Little Dragon- some of my favorite music ever
- Brad Gardner
- 11 hours ago
- 13 min read
I used to work in a call center, part of my job was to enter customers phone numbers and addresses into the system prior to them being called by the team. As I would be doing this, I'd be wearing a headset in one ear ever morning I'd be listening to Lauren Laverne's top tier BBC 6 morning radioshow online. Everymorning I was graced with a mix of my favorite music complete with a steady flow of introductions to brand new and old and music.
One day at work, probably in about 2018 or so i'd say I heard a song that sounded familiar to me. I really liked it and had to stop for a second and look up who the song was by because it was sounding really familiar to me. The Answer: Little Dragon.
From the Swedish band's 2009 album titled Machine Dreams
Being happily reintroduced to this banger of a track, I added the song to my apple music account feeling like I was reunited with a song I forsure knew around when it came out but had somehow forgotten. I remember thinking at the time how could I forget this? An all time banger.
As the months went on- I kept finding i'd be listening to BBC 6 and more than once I'd check who a song was by, again and again the answer would be Little Dragon.
These songs were sometimes sounding familiar like some long forgotten distant memory that I was so happy to be reunited with thanks to BBC 6's Lauren Laverne and her superb musical taste.
At that particular time she was also spinning their brand new single at the time which was called "Lover Chanting" from their 2018 EP of the same name.
By that time I had heard about enough. Not in the "i'm angry with you" sorta of way ... more so in the "I've heard about enough, this might be one of my all time favorite bands" kind of way.
It rarely happens, but it DOES happen once in a blue moon. Where I'm listening to a band, checking out their music and their body of work and the deeper I go the more I feel like I have just won the musical lottery something. In the case of this band there wasn't just one album to discover, as of 2018 there were 5 albums exquisite pieces of music to get acquainted with. As I write this today, the band now has 7 phenomenal albums to date with many remixes and EPs as well.
Now, back to the story!
Time continued to pass by, and it was now October of 2019- the band just released their brand new single called "Tongue Kissing" and revealed that they had an upcoming North american tour ahead. As I combed through the list of dates my eyes widened in elation when I saw April 25 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall on the list of tour dates!
I began to message with friends at the time to see if anyone wanted to go to the show, sending links for people to listen etc. I wasn't getting much response at the time and decided to hold off on getting tickets until I could find someone to go with.
Little did I know, that just 5 months later our entire country would be in Quarantine due to covid 19. As a result, their new album at the time New me, Same us 2020 was a very welcomed companion for me as our whole way of life got turned completely upside down.
Needless to say, I didn't go to the April 25th show, and I'm not entirely sure, but given the date of that concert I'm pretty sure that the tour got cancelled. I can clearly remember watching this lockdown live stream from the band in at home in March of 2020.
Little Dragon supporting music from their catalogue and the stellar 2020 album New me, Same us during Quarantine.
Given our unprecedented global circumstances, I will never forget how comforting Quarantine performances and online content like this was for me as a musician and die hard music fan.
It was certainly not how I intended to see Little Dragon live for the first time, but it was absolutely so appreciated and was truly a great performance by the band for their fans at that time. And the album they were supporting New me, same us is so good.
Other standout live streams I watched from home during these lockdown months included Tame Impala, Glastonbury Presents: Live at worthyfarm as well as lots of amazing livestreams from my favorite artists via instagram. The Coldplay livestream from river plate in 2022 was another stand out experience from home.
I'm still with you, pandemic or not
More years began to pass, so many hardships, so many losses of friends and loved ones. So many changes to our ways of life, working from home, restaurants closing and really struggling as food delivery became the main source of income for many just to keep their doors open.
Concert venues also had to completely pivot on what they were going to do without live music and sadly many of those closed as well. I will never forget that time, everyone just trying to figure it all out. Luckily for me, Little Dragon's music has been a constant source of comfort from 2018 until today.
Hope 2023
Little dragon now had brand new music. has new music, and it was fucking awesome! What was better, by this time people could now attend sporting events and concerts again. The first single the band released off of their album was titled Slugs of Love (2023) with a brand new single by the same name that was just phenomenal.
Not too long after hearing the brand new single I was happy to read the band was touring Toronto. As soon as I saw the date, after everything I had been through at this point with this band and their amazing music, I immediately bought 2 tickets to their show at Danforth Music hall on thanksgiving weekend. I didn't know who I was going to invite to the show but I figured I had time to figure it out.
