last night on late night

Broken Social Scene Brought 13 People Onstage to Debut Their First Song in 7 Years on Colbert

As fate would have it, both Feist and Broken Social Scene are back, separately, after taking much of the decade off. Earlier this month, Feist dropped her forceful first song in six years like an anvil on our heads — now, not to be one-upped, her collaborators Broken Social Scene have debuted their own first song in seven years, the jubilant “Halfway Home.” And they traveled not home to Canada to do it, but instead to The Late Show to perform it live for the first time. If there’s a record for how many people Stephen Colbert has ever fit on his stage at once, BSS undoubtedly just broke it. It was a Canadian free-for-all, with Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw and Stars’ Amy Millan and Evan Cranley joining in (Leslie Feist wasn’t there, but she will be featured on their new album). In sum, it was 13 people, a handful of guitars, four horns, and probably another dozen musicians hiding behind a curtain. “Friendship, ladies and gentlemen,” Kevin Drew said of the feat at the performance’s end. Forget halfway, BSS are all the way home, baby.

Broken Social Scene Debut First Song in 7 Years on Colbert