Monster Magnet kicked off their North American tour last night with a long-awaited Toronto date — I’m not sure they’ve been to Hogtown since I moved here in ’05. The show at Lee’s Palace sold out six weeks in advance, and by the end of the evening, the only t-shirts they had left were size Small. Suffice to say their return was well received.
I didn’t care for the first band on the bill at all, but I was pretty stoked to see Electric Citizen on this tour. I’ve already caught these Cincy cats opening for the likes of Fu Manchu, Pentagram and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown…and they always put on a good show. I think they definitely made some new fans last night!
Monster Magnet packed garage rock, heavy psych and a couple 90’s stoner-rock classics into a high-energy, 60-minute set, ending with an extended version of “Space Lord” that had plenty of crowd participation. Although the call for an encore was typically Toronto blase, they did return for a couple more, leaving us with the slacker anthem “Powertrip” just a couple minutes past midnight. Here’s hoping they return sooner rather than later…
