Freaking out at the Phoenix and gearing up for Thursday's crawl - June 10, 2004

Barely into the first "official" day of the fest, and there are already juicy reports from the field. Although the sizeable crowd of industry folk, scenesters and musicians – everyone from Danny Michel to Priya Thomas to the kids from Marble Index, accompanied by gentlemanly Universal bigwig Dave Porter – clamoring for air on the Steam Whistle Brewery patio during Wednesday evening's NXNE kickoff party had us thinking the DKT/MC5 show at the Phoenix might be sparsely attended, the stragglers seemed to clear out early enough to make it all the way across town in time for the garage legends' set, slated to start at 11:30 pm.

Any doubts about whether the reunited members of the MC5 could still rock out were quickly dispelled as guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson – musically bolstered by Detroit homeboy Marshall Crenshaw and Toronto's Broken Social Brass – opened with a wall-shaking bang at the Phoenix.

Although the band was surprisingly tight, guest singers Mark Arm (spotted earlier Wednesday afternoon wandering in the vicinity of the NOW offices – having wandered out the wrong side of the Sam the Record Man flagship store after the DKT/MC5 autograph session, Arm was on a desperate mission to find the Yonge St. HMV) and Evan Dando seemed out of place, if not completely out of synch. Even though Arm was clearly well rehearsed and his screaming approach was well-suited to the classic MC5 material, his singing was tentative, not the sort of aggressive attack the music demands.

Meanwhile, the spaced-out Dando provided comic relief as anticipated. Since he didn't bother to learn the tunes, Dando had to sing his numbers crouching over huge lyric sheets taped to the stage. When Dando wasn't shouting into the microphone, he tried to remain the centre of attention by bouncing back and forth across the stage bashing a tambourine out of time. During an instrumental break, the woozy showboater decided it was time for an impromptu cartwheel and just missed booting Crenshaw in the head on the shaky landing. Dando responded to audience taunts and hurled ice cubes by flipping the bird and snapping "fuck you."

Towards the end of the show, Dando went on a babbling rant about NOW Magazine's DKT/MC5 cover story and took a few wild swings at people in the front row before an embarrassed-looking Arm wisely pulled him back. An entertaining exhibition for sure, but not exactly a proud moment in MC5 history.

Looking ahead to tonight, the showcases start strong with Sudbury's Ox (aka Mark Browning), who plays Lee's Palace (529 Bloor West) at 9 pm. The earthy singer/songwriter's garnered a strong college radio following with his killer stripped-down indie twang tunes. Also at 9 pm, Toronto legends Station Twang, featuring ex-Cardboard Brains punk icon and Nardwuar hero Vince Carlucci, make a ruckus at the Cameron House (408 Queen West). Death country buzz band Elliott Brood follow the Twangers at the Cameron at 10 pm. At 11 pm, catch rising MC Rochester aka Juice, Maplemusic's recent hiphop signing, at the Rivoli.

If you wanna sit tight in one location all night, the Horseshoe's a solid bet with the Six Shooter showcase from 8:30 to 11 pm featuring country-tinged balladeers N.Q. Arbuckle (8:30 pm), Ford Pier (9:20 pm) and Luke Doucet (10:10 pm), followed by Brian Borcherdt's newly amped-up fragile indie pop at 11 pm, well-liked Ottawa roots rocker Jim Bryson at midnight, and Helsinki surf-rock stars Laika and the Cosmonauts at 1 am. Also looking good for tonight: tight Philly garage outfit Stiffed (the 360, midnight), sometime Barenaked Lady-slash-rootsy crooner Kevin Hearn (Reverb, midnight), adorable Aussie power-pop trio Sekiden (B-Side, 1 am) and local franco garage-pop grrrls Ratsicule (Bovine, 1 am).

SARAH LISS and TIM PERLICH