When I saw Broken Social Scene back in May, I was blown away by how amazing they were live. They are a band you need to see live at some point in your life.

On June 30, 2010, I saw them live for the second time.

The venue this time was HMV Forum in Kentish Town and was much bigger than tiny Heaven. During their set at Heaven, they mentioned doing a 3-hour set which didn’t happen since they had a support act to begin with. The night was still amazing though.

A familiar face was up on stage as the support band. It was Here We Go Magic again whom I saw perform two days after the BSS show supporting another Canadian band, The New Pornographers at Electric Ballroom.

They played a similar set as before but it just sounded quite a bit better, just a bit tighter, which is all good of course. Also, they seemed to be a bit more relaxed this time compared to Electric Ballroom.

And long-legged bassist was still looking very hot.

Broken Social Scene came up on stage with most members sans Lisa Lobsinger who didn’t show up on stage until after a few songs.

They started off the evening with World Sick yet again, followed by Stars and Sons, and then Texico Bitches. At this point, I felt they were doing the exact same set as what they did in Heaven which was great set, but everytime you see a band for the 2nd or 3rd time, you expect to hear a few songs which you haven’t heard live before.

At this point, I knew what was coming next, 7/4 (Shoreline) which is when the lovely Lisa Lobsinger strutted bare-foot on stage and Fire Eye’d Boy. Despite being on repeat, these first few songs were still real great to hear again and sing/dance along to.

Before the next song, Kevin called out a member of the audience to hold lyrics to Forced To Love on stage. Apparently, this is a staple of Broken Social Scene shows but was not done in Heaven. The audience member for the evening was Angus, and boy did he put on quite a show. Along with holding the lyrics on stage, he was dancing like crazy and mimicking each member of the band. Heck, he even danced next to Lisa which I was completely envious of. The whole band was enjoying his impromptu performance on stage which the crowd loved as well as his name was cheered on.

After this, they skipped Art House Director which was the next song on the Heaven setlist and instead followed with an old favourite, Cause = Time. Then it was Lisa’s time to shine once again with All To All. When I close my eyes, I can still imagine her on stage singing this song. She’s just so pretty with quite an amazing voice as well. Also, let’s not forget about her crazy but totally lovely hair.

Finally, they played something different, Looks Just Like The Sun, which Kevin mentioned as one of his favourite songs.

It was then time for Brian Canning on lead with Water In Hell. Another enjoyable moment followed during Ungrateful Little Father which is Kevin’s little “rap” song. Similar to Heaven, Kevin went down the stage and came closer to the stage even borrowing glasses from the girl standing next to me.

When they finished playing Superconnected, they decided to add a song which was not on the playlist. The song they added was KC Accidental which is a wicked song from You Forgot It In People.

Their set was then finished off by another extended version of their celebration song, Meet Me In The Basement which was pure instrumental fun and craziness.

Like every other act, there was an encore which started out with Kevin on keyboards singing Lover’s Spit as other members of the band started to trickle in. They capped off the night with It’s All Gonna Break which was simply perfect.

Here’s the full setlist.

• World Sick
• Stars And Sons
• Texico Bitches
• 7/4 (Shoreline)
• Fire Eye’d Boy
• Forced To Love
• Cause = Time
• All To All
• Sweetest Kill
• Looks Just Like The Sun
• Water In Hell
• Ungrateful Little Father
• Superconnected
• KC Accidental
• Meet Me in the Basement
• Lover’s Spit (encore)
• It’s All Gonna Break

Despite the setlist being almost identical to their previous show in London, this evening was still quite amazing. We are talking about Broken Social Scene here which is one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen. With the amount of members they have on stage, switching instruments around, they always sound so perfect and in some instances, better than on record.

Unlike Heaven, there weren’t any special guests performing with them on stage but this didn’t make the experience any less special. The addition of It’s All Gonna Break for their last song was truly remarkable. I was still hoping they’d play Almost Crimes or Anthems of a Seventeen Year Old Girl but I guess those are songs which Lisa doesn’t really like singing or something since both are great songs and can easily be thrown in the mix.

I’d give equal billing to both gigs. Heaven was enjoyable since it was my first time seeing them live and the guests made the evening a bit more special (Gordon Moakes!) but even though I was in front, hardly anyone was moving and was just enjoying the show. The Forum was great since the atmosphere was a bit better, a bit more dancing and jumping around was to be had, and of course, Angus.

This is one band I would be seeing everytime they play in London. Even if I would have to use my credit card to nab tickets.