Both headliners great - Phoenix was my fave
by D-ner on 2023-09-06Budweiser Stage - TorontoUnfortunately we got to the Budweiser stage during the last song of Weyes Blood so we missed the first two openers. The song I did hear was great though. Wished I could've seen more of that performance. Phoenix has a bunch of songs I know but I don't know their albums. That being said, their show was so uplifting, cool, fun and sounded fantastic. The visual display was made use of the best by Phoenix. The design of their show was top notch. The band seemed genuinely appreciative of the massive response they elicited from the crowd. The singer whose name I don't know did an epic crowd surf/walk during the last tune that really helped peak the excitement in the crowd. I'd go see them again for sure. Beck's music I know quite a bit more and I am a fan. His show was solid but lacked the enthusiasm and energy of Phoenix. The subtle irony in a lot of Beck's music felt strange after what felt like a joyous and authentic performance by Phoenix. He had a cooler demeanour that I found harder to engage with. The band was really fantastic. Joey Waronker on drums in particular blew me away. But all the musicians were great. There were a lot of tracks in the performance not played by the musicians. That in itself doesn't bother me but my preference would be to hear more of the musicians and less of the tracks. Personal taste. He played most of the hits you'd imagine him playing. The lights/visual display were also really interesting and all over the place, like a lot of Beck's music. I guess it had more variety but less cohesion than the Phoenix set. Still was great to get a chance to see a legend with his fantastic band and show.