Concert Reviews

If you didn’t already know, this Vancouver-based artist’s self-titled world tour made its last Canadian stop this past Saturday. “It’s Pronounced BABY NO MONEY” is a play on the internet’s constant mispronunciation of his stage name. I, too, am guilty of such violations. It wasn’t until OSHEAGA 2023—seeing him live for the first time—that I realized how wrong I’d been to insist on calling him BB-NOS.

Last Saturday night, Faye Webster ignited Montreal at the jam-packed venue that is Mtelus. The crowd was filled with 20-something indie kids dressed to impress in Pinterest-worthy outfits, ready for Webster’s return to Montreal.  Attending the show with my 16-year-old sister, we were especially excited as March 1st marked the one year anniversary of Underdressed at The Symphony. Many fans knew this and the signage represented that.

Inside the crowded, cozy room of La Sala Rossa, Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins played to a crowd as eclectic as the cobbled-together, endearingly DIY-ed decor of the venue. It was as though the wind had blown Bar Star Bar’s Lord of the Rings trivia attendees from right next door straight into the mezzanine; their polite concert etiquette far outdid any of the other shows I’ve been to recently.

The crowd roared as the lights dimmed and the stage filled with haze, welcoming Foster the People on stage. After a 7-year absence from the city, the band was back in Montreal’s MTelus to promote their newest album Paradise State of Mind. 

Sunday, March 2nd offered Montreal’s Petit Campus a break from their usual shoulder-to-shoulder, hectic crowd. LA-born singer Neriah stopped into the venue while on her first-ever headline tour, The Unfinished Business Tour, and was met by an intimate gathering of fans. 

Silverstein, Thursday, Arm’s Length, and Split Chain, took over l’Olympia this past Saturday, February 15th. It’s Silverstein’s 25th-anniversary tour, and they brought a stacked lineup, ranging from 2000s legends Thursday to steadily rising Arm’s Length and new kids on the UK block Split Chain.

There’s something uniquely special about seeing a band on the rise in a venue that barely holds a few hundred people, especially when that band is Wunderhorse, — a UK-based rock band that’s quickly gained a reputation for their powerful blend of raw emotion, intricate melodies, and explosive energy.