The Sound Academy, a venue so close to Toronto's harbourfront that you can see boats, is a larger venue in the city that bands with bigger followings tend to perform at when they have reached a higher stage in their development. Given its size and remoteness bands with good sized followings are a good fit for the simple reason that not enough would take the time to find it if they hadn't carved out a solid local rep.

A local band like T-Rocktown's Frankie Whyte & the Dead Idols who have opened for internationally popular acts like KISS and Bon Jovi deservedly graduates to a medium-sized hall like this on a bill with lesser known but nevertheless formidable touring acts.

With a longer distance to travel away from where local bands usually play (the Queen Street West/Spadina/College area), a higher gate fee at such a venue as well as an orchestra pit (serving no useful purpose that I could see) between the audience and the band the average concertgoer pays more and sees less.

If the band happens to be a cut above, as FWDI were and should continue to be, then few will notice the differences between their more intimate shows at smaller clubs and ones at bigger venues. The reason a lot of doors are opening for FWDI is because they play every show like the world will end when it is over.

The wild abandon on stage was contrasted with Ms.Whyte's cordial and businesslike approach to media relations. This reviewer was guest-listed presumably along with other press. The performer was polite following her set and agreed to a request to forward her setlist via e-mail as she was too pumped from what she had just done on stage and distracted by a deluge of fans, each one of which she wanted to get face time with, to remember the list of tunes she had just put on a killer show with.

There were mostly unfamiliar names on the setlist. None from the self-titled EP or 'Hollywood Ending' nor even 'Kickstart My Heart', a staple Crue cover from FWDI's live show.

As to the quality of the new material you'll find few acts that consistently deliver top notch compositions. The new tunes - 'Everyday's Like Halloween', 'Last Call', 'Be With You', 'Right There', 'My Old House' were solid but 'Back Into It' and the anthemic 'Keep Walkin' stood out. In the middle of the set was an excellent cover of the Tina Turner/Bryan Adams classic 'It's Only Love'.

http://www.frankiewhyteandthedeadidols.com/

Live photo kudos to Devin DuBeau