Run River North at The Drake Hotel

It’s nice to see a band make a warm debut. Run River North’s visit to Toronto wasn’t particularly buzzed about in the lead-up, but fans of their California folk rock were clearly paying attention to their touring schedule, selling out tickets in advance. While the room itself felt like it could have squeezed in more people, the “sold out” designation seemed to mean a lot to the six-piece band, in good spirits for the mid-week show.

With their driving orchestral rock, Run River North brought with them a big sound combining multiple guitars, keys, violins, bass, percussion, and Alex Hwang’s lead vocals. Hwang has a strong voice and is an affable front man, who presents his material with a lot of conviction. He also handled the fair amount of heckling lobbied at the band well, and took time to thank the crowd for buying merch, saying: “This is a dream job, but it costs a lot.”

Touring their 2014 self-titled debut, Run River North were at their best when their instrumentals came together cleanly, percussion shining on opening song “In The Water” and five-part harmonies colouring “Monsters Calling Home” – the original name of the band, smartly changed, Hwang explained, because of confusion between them and another folk band.

“We had to change the name because there’s this band called Of Monsters and Men,” Hwang said. “They’re pretty good, but they’re a little too Asian, so we decided not to go that route,” he furthered for a laugh.

The joke there is that Run River North is a Korean band – something only worth noting because popular folk music has primarily been the genre of white guys (here’s looking at you, Mumford & Sons.) Owing to that, there was a noticeable contingent of Asian supporters in the crowd.

A cover of The Killers’ hit Mr. Brightside was a huge highlight of the night, the stripped down version bringing the room to a library-level of quiet – the rest of the band joining Hwang for a big finish. As one audience member yelled after a moment of stunned silence: “Holy s***!” It was warranted.

Surprising, to me, was when Run River North moved into more religious territory. For the most part, Jesus and God references were kept out of plain sight – but they were pretty jarring when they came in explicitly, like on the gentler “Foxbeard”. It will be interesting to see how this develops the more into the spotlight they go. Religion in music isn’t anything new, but it can definitely change an audience when it’s in the foreground.

There was also brief mention of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, when Hwang explained album closer “Banner”. Hwang noted his disinterest in their mission and how he thought it was a detrimental practice – something echoed by the audience in attendance. Hopefully Hwang’s heard about what Panic! at the Disco smartly did to combat the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests.

Run River North ended the night with a southern hoedown styled “In The Water”, getting laughter as the crowd tried and failed to clap along. Hwang ended it throwing himself into the audience and getting them jumping around. It was energetic, engaging, and the best way to end it, proving Run River North may be young – but they’re certainly paying attention and know how to conduct themselves on stage.

There are still a couple of things to be ironed out and will no doubt fall into place with more tour experience. Pitch notably slipped away at points, like on “Lying Beast.” Slight tweaks to cohesion will also benefit the band – something undoubtedly difficult with six different people on stage.

All that said, what Run River North do is big, ambitious, and well constructed. The more they tour; the better they’ll be and the better they’ll do.