Diarrhea Planet at the Horseshoe Tavern

No April Fool’s, last night’s Toronto debut with Diarrhea Planet was one of my live highlights of the year to date!  If the mere mention of the name makes you turn your head in disgust, then you probably weren’t meant to be there.

I have to admit the name was half the reason I wanted to check these guys out.  I hadn’t heard any actual music from them, but when I read they have four guitarists I was intrigued.  Three guitars are heavenly to me, but 4 guitars could see me turn into the Chicken Lady.

For their first gig outside of the U.S., the band turned the Horseshoe Tavern into a sweaty, booze-soaked rock ‘n roll den of hedonism.  Even their brief soundcheck was thrilling.  It didn’t take long for the venue to turn into a virtual sauna.  At one point I thought the Horseshoe had teleported to the sun.

While I was expecting something a little more messy (ha, ha), Diarrhea Planet were surprisingly tight and impressive in the way all four guitars worked together and things never really went off the rails.  Intense and fun right from the get-go, the only respite from the intensity was one “ballad”, but even that didn’t cool the crowd’s reception.  The evening peaked with a cover of The Who’s “Baba O’Reily” that really set the night into orbit.

The crowd lapped it up, having as much fun as the band, tossing bodies upward to the heavens.  At one point, one punter was hanging upside down from a ceiling water pipe, which would turn into the aim of various other surfers.  One such surfer managed to carry a beer in each hand and even take a swig while being tossed about, even more impressive given how low that ceiling is.  But most notable, 3 of the 4 guitarists taking a leap onto the audience continuing to playing!  

The perfect combination of band and audience hungry to have one loud raucous party made this a “you had to be there” sets of the year.

Another one of those “you had to be there” sets was provided by local punks Pkew Pkew Pkew (gunshots) who opened the evening.  Their shouty punk rock was the perfect ingredient to rev up a crowd, quickly lubricating themselves in preparation.  Songs about drinking, baseball, pizza and more drinking won over a healthy crowd who were smart enough to show up early.  With four vocalists and a snippet of Van Halen’s “Panama”, the five piece inspired alcohol-fuelled bonding, more beer-swilling and generally whetted the appetite for the headliners.  Their vocalist without a guitar is my new man-crush too.

Philadelphia four-piece Left & Right had the unfortunate task of being sandwiched between two bands hell bent on having a party and not taking themselves too seriously.  Not that they were bad, but they probably should have been on first, as they seemed to lose the momentum that Pkew Pkew Pkew had created.  But they tried.  Their heavy Pixies inspired tunes were solid and a guitarist celebrating a birthday was awarded a shiny chain from the crowd.  Largely they fell on deaf ears, but on another bill would have been more impressive.