British singer Jessie Ware never performed at Toronto's smaller venues. With North America lagging behind on the attention the R&B artist got with her 2012 Mercury Prize-nominated debut, Devotion — which will officially be released in the US next week — Ware's rising star status on this side of the ocean has left audiences anxiously waiting for her shows and subsequently buying up all the tickets for almost every stop of her tour. This brings us to her first Toronto show ever: a packed room at the Opera House on Saturday night where fans who had long familiarized themselves with her record were ready to belt out the words to every song.

In an R&B field full of boisterous men like the R. Kellys and Ushers atop the charts, Los Angeles singer-songwriter Miguel has seemingly slipped through the cracks of our mainstream attention up until now. The more modest counterpart of his contemporaries, Miguel released his 2010 debut album, All I Want is You, to mild success, but followed it up with a trilogy of EPs and the triumphant Kaleidoscope Dreams this year, finally marking his rightful place in the spotlight.

Now, armed with a slew of Grammy nominations, the singer is primed for attention and if the packed house at the Kool Haus was any indication last night, we were ready to give it to him.

Gift ideas for the Toronto music fan on your list

It's holiday time and what better present is there to give than the gift of music! It's doesn't have to be literal, though, as there are plenty of musical presents one can give other than CDs or vinyl. Here are some music-themed gifts for you to choose from, perfect for those music-loving pals of yours!

Considered an indie label heavyweight nowadays, Arts & Crafts have been stepping outside their comfort zone for a while now. No longer do they stay within the confines of their family tree of acts, but the label who gave us Broken Social Scene, Feist, Stars and Jason Collett have now furthered their reach of talent, from outside of Toronto to lesser-known acts with loads of potential.

Toronto's music scene has largely remained within the west-end of the city for years now, thanks to the sheer number and variety of venues dispersed around the area. The Garrison, The Horseshoe and Lee's Palace are all popular spots to catch the bigger acts coming through Toronto, but let's not completely discount the east just yet. Venues such as the Phoenix, Danforth Music Hall and even the Kool Haus, technically, all reside on the opposite end of the city and draw just as many good bands as the west does. Here are 10 live music venues in the east end worth paying a visit to.

For someone who has been writing and performing music for over 20 years now, you'd think that song-writing comes quite naturally to Julie Doiron by now. But halfway through the opening track of her new album, So Many Days, we are taken straight to the centre of the musician's thought process and learn that this isn't the case at all. "I'm writing this song to prove to myself that maybe I can write songs," Doiron admits on "Cars and Trucks."