourite songs were the ones with heavy support, which at times included a bass, a violin, the aforementioned banjo, something I like to call an accordion in a box, and some sort of sitty-organ-looking-thing that had pedals at the knees. My least favourite were when it was Tony and his guitar. That said, his voice is so lovely and the pews so comfy that my only real complaint is that I could have fallen asleep had he done more than two solos in a row. 

It was certainly my favourite concert in the last 10 years, and we all left the church wishing we'd bought tickets to the 9 p.m. show as well. GLS plays Toronto and area quite frequently, so I'll have to watch their site to see when they'll be back.

Don't want to take my word for it? Check out these live recordings from the concert, and stay tuned to CBC radio, cuz they were taping it.