The Strypes at Lee’s Palace – January 20, 2014

As soon as the first chords to ‘Mystery Man’ were strummed, you couldn’t help but bop around and dance along to the classic rock n’ roll sounds of Irish band, The Strypes.

It was the lads’ first trip across the pond to Toronto and they made quite the first impression. Lee’s Palace was packed with eager ears waiting to be transported with songs that hark back to the days of the British Invasion.

The set was a good mix of songs off the band’s debut album ‘Snapshot’ as well as some brand new songs filled with vocal harmonies, guitar riffs, and more harmonica playing than you could imagine. The unfamiliarity of the new songs, however, didn’t stop the audience from dancing along and enjoying the show. ‘Blue Collar Jane’, a song reminiscent of early Beatles’ records, was by far the most popular and well-known tune of the night with people singing and showing their excitement upon mention of the title. The band only seemed to “slow things down” once during the set it seemed with ‘Angel Eyes’, which still had a rather up-beat tempo compared to what would typically pass for a slow jam.

After an extended last song drawing out cheers from the crowd, the band took a quick breather before coming back on stage for an encore which contained a cover of a well-known The Kingsman tune, ‘Louie Louie’.

Even without their album released here in Canada, it’s plain to see the band has quite the following here in Toronto and that following will more then likely grow in the coming years with shows like this.

If you’re looking for some rock and roll reminiscent of the early Rolling Stone and The Beatles, a band you can lace up your dancing shoes for, I would recommend checking out The Strypes the next time they come to town.

Thanks to Live Nation Ontario for media access.