Daniel Tate - The Flyer Vault: 150 Years of Toronto Concert History

Copyright Daniel Tate and Rob Bowman, 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Publisher: Scott Fraser | Editor: Allison Hirst | Designer: Laura Boyle
Toronto music venue word map illustration: Dave Murray
Printer: Marquis

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The flyer vault : 150 years of Toronto concert history / Daniel Tate & Rob Bowman ; foreword by Geddy Lee.
Names: Tate, Daniel, 1980- author. | Bowman, Rob (Robert Maxwell James), author. | Lee, Geddy, writer of foreword.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190152982 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190152990 | ISBN 9781459745421 (softcover) | ISBN 9781459745438 (PDF) | ISBN 9781459745445 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: ConcertsOntarioTorontoHistory. | LCSH: ConcertsOntarioTorontoPosters. | LCSH: MusicOntarioTorontoHistory. | LCSH: MusicPostersOntarioToronto. | LCSH: AdvertisingMusicOntarioTorontoHistory. | LCSH: Music-hallsOntarioTorontoHistory. | LCSH: NightclubsOntarioTorontoHistory.
Classification: LCC ML205.8.T6 T216 2019 | DDC 780.78/713541dc23

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For Gary Tate, who evidently passed the music history gene to his son, and all the loyal followers of The Flyer Vault Instagram account whove made this project all the more worthwhile.
Daniel Tate

For Maureen, Rylan, and Miranda as well as all the great promoters who made Toronto such an amazing city by bringing to town such an incredible array of artists year in and year out.
Rob Bowman

The Flyer Vault project started in April 2015 when I rediscovered a trove of old hip hop concert and rave flyers that I collected over the years. I started posting them to Instagram, and slowly but surely, the audience grew. Soon, my account became a meeting place for people to reflect and reminisce on shows that profoundly impacted them. This book is the culmination of what was originally a digital project. Its a testament to the thousands of people who both presented and experienced live music in our city over the years.

Each chapter in The Flyer Vault is accompanied by an Apple Music playlist (@theflyervault), custom curated by Rob and me. These playlists cover the hundreds, if not thousands, of artists and songs that are noted in the book. For those who want the true time machine experience, we recommend giving them a listen during or after each chapter.

We commissioned renowned Toronto-based illustrator Dave Murray to put together the first Toronto music venue word map (see pages ). The map depicts over 200 club and concert venues that span a century. Its a breathtaking illustration and will surely take many of you down memory lane.

Daniel Tate

Follow The Flyer Vault on Apple Music to listen to playlists that include the artists and songs featured in each chapter.

#theflyervault

theflyervault.com

@theflyervault

@theflyervault

Over a year ago I was drifting through my Instagram explore page (what a modern dude, eh?), when I came across a photo of a program from a Rush show at Massey Hall back in 1976. Being curious, and a little vain, I clicked on it and found myself on a visual journey across my fair citys popular musical history. I became a follower. A few of the clippings and poster images were from concerts I attended back in the day, but more importantly, when viewed as a whole, the posts came together as an evocative mosaic, a powerful reminder of how lucky I was to have grown up in such a culturally diverse and open-minded place as was, and still is, the city of Toronto.

Now, what was simply a digital idea has grown into a fine and proper print publication The Flyer Vault:150 Years of Toronto Concert History a historical document which expands upon that mosaic and brings to life the music and the performances that charged our community for over 150 years, from vaudeville to jazz to rock to electronica; blasts from the past such as Buffalo Bills Wild West Show, Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, and Bill Haley & His Comets, at venues like the Club Top Hat, Sheas, the Colonial Tavern, the Riverboat, (my beloved) Rock Pile and, still going strong, Massey Hall. The festivals, arenas, and stadiums that featured all the gods of rock, from Elvis to Zeppelin, the raves and the punk shows in small clubs like the Rivoli, the BamBoo, and Lees Palace, plus the small theatres like the New Yorker and the Victory Burlesque all these and beyond are well represented here.

The time span is impressive, the breadth of talent expansive, and more than anything else, its a truly fun ride for any time-traveller to take. Its a record of the musical life of a city that, thanks to The Flyer Vault, is gone but no longer forgotten.

Geddy Lee

Musician, songwriter, and author; lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for Rush July 2019