Concerts in Montreal and Ottawa - First part

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have attended numerous concerts over the past two months and before I start losing track of them, I simply wanted to post a few pictures of these shows in Montreal and Ottawa with a couple of comments on each band. I will also write a longer and separate report about the show of Disturbed, Chevelle and Nothing More very soon. Here we go.

This band is called Michael's Laundry and I saw them as an opening act for Spacemak3r at Foufounes Électriques (still the weirdest name for a venue I have ever known) in Montreal. The band plays an entertaining mixture of electronic and industrial rock. Imagine a mellower version of Rob Zombie and you might have a slight idea. The group's performance was solid but not outstanding.

I know this picture isn't particularly great but it was the best I was able to shoot with my old cell phone in a dark venue filled with smoke. The group is called Graveyard Strippers. They play a mixture of industrial and nu metal. While the band performance itself was rather average, they put on a great show with a lot of background dancers, make up and massive posing.

This group is called Porn and they are a tribute band to nu metal pioneers Korn. They mostly played some older material from their idols and did a quite a good job. I'm not a massive Korn fan but the short set of this cover band was performed very well.

Hollow is a symphonic black metal band in the key of Dimmu Borgir and the likes. I don't know if it's a coincidence but this band has a song called ''Cryptic Howling'' while the symphonic black metal band Cryptik Howling from Rouyn-Noranda has a song called ''Hollow'' which was supported by a very cool video clip five years ago:

This video makes me think about this cult scene from the movie Blue Velvet from 1986 by David Lynch who still is one of my favorite directors:

I know, I'm missing the point here. Where was I? Oh, yes, Hollow. Their show was good, why? I bought their latest record Mordrake as well: bleak, intellectual and intense.

This is the reason why my friend Charles and I went to this concert in Montreal: Spacemak3r. We are both massive fans of this group that doesn't play a lot of concerts, so we didn't hesitate when we heard that they would play one of their rare shows in Montreal. It's almost impossible to describe this band accurately but if you want to get a better idea, I would invite you to read my two reviews of their two studio records.

Spacemak3r: http://kluseba.eklablog.com/spacemak3r-spacemak3r-2010-10-10-a58676735

Spacemak3r II: http://kluseba.eklablog.com/poor-alex-lucky-listener-a-review-of-spacemak3r-s-spacemak3r-ii-a117870814 

The band isn't only musically stunning but also visually. Under the slogan ''Space Carnival'' the band put up a haunted circus show reminding me of a mixture of The Rocky Horror Show, Hellraiser and A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you like horror movies and rock music, this one's for you!

The band doesn't only consist of musicians and a singer but also of acrobats who are working with different costumes and objects on and in front of the stage. The whole concept of combing metal music and arts is quite dynamic and entertaining. Even if you didn't like the music, I'm sure anybody would still recognize the group's creative quality performances. It was a pleasure to finally see this group in concert. I would definitely go see them again in the future.

Did you realize that this is a different venue? I hope so! This is at The Brass Monkey in Ottawa. Now Ottawa is a very big city and it took me more than two hours to arrive using public transport. Sometimes, I'm telling myself that I should spend some money on a car. I will think about it for next spring. Anyway, there aren't that many bands that are worth such a long ride but Annihilator definitely are. The thrash metal band from Ottawa has become famous around the world in the past thirty years and is still around with a brand new touring line-up around band leader Jeff Waters. Annihilator's opening act was a dynamic death/thrash metal band called Vantablack Warship from Montreal with members from groups such as Buffalo Theory MTL and Les Ékorchés. I liked the band's energy despite a shy crowd (business as usual in Ottawa I might say) and encouraged them by spending five bucks on their demo which turned out being a really solid one. I hope to hear more from these five lads soon.

Up next were obviously Annihilator and they put up a great show. Despite the new line-up, the chemistry was great. Jeff Waters entertained the crowd with some memorable anecdotes of his long career and he even gave a guitar to someone in the audience chosen by a lottery system. I wish I had won this even though I don't play any instruments. I know I should. I always wanted to learn to play the bagpipes but as a teenager I was busy practicing four sports at the same time and hanging out with friends in shady bars at the weekend. Maybe I could learn it these days but I'm busy working as well as attending concerts and sports events. I know life is full of difficult choices. Anyway, Annihilator played a great and balanced set with many classic tunes such as ''Alison Hell'', ''Set the World on Fire'' and ''Refresh the Demon'' on one side and more recent tracks such as ''Creepin' Again'', ''No Way Out'' and ''Suicide Society'' on the other. I had tons of fun during the show and didn't care about the long ride anymore.

Before I go on with the next bunch of bands and concerts, here are a few nice videos from the shows I have just described.

Michael's Laundry:

Graveyard Strippers:

Porn:

Hollow:

Spacemak3r:

Vantablack Warship:

Annihilator:

If you watch carefully, you can even see me in the two Annihilator videos. If you have found me, congratulations on having no life. I'm just joking. The second part of my concert reviews is going to be uploaded soon. Stay tuned and rock on!

Sebastian Kluth