Photo: Janice French
The house is sold out and it’s already elbow to elbow on the floor. A cutting edge line up of Alternative/post-hardcore and hardcore promises a formidable presence on stage. Righteous power fills the air as the New York band The Sleeping starts the night off right with ‘Don’t Hold Back.’ Many in the crowd are visibly moved whilst they sing with Doug Robinson as he delivers ‘Heart Beatz’ with poignant intensity. The audience claps their hands over their heads, crowd surfers fly forward and ‘The Climb’ builds ever harder and faster. Doug stops, glares and breaks out in a wicked grin. The piece abruptly pauses, everyone screams then the instrumentals explode. We are blown away. Their hit song ‘Loud and Clear’ takes over the head banging crazed mob as Doug pours his all into the words.
Someone shouts “Canadians do it better!” George Petite waves and Alexisonfire has possession of the house. The horde keeps hollering during ‘This Could Be Anywhere In The World,’ they fucking love this band. George roars on, the mosh reaches a fever pitch and ‘We Are The End’ rules the venue. The finish up with ‘Boiled Frogs’ as the audience sings “Whoa” throughout this piece then George jumps out onto crowd who hold him up high whilst he continues to thrash in their faces. They leave the stage as everyone chants “One last song.”
The smell of Champa incense fills the venue and Saosin enters the stage amidst a deafening roar. Cove Reber has a standout expressive quality to his vocals that mesmerizes propelling ‘Come Close’ into another realm. Five people simultaneously surf forward as ‘It’s So Simple’ comes in on hard instrumentals balanced against sweet epic harmonies. All eyes are locked on the stage whilst ‘7 Years’ proves that Cove is one of the best vocalist to come along in years. Absolutely amazing. The band works the stage, madness takes over and even the mob in the balcony are on their feet as Cove says “You have a beautiful venue here, I love it.” Yep, we love it too.
Senses Fail electrifies us with ‘Lady In A Blue Dress’ and we’re hit by a surfer while taking photos but continue on. The place is nuts, the mosh is out of control and the horde is thundering throughout the entire piece. The first answering licks of ‘The Irony Of Dying On Your Birthday’ are followed by exquisite screamo calls as Buddy Nielsen paces back and forth in front of beating fists.
The instrumental intro to ‘Sick Or Sane’ is so freakin fine! Buddy throws his mic sky high catches it then saunters forward, leans back and just wails. He gets on his knees and closes the piece just inches from the hordes straining fingertips. A mosh pit forms from the top to bottom of the venue during ‘Choke On This.’ A fight breaks out, the lights go on and security gets it under control. Buddy says “Fighting is fucking stupid,” talks the tension down and the show resumes. They finish the night with ‘187’ whilst people surf up to the very last note then Buddy jumps on the rail and is engulfed by the mob.
