By keith valfreya | december 24, 2024
In the thrall of a bitter Canadian cold, I arrive outside tonight’s venue, The Great Hall, and eagerly peer in at the warm escape inside. There’s a steep, red-carpeted staircase with a few shuffling feet just barely visible at the top, preparing for tonight’s event. Red brick pillars to my sides frame the entrance, a set of tall wooden doors and a serious looking black metal plaque; All of which give the impression this a building with history. The headliner for tonight’s show, Fucked Up, certainly have an almost mythic history of their own.
The Polaris Music Prize winners first emerged from the Toronto underground punk scene in the early 2000s, and a famous 2007 MTV Live debut left behind thousands of dollars in damage. When they were finally invited to return to MTV Live they were shoved into a bathroom, presumably to prevent a repeat of the previous performance. Fans rushed the entrance, and by the end of the first song the performance was ended, again leaving behind several thousand dollars of damage. In addition to high energy performances, the band is also known for it’s distinctive take on hardcore, with recurring themes and characters, sprawling arrangements, and concept albums such as their ongoing series of releases based on the Chinese Zodiac.
Once doors open, I take a brief walk around the venue to check my coat and get my bearings. Making my way into the main hall, I pass by a line of fans already forming by the merch table and feel a static charge of excited nervousness building in my chest. As if my body is conducting a collective energy radiating from an electrified audience as they begin to fill the room. It’s a familiar feeling, and I recognize it as a signal I might be in for something special tonight.
The evening is kicked off by Toronto locals Accelerant and 9Million who, by the time Fucked Up is ready to take the stage, have the crowd ready to explode like a tightly compressed spring. Damian Abraham wastes no time letting them loose. From the first note, the stage and crowd are erupting with energy. Throughout the night he endlessly vacillates between intensely physical states of rage, sorrow, confusion, and a kind of absurdist ferality. I don’t feel like I’m watching a just a haphazard collage of aimless antics. More so, a tortured expression of grief and rebellion that seems to echo many of the themes of their latest album, Someday, released earlier this year as a follow up to their previous albums One Day and Another Day.
The band spares a few minutes of relative calm here and there, which Damian uses to comment on the world at large. At one point, he introduces a song by lamenting the events that inspired it; A cop turned weed dispensary owner who spent his life enforcing drug prohibition, only to turn around and profit from the victims whose lives he’s damaged.
The evening also features a surprise appearance of Julianna Riolino, who provided guest vocals for In the Company of Sisters on Fucked Up’s latest album and delivered a beautiful acoustic performance of the song for the show.
A restored 19th century Victorian building with ornate fixtures and red carpet seems, at first, a somewhat strange setting for a punk rock concert. But as I make my way home, I begin reflecting on the nature of legacy and can’t help but feel I’ve just glimpsed of a fiery, breathing tale of punk rock and Toronto underground music history as it’s still being written.
Keith Valfreya is a freelance photojournalist for Majestic Music Magazine. See more of his work here
