Not too long ago, I tipped my hat to Matt Pike for consistently putting together some solid touring packages. After their last couple trips to Toronto, I’d hafta extend the same courtesy to Corrosion of Conformity–there was not a dud to be found in last night’s lineup, with all four bands complementing each other nicely while not sounding exactly the same. And suffice to say, a PJK-era COC revival was met with much enthusiasm; it’s been a while since I’ve seen so many crowdsurfers at a concert!
And while I was definitely among the masses spinning Deliverance and Wiseblood back to back for the past couple weeks, there was one other band I was looking forward to see almost as much as COC…and they took the stage promptly at 8 pm. Mothership has really taken off since I first praised them for their raw power, their punctuality and their impressive self-titled debut. With a second record now under their belts, these guys have graduated from bar-band opener to concert-hall opener, and they owned every inch of that stage not covered by the headliner’s backline last night.
By my estimation, it had been over four years since the last time Saviours were here, touring at the time with Weedeater and Bison back in 2011. For those who haven’t heard their new album, these guys hail from Oakland and bear a noticeable resemblance to High on Fire, both musically and in the looks department. Dunno if this dude’s actually related to Matt Pike, but I’m pretty sure they’ve got the same tattoo artist:
Brant Bjork obviously needs no introduction; the man is a stoner-rock living legend. But between stints with Kyuss Lives and Vista Chino, it had been a little while since I’ve seen him front his own band–the Low Desert Punk Band, in this instance. Brant and his Bros were a longtime NXNE staple, and man, tunes like “Automatic Fantastic” and “Freaks of Nature” still sound pretty friggin’ fantastic. And even though his was by far the mellowest act of the evening, that didn’t stop the kids from moshing on at least one occasion…
Corrosion of Conformity has sure come a long way since starting off as a teenage punk band back in the day. But even though these guys are all pushing 50 now, they still put on a high-energy show, bounding around on stage like a buncha 16-year-olds. And in pure punk-rock fashion, there was no less than a dozen crowdsurfers/stagedivers thoughout their set, which spanned a nice cross-section of the four albums with Pepper singing (five if you include the encore of “Vote with a Bullet”). Funny, I don’t think I’ve seen so many crowdsurfers since the last time Down came to town…
