I moved to Toronto from Edinburgh recently. Don’t get me wrong, Toronto is a great city with lots of cool music, events, food, bars, etc. That being said, I missed the U.K. and it wasn’t until I stumbled upon Jim E. Brown one day that I realized just how much I missed it. I missed dipping into smoky, sticky, venues across the cobblestone city. I missed the booze-stained carpets of Wetherspoons. I missed popping into Greggs for a lukewarm sausage roll. I missed wandering the aisles of the Newhaven ASDA. Who knew the songs of a 19-year-old pop sensation from Didsbury, Manchester could bring back so much? That’s why, when I was scrolling through Not Dead Yet’s upcoming gigs and found out that Jim E. Brown was playing a sold-out show at The Garrison, I knew I had to find a way to go.

As I entered The Garrison, the room was already buzzing. The Fucking Astronauts were on first. Their feverish punky sound revved up the room. Up next was Robbie Proudlove and the C Street Band. From what I gathered, all of their songs were inspired by Coronation Street. They asked the crowd if anyone had heard of Corrie and were met with one resounding “whoop.” They were fun and jokey, but we all knew who we were there for. We all wanted some Jim E. Brown.

The crowd started chanting “Jim…E…Brown” until he appeared on stage and let the synthy pulses of ‘I Urinated on a Butterfly’ wash over us. The entire room started singing along, and we were off. Then, he hit us with ‘I Want to Get In Touch With My Inner Child’ and got the room dancing. He puttered around the stage in a tight black turtleneck and grey suit, mic in one hand, beer in another. On ‘I’m an Obese Alcoholic’ he whipped out what looked like an electric saxophone. Between the blows on his sax, the crooning of lines like “I’ve got jaundiced yellow skin, gastrointestinal bleeding, abdominal swelling, and confusion,” and the heat of the bright stage lights on his face, we could see beads of sweat forming. He was definitely putting a shift in.

At one point, he took a break to recite a reading (possibly something out of Brown on Brown, but who knows). After that, he jumped into ‘I CAN SMELL THE MICE HAVING SEX BEHIND THE WALLS’ followed by ‘I Know I’m Going to Die of a Stroke.’ He pulled out a guitar for this one, and the crowd joined in and howled along with him. By the time he got to ‘I’M ABOUT TO FALL OVER IN ASDA,’ the crowd was waving lighters while letting out big belly moans. Then he got to ‘Rat in Bin’ and played it five times in a row with the room loving each round more than the last.

For a few seconds, I thought the night had peaked. But I was poorly mistaken. Jim E. Brown announced that he was now going to play his favourite Canadian song. For a room full of Torontonians, the next few notes were unmistakable. Jim E. Brown let out a shouty “you used to call me on my cellphone” and added a little electric sax solo at the end to top off his rendition of ‘Hotline Bling.’ What’s a night in Toronto without a bit of Drake? He also played his cover of ‘Linger’ by The Cranberries and inundated the room with swoony waves that got the room swaying. After playing over twenty songs, Jim E. Brown left the stage but the night wasn’t over. The night ended on a high with ‘I’M A WORM.’ People were crowdsurfing and dancing around to his hazy synthy beats until his final “I eat dirt, I live in it, and my life is truly shit.”

This gig took place on July 11th, and Jim E. Brown is touring the U.S. until October. However, when he returns to his homeland, grab a few pints, a prawn mayo meal deal, and get ready to bask in his glorious shame…it’ll be “anything but bucolic.”