I asked a friend who lived in the city who was a big music fan who was up for the show. As the months went by and the concert was sooner approaching I got a message the day before or so finding out she couldn't make the show. I was messaging all kinds of people seeing if anyone could make the show kind of last minute. I was getting some maybe's but it wasn't looking great.
I remember sitting outside, starting to feel pretty defeated. I loved this music so much but there was a voice entering my head. Just forget it the voice said. Clearly this isn't meant to be the devil on my shoulder pronounced.
And then, something deep inside of me, so strong and so clear overrode all of that negative talk that was creeping in. I started to remember flashes of so much of the journey that I had experienced with the bands music up until this point. The call center, the concert from 2020 that never was, the livestream from home, the listening to their music through out some of the most difficult moments of my life.
And now, I finally had tickets to see them. It was settled. I was absolutely fucking going to this concert ... alone. A first for me, but this was personal anyway, this was about persevering and staying to true to what you love, and being there was important to me. It was important to show my respect, and say thank you, just by being there. So I got ready and headed to the train station.
On the train
To be honest, I was feeling pretty insecure about going to a concert by myself, not something I had ever really done before. Well I suppose in the past when I did do this I was still going there to meet friends. In this case I was just going to meet the band I guess, meet their music anyway.
Around this time, I had been studying Buddhism quite a bit, I was learning so much about different ways of thinking to try open my mind and at the same time calm my anxiety. So much buddhist literature is so great at bringing perspective, and slowing down your Monkey Mind (in other words a busy or anxious mind.)
Sidenote:
Earlier that day, the day of the concert. I bought my very first book by the brilliant zen bhuddist monk Thich Nhat Hanh called- Fear: A Powerful Guide to Overcoming Uncertainties and Personal Terrors, and Finding Peace and Freedom from Anxiety.
Although I had ordered that book, it wasn't going to arrive that day and on the train ride to the concert, I did felt I wanted to come to the show with a clear mind and ready mind. For me, as someone who had been to 100s of concerts and yet never alone, I was needing some mental backup and reinforcement if you will.
The train ride from my family home to downtown Toronto was about 45 minutes or so, I decided that was a perfect period of time to listen to the audiobook of Zen Mind beginners mind by Shunryu Suzuki.
Another side note
Believe it or not, my awareness of that book also came to be through Lauren Laverne's morning Radio show. She once had Radiohead's Thome Yorke on the show for an interview. She had a show called desert islands discs where she would ask some of the world's best artists the hypothetical question: If you were stranded on a desert island what music would you have to have with you to survive?
Guests on the show then curate a playlist of their must have music for the dire circumstances. In the Thom Yorke episode she asked him: "if you could bring one book what would it be?" His answer was Zen Mind Beginner's mind where he stated that no matter how many times you read it, you can always get new insights out of it.
Back to the show. Next Stop, Union Station
After some deep breathing and listening to the audiobook on the train ride to Toronto I was starting to feel more relaxed and mentally prepared for the concert as the train arrived at Toronto's at Union Station. I was still a smoker at the time and as I was exiting the train station, I decided to have a cigarette.
I was almost immediately greeted by a pretty rough looking individual who asked me for a cigarette. Instead of ignoring him, I was happy to offer him a cigarette. "Thank you man, I appreciate it, most people just ignore me" he said lighting the cigarette. He then went on to tell me that he looking for work and he will be out of his situation soon. I wished him luck and told him "my pleasure, have a good night and take care."
After that interaction, I ordered my uber to the Danforth Musical hall for the show. As I was in the uber with the driver making small talk, It was starting to creep in now, I was reminded that I was about to friggin see Little Dragon play live for the first time!
I took a deep breath and exhaled a deep sigh of happiness as we approached the venue on that cool fall October evening in Toronto.
New friends, same us
As soon as I walked into the venue I was greeted by the band's merch table which had all of their vinyl records out on display. It hadn't crossed my mind leading up to the show, but seeing the albums there I thought to myself: of course I need some of this amazing music on vinyl!
The tough thing to figure out was which one? I had connected with so much of their music over the past 5 or 6 years at that point. Then it became clear, there was a signed copy of Slugs of Love by the band for $70 or so. That felt right, "The signed Slugs of Love please" I said to the lady at the merch table. She got me my receipt and gave me my newly cherished signed vinyl by the band.
Shit, I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't really think about the fact that I would now be holding the vinyl in my hand for the whole concert .... in a moment of genius, I decided to put the album up against my chest and then zip up my winter coat which would contain the album nice and snuggly, I was like a musical Kangaroo with a signed LP in it's pouch.
