Houndmouth a four piece band from Indiana celebrated the release of their latest album “Little Neon Limelight” by stopping in Toronto on April 9, 2015 for a show at Lee’s Palace. The band’s country fried rock was perfectly suited to the packed crowd who sang, danced and clapped along to most of the songs. The band consisting of Matt Myers on guitar, Katie Toupin on keys, Zak Appleby on bass and Shane Cody on drums all shared vocal duties alternating between lead performances and beautiful four-piece harmonies. The group came on stage looking like they just finished a set at Woodstock and passed around a bottle of Marker’s Mark throughout the show.
When a band has as much fun as they do it is impossible for the crowd not to get into it. With all the partying that was going on onstage it seemed like the band was on the brink of total chaos but managed to hold it all together and put on a flawless performance, and once of the most exciting shows of the year. The next time this band rolls through town I doubt they will be playing at such a small venue.
As the crowd was filing up Lee’s Palace, most people weren’t paying attention to Parker Millsap plugging in their gear. When lead singer Millsap opened his mouth and belted out a long sustained blues note without any music behind him the venue took notice right away. Rarely does a crowd get on the side of an opening act as quickly as they did for Millsap’s young Robert Plant style vocals mixed with Bible belt style country and bluegrass. Most people probably hadn’t heard of Parker Millsap before but his show won many fans over in just 40 minutes. After his set I got the chance to meet him and got my newly purchased record autographed by Millsap and his fiddle player.
