Murder by Death in Toronto

This could have been a bittersweet blog post, but I’m both optimistic Murder by Death will play again, they are literally still on their farewell tour, and I’ve had to overcome a lot of technical difficulties in order to update my blog at all since seeing them on June 21st in Toronto.

As this is the third of six blog posts I want to write before the end of the month or at least before too long I need to be judicious with my words. My mom literally said my last blog post was a “long read”. I had never seen Murder By Death before and I had never been to Toronto before. So when the band announced this would be their farewell tour I got a ticket to their first Canadian show of the tour on the day of the announcement. The show I perhaps should have gotten tickets to was their last show in Louisville Kentucky, a lot of people are traveling from out of town for the tour ending show.

I did consider other shows or a second show, even the next day in Montreal, but a lot of shows have sold out by now and like I said in the first sentence, I’m optimistic they’ll play again. Maybe it will never be as big a tour as this one with the projections, the lights, and the smoke. But they vowed to play every year in a cave in Pelham Tennessee. They even released a live album or included it in their latest Kickstarter called “Live… & Underground”. It may be my favourite Murder By Death album now.

Someone wrote a much lengthier summation of Murder By Death about their sound and appeal, but I forgot to link to it when I originally wrote this post. I won’t feel too bad if you pop over and read the primer from the A.V. Club.

The Show

The show was good. I wasn’t that worried, but Murder By Death are definitely talented. The show sold well enough that the venue was upgraded. It may have even been possible that I could have upgraded my ticket to have a seat. As the picture shows above the show started early and Laura Jane Grace and band opened. I didn’t take many photos but I put a couple on Flickr.

As I’ve gotten older standing for hours has gotten harder and being able to sit and watch the band even if I can’t get right up close has more appeal. Ironically the next concert I went to, I did wait for a break in the bands and got much closer to the stage for the headliner, Jason Isbell. Beer was not cheap at the Danforth Music Hall, but because it ended early and I stayed nearby I had no trouble getting back to my hotel by public transportation.

Why Murder By Death?

Murder By Death is a band I learned about from a Bloodshot Records CD sampler. I might have been sadder when Bloodshot came to an end. But nowadays record labels are less important and bands can do-it-yourself. Murder By Death are an outlier, even on Bloodshot Records. They feature the cello and they famously let fans pick cover songs on Kickstarter. Those Kickstarter covers projects songs were a big part of making me a fan.

I lived in China for a long time. I did get Bloodshot to mail me some CDs there once, but later I would just buy a digital copy though Apple or Bandcamp or some other website. I think I bought quite a few Murder By Death songs through Bandcamp. Eventually I moved back to Canada, got a better job and was able to kickstart a number of albums possibly starting with the Christmas album.

Murder By Death does well at selling merch, whether it is through Kickstarter or at their shows. I think I have more Murder By Death t-shirts than any other band. I need to update that portion of my website next. I picked up a hoodie and a glow in the dark t-shirt at the show and when I got back my Kickstarter package had finally shown up so that contained another t-shirt. I never met any members of the Whiskey Crew but I did join the Facebook group, maybe next time…

We used to travel from Vancouver Island to see shows in Vancouver and once even to Portland, but the only two artists I’ve ever flown to see were Neil Young & Crazy Horse on their first cross-Canada tour and Murder By Death. I’ll try to embed a YouTube video, but I’ve recently learned that almost all the videos I’ve embedded over the years no longer work because Google stopped allowing them to work.

Someone filmed a whole set, let’s see if I can embed it, nope but I can link to it. It seems to be recorded from the front row in Boston. They were changing their set most every night, but this is a pretty good representation of what you missed if you never saw Murder By Death.

Toronto

Although I’d never been to Toronto, I did previously live in Ontario. Instead of visiting Toronto I visited New York and Montreal and I don’t regret it. That said I didn’t do a lot of planning for this trip. My number one reason to visit Toronto was it being easy and possibly the cheapest option for seeing Murder By Death on their farewell tour. I actually thought the hotel would be more expensive, but I made up for it by spending too much at the Nike store perhaps.

My number two reason to visit Toronto was to see the Stanley Cup. There is generally always one of them at the Hockey Hall of Fame so I walked there being harassed along the way. I ended up walking more than I should have in Toronto which is why I was probably less enthusiastic about standing for the show. The day after I actually walked more and it was even hotter.

Having already seen Murder By Death, the Stanley Cup, the CN Tower, both the sports stadiums but not actually going to a game, what would I do with my second full day in Toronto? It was suggested I see the Jays and they were in town all weekend playing Detroit. Instead I decided to walk around and see more of the city. Rather than going record shopping, I went book shopping. I thought that may be even more Murder By Death approved so I went to one of Canada’s oldest science fiction bookstores and Toronto’s horror bookshop and picked up two books neither of which I’ve managed to read yet. I also made sure to pick up some tchotchkes for friends and family.

The subway isn’t spotless and I’m no expert on Toronto’s public transport system but I was able to use the subway a lot, my hotel was chosen to be easy to get to the Danforth. I also took a street car while in Toronto, which I wasn’t sure where to catch at first so I just walked along the route until I found a spot. Finally I took the train from the airport so I can recommend that. It hooks up with the subway so if you don’t have much luggage you can transfer and get to your hotel pretty easily if you book a hotel near a subway station like I did. Toronto is a big city so be prepared to do some walking.

Where to next?

It is now August 17th and I’ve only taken two days off all year, the DIY long weekend I went to Toronto. I didn’t work that many weekends but I did study including on statutory holidays so I’m exhausted. I actually have time off next week but I’m not travelling outside of Alberta. My mother and sister are coming to visit. They along with my sister’s dog Jazz come to visit me most summers. Obviously they couldn’t come during COVID but most every summer they do visit, so we will go seem some dinosaur bones and drink some champagne. They are also big on thrift shopping.

I’ll next fly home for Thanksgiving. I want to take a trip and when I did decide finally to get a ticket to the last show in Kentucky I learned that show has sold out. I could go to another show, but I registered for another course and that starts on September 8th. I really should be preparing for that, but updating my blog is kinda part of my preparation as I want to write about the professional development I’ve been doing this year. All that said I really want to go on vacation, but due to work and classes I may not travel anywhere else this year, but next year I’ll definitely travel abroad and I already contacted a tour provider.

This entry was originaly posted on August 17th, 2025, it was last edited on August 22nd, 2025 and is filed under: Travel and tagged: Concert, Murder By Death, Toronto.