As I walked into the concert space, there was a great vibe right away. Everyone was all smiles hugging, laughing and swaying to the set that had just started by April + Vista who had also just released a brand new EP called Slipping to Color (2023). The Ep was a 4 song collab with Little Dragon that had just been released prior to the tour.
As I looked at the stage I kept walking forward trying to get as close as I could. I ended standing beside a couple just left of the stage with a great view.
"Have you seen Little Dragon before?" asked the couple beside me asked.
"I actually havn't yet but i've been listening to them so much over the past few years and I am beyond stoked to finally see them live!"
"You are seriously in for a treat" the woman said. "We've seen them four times, and everytime has been so amazing!" she said with a huge smile.
Well then I thought, this going to concerts by yourself doesn't seem to be so bad after all. A few songs deeper into the April + Vista set, Little Dragon joined them for a song or two to play some songs from their new EP together and then the stage cleared for a quick break.
After a bit more nerding about the band with my new found friends the lights came down and the crowd roared. The celebration had began, you could just hear it, everyone was as happy as I was to be there. I think many people in the crowd probably intended to see them play on that last tour too so this show had a huge build up for everyone involved.
The house music stopped, the lights went out and the crowd went wild. An instrumental played over the speakers with their brand new song Amöban playing over the speakers.
*I am so freaking happy to discover as I type this that the entire show is available for you to see and hear on youtube here
Little dragon saying thank you and goodbye to the crowd after what was truly one of my favorite concerts ever!
It gets better, I don't know how, but it did!
Keep in mind, that whole concert I had my signed vinly in my coat! ha! After the highly emotionally charged concert the venue was starting to clear out and I was in the best mood after the show.
I decided to go to the bar next door to the venue which was appropriately called Sidebar. As I sat down at the bar by myself I overheard a couple beside me who were chatting about how amazing that concert was. I could only take so much before I decided to chime in. "Hey guys, sorry I heard you talking about the show do you mind if I pull up a chair?" "Of course!" They both warmly remarked.
Well, we ended up talking about Little Dragon and music for that matter for a good 20 minutes or so, really enjoying each others company. They were a lovely couple and the man was a musician as well, I imagine there were lots of us at musicians at the show as they are such an inspiring band!
Smoke break
Again, I was a smoker at the time so were the couple, so we all decided to go outside for a smoke. The Danforth music hall is a decent sized venue but there are no side streets are parking for the venue so bands and crew have to park their tour bus's right on Danforth avenue outside of the venue.
We sparked our cigarettes and continued chatting and then to all of our surprise, out comes Little Dragon walking right in our path toward the tour bus. We all said hello to the band as they were making their way to the bus and everyone started gushing and a small lineup was forming from others who were just at the show as well.
We asked if we could get some pictures with them and they said of course! Word was getting out too because one of the restaurant staff at sidebar ran outside to meet them too, he had told us that they were one of their favorite bands too! The couple i was chatting with earlier asked if I could take their pictures with the band which I happily took for them.
I was so amazed that this was happening, I felt a little underprepared, like man what do I say to them? There's so much I'd love to say but wow, this one hell of a special moment for me.
As Keyboardists Fredrik Wallin, and Håkan Wirenstrand approached first with Eric and Yukimi behind them I think I blurted out some nerdy question like "what kind of synths do you guys use?"
Lucky for me, they were happy enough to tell me all about their gear and set up, and I briefly mentioned some of my favorite songs from the band and how much I enjoyed the show and thanked them profusely for it!
Then came out drummer extraordinaire Erik Bodin who was kind enough to take a selfie with me .
And then up came the amazing Yukimi Nagano. again I wish I knew what I was going to say ahead of time, but I just expressed how much their music helped me over the past bunch of years through the pandemic and I do remember for a fact that I told Yukimi that some of my favorite songs were "Feather" and that I also love "In da House".
I know that at one point I also unzipped my coat, which looking back might have been looking slightly strange ha! but no, I had to share with them that I had the signed vinyl in my jacket for the whole concert.
I will be writing a sequel to this ongoing story and their music soon! But that is all for now, I hope this article has brought a smile to your face and introduced you to the fantastic world of Little Dragon's music!
The thread of Thich Nhat Hanh
When I got back home that night, I clicked on little dragons story on instagram. And to my delighted surprise, the band had posted heartwarming quote from Thich Nhat Hanh who the world had lost just a year prior.
If you read this far you will remember that I ordered his book earlier that day before any of this amazingness even happened. When the book arrived a few days later, I had learnt that it had arrived on his birthday October 11th.
“To meditate with mindful breathing is to bring body and mind back to the present moment so that you do not miss your appointment with life.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm
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