Little Dragon- a musical journey that I will never forget
- Brad Gardner
- Jul 27
- 13 min read
Updated: Jul 28
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 and in one ear every morning I'd be listening to Lauren Laverne's BBC 6 morning radio show online.
Every morning I'd be introduced to a steady flow of introductions to brand new and old and music that I had never heard before. THE BEST (imo of course).
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 it definitely sounded 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 feeling like I was reunited with a song that I had somehow forgotten from the early 2000s. 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 or something. In the case of this band there wasn't just one album to discover, as of 2018 there were 5 exquisite albums to get acquainted with. As I write this today, the band now has 7 phenomenal albums to date with tons of remixes and collaborations and EPs as well. Artists that they have collaborated with include De La Soul , Gorillaz and much much more.
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 album and North American tour ahead. As I combed through the list of tour dates I was very happy to see April 25th 2020 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall.
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 at the time, just five months later our entire country and the world for that matter 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 truly a great performance by the band for their fans at home at the time. And the their new album was one of their best too.
Other standout live streams I watched from home during these lockdown months included Tame Impala, Glastonbury Presents: Live at worthyfarm as well as so many more amazing live streams from my favorite artists via instagram. It was a disconnected yet connected moment in musical time for sure.
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 how the would conduct business without live music and sadly, many venues closed during that time period as well. I will never forget that time, everyone just trying to figure it all out. Luckily for me, Little Dragon's music had been a constant source of comfort from 2018 until today even.
Hope 2023
Little Dragon now had brand new music. And it was fucking awesome! What was better, by this time people in Toronto could now attend sporting events and concerts again. Little Dragon had returned with a new single titled Slugs of Love (2023) with a brand new Album by the same name that was phenomenal. They were back with a New Wave nod and I was here for it all the way.
Not too long after hearing the brand new song, 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 2023. 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. No problem, life happens, 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 and it was starting to stress me out a bit.
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 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 that point.
The joy of rediscovering their music in call center, the concert from 2020 that never was, the livestream from home, the listening to their music throughout 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 felt important to show my respect to the band, to say thank you for being there. So I got ready and headed to the train station.
On the train
To be honest, I was feeling pretty nervous about going to a concert by myself, It wasn't something that I had ever really done before. Well I suppose in the past when I did go to a concert alone I was still going there to meet friends. In this case I was just going to meet the band I guess, meet their live music anyway.
Around this time, I had been studying Buddhism quite a bit, I was learning so much about different ways of thinking to open my mind and at the same time calm my anxiety. Alot of buddhist teachings really worked for me in bringing new perspective, and it gave me the tools to slow down my 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 late 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 feel that I was wanting to come to the show with a clear mind and ready mind. As someone who had been to 100s of concerts before I was distracted about this going alone thing, 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.
Desert island discs
Believe it or not, my awareness of that book also came to be through Lauren Laverne's Desert Island Discs special episode I was listening to at work in 2019. Her guest was Radiohead's Thom Yorke on the show. She had an amazing 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 those dire circumstances which makes for amazing interviews and playlists. In the Thom Yorke episode in 2019 she offered him another hypothetical scenario "Alright Mr. Yorke, you are off to the island, you have your books to read, The Bible and the complete works of shakespeare and you can also have another book of your choice, what would you like?" His answer to the question was Zen Mind Beginner's mind by Shenryu Suzuki because "I would be having alot of time alone with my own thoughts and I will need to come to terms with them in a certain way" it's interesting because that one comment set me on a world of discovery when our pandemic hit and I was very grateful for that answer because many moments absolutely felt like being on island of isolation.
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 much 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 stepped outside on a crisp fall evening and 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 scratching his head. He then went on to tell me that he was looking for work and that he will be out of his situation soon. I wished him good luck and a good night.
After that interaction, I ordered my uber to the Danforth Musical hall for the show. As I was in the uber chatting 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 brief moment of genius, I quickly 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.
I began to make my way toward the stage 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?" the couple beside me asked.
"I actually haven'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 on stage 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 the band play in 2020 on that last tour which I'm pretty sure was cancelled due to lockdown. Needless to say 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.
*As I type this I have just discovered 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 vinyl in my coat! ha! After the highly emotionally charged concert the venue was starting to clear out and I was in cloud nine after the show.
I decided to go to the bar next door to the venue to reflect on the good times. The bar was appropriately called Sidebar. As I sat down at the bar I overheard the couple beside me chatting about the show too and 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, wasn't that amazing?" from there 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 musicians at the show as they are such a inspiring and genre bending band!
Smoke break
As I mentioned before, I was a smoker at the time so were the couple I had been chatting with, 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 or dedicating parking there for the venue so bands and crew have to park their tour buses right on Danforth avenue outside of the venue.
We sparked our cigarettes and continued chatting about the show and music. 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 with and a small lineup of people started forming with other fans hanging out after the show.
We asked if we could get some pictures with the band and they were happy to stop and chat! 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 and they offered to do the same for me.
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.
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?"
They were happy to tell me all about their gear and set up for the show, 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 the House" which I had mentioned to Fredrik and Håkan as well.
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 on their music soon! But that is all for now, I hope this article brought a smile to your face and introduced you to the deep, rich and 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 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 ever 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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