Death from Above 1979 and Eagles of Death Metal. Two bands that bleed rock and roll, from their sound, band names and stage presence, they are the complete package and they brought their hard-nosed sound to a sold out crowd in Hamilton last Friday night.
The night kicked off with Toronto rockers Biblical. Their hard, fast paced sound was a perfect start to evening while the sold-out crowd was still making their way into the venue. Beer lines were long, as anticipation was building for Eagles of Death Metal to take the stage, but more surprisingly was the line for the merchandise table. Consistently throughout the night there were some of the longest lines I’ve personally witnessed at a merch table, especially at a relatively small venue. It’s always a great thing to see fans supporting the artists through merchandise purchases. In an age where digital music is so easily accessible and widely used, profits are cut many times before reaching the artist. Even concert tickets involve a lot of overhead costs that cut into the funds making it to the band. Buying merchandise at shows is one of the best ways to directly support your favourite artists. The fans in Hamilton seemed to whole-heartedly embrace this practice.
The lights cut out and the crowd erupted as MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” blasted over the sound system