FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Though I seem to have seen fewer concerts this year, what 2016 lacked in concert quantity, it more than made up for in quality. In any given year, any of this year’s Top Six could have easily been Number One, but when it comes to the overall best live concert experience, the winner was undisputed.
Now, I’ve seen Saint Vitus a couple times before, but when I got word that Scott Reagers was rejoining the band for this tour, I felt it was worth the trip to Cleveland.
If there’s one good thing that’s come out of Donald Trump’s run for president, it’s that his campaign finally gave me the opportunity to see Brujeria in concert. (And yes, I even bought the t-shirt!)
Though they’ve been building quite a name for themselves in Europe and on the underground sludge/doom scene, Montreal’s Dopethrone had never actually played Toronto until last Friday.
The Joint was definitely the place to be at Psycho fest on Sunday. From 4:20 onwards, you had a hard-to-top lineup of Fu Manchu, Dead Meadow, Candlemass, Baroness, Sleep…and some not-so-nice guy named Alice.
Electric Wizard was the biggest draw of Day Two–and perhaps the entire festival, with the possible exception of Sleep. But I was looking forward to seeing SoCal stoner legends Acid King just as much, if not more…
Pink is pretty much the quintessential Boris album. Not only is it the closest they’ve come to that stoner/doom stuff all the kids are listening to these days, but it also contains a few tracks where they kick out the jams like the MC5 on takoyaki…
Evidently I can’t be in seven places at once, so for me, Lee’s was the place to be last night for a pair of hardcore pioneers from both sides of the border.
I’ve always thought that Black Pussy was a dumb band name. When I first heard of them opening for Vista Chino a couple years back, I thought “Why would you call your band that!?”
As for Weedeater, I don’t think they’ve played here in about five years, and it seems their legend has grown since the last time I’ve seen ’em. There were all sorts of bearded weirdos in attendance that I’ve never seen before–and the crazy crowd made for a rather raucous performance!