After bursting on the scene with an air of elusive mystery and a killer mixtape called House Of Balloons in 2011, The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, has cultivated a rabid and growing following thanks to his expressive new jack soul voice, ever interesting indie electronica sound, and dark, sexy, and vaguely dangerous witching hour subject matter. Enigmatic amorphousness soon gave way to hot live shows in Toronto and GTA before the hotly buzzed about act completely skipped Buffalo on their way to larger, more buzzworthy locals, and for local fans who'd gone all in The Weeknd's next two free mixtapes Thursday and Echoes of Silence and waited for Canada's next big thing to play here, it hurt.
It hurt because this is Buffalo, a city that's enjoyed the musical bounty of our neighbors to the north for decades, from Rush to The Tragically Hip to Sloan to Arkells, etc. etc.. We're the creamy nougat of Tor-Buff-Chester, the one's that get Arkells shows at the Town Ballroom, Tokyo Police Club at Soundlab, Wildlife at the Mohawk, Sam Roberts in just about every venue in the city, Gord Downie at the Adam's Mark to play and talk about protecting our Great Lakes, and two Hip shows at the Outer Harbor when Mother Nature rains us out. We've got the Peace Bridge, that brings us this wonderful bounty as well as the occasional band coming from or going to Toronto, where EVERYBODY plays. His US debut was always earmarked for someplace else, The Weeknd was crossing over into the US via WNY on his march to conquest on a regular basis.
And it's even worse now that The Weeknd released his proper debut album, Kissland, on Universal last month and riding an even bigger wave of buzz after an electrifying performance on Jimmy Kimmel and Letterman and shows in big markets. It's becoming clear that The Weeknd is the big thing coming out of Canada right now (whereas Wildlife is the next big thing coming out of Canada), but because he falls entirely in between genres he's nowhere on local radio, a big problem now that we've skipped the "getting to know each other" phase on his path to stardom.
Ideally The Weeknd (on Universal Records) would be in rotation on our "new music alternative" 107.7 FM, but that station is still decidedly in it's infancy and yet to fully take up it's professed mantle as a source for new music. I haven't heard any Weeknd, Toro Y Moi, Janelle Monae, or Chvrches for that matter, and way, way too much No Doubt and Muse, and that's a damn shame, especially because it isn't aiding in getting The Weeknd down here to Buffalo for a show. But I still remain optimistic about that station, in part because they're still setting up a local operation that will theoretically give it the local flavor longed for by area music fans. Patience will be a virtue, and in any case it's gratifying to hear Tame Impala, Phoenix, and new Arcade Fire on Buffalo radio that isn't 91.3.
I guess that patience applies to The Weeknd getting down here for a show. It is inevitable after all. It might be after his second album when he's spreading it around beyond the places he hit on his magical mystery introductory tour. In the meantime I'll re-consume his Trilogy mini boxed set (which collected his 3 mixtapes for a rather affordable price) and the aforementioned Kissland, and keep an eye out for word of our Buffalo show. Word on the street is that it will be worth the wait.
0 comments
Post a Comment