Life before Show Gopher was tough for a Toronto-based music fan. Organizing your concert calendar used to involve hours of frustration, combing through various band and venue websites. Launched in March 2012, Show Gopher is a web- and mobile-based application dedicated to cataloging Toronto’s concerts. As a result, navigating the city’s music scene became a snap.
At the heart of Show Gopher is a grid, creating a time-based representation of each show happening on a given day. At a glance, you can see who is playing a show, where they’re playing, along with set times and the price of cover, if applicable. Clicking on any band elicits a song sample, giving a snapshot of what might be in store if you choose to attend. Have a night with nothing planned and hungry for some music? Pull up Show Gopher and listen to some bands before making an informed choice about how to spend your night out.
KIMBERLY QUE/THE VARSITY
Mike Walter Rosenthal and Owen Norquay founded Show Gopher because, “It just seemed weird that it didn’t exist.” The name is a play-on-words (Show Gopher, show-goer), and with the help of its cute rodent mascot the app has quickly secured regular use from many of Toronto’s already-dedicated music listeners. “But there are some various other users that we didn’t think about,” Rosenthal said, “the site is good for people that are new to Toronto and just don’t know anything. One of the neater demographics came from Next Music from Tokyo; it’s a series that happens at the Rivoli. From listing that show and helping promote that show, we ended up with a lot of Japanese people that are new to Toronto and don’t speak English well, because essentially our site is just a bunch of play buttons — you don’t really need to speak English to be able to use the site.”
According to Norquay, the wide-reaching appeal of Show Gopher was intentional; “We didn’t want to design the site to be something that was just for people who are into the indie scene, or the metal scene, or even big or small. We will list everything from a basement show to the ACC. We really just think that the utility and the way that the site works should be for everything and not just for one style of music.”
Toronto has been a great breeding ground for the site, full of helpful feedback. “This city is an amazing place to try new things and try new ideas,” Norquay said. The response from the city has given the pair a clearer vision of how to effectively deliver show information, inspiring them to work on an updated version of the site set to be released in the next six months. The new site will incorporate a clearer way for promoters to upload their shows, full album listening, and user-based panels displaying shows with bands and venues that you like.
Running Show Gopher can be a challenge — given the huge volume of content that the city produces — but it is ultimately a rewarding experience for Rosenthal and Norquay. “It’s the best experience I’ve ever gotten to be a part of,” said Rosenthal. “We kind of managed to find and create the one kind of safe hole, where we have no enemies. Everyone is supportive because all we’re trying to do is help them, and it’s pretty great.”
Visit Show Gopher here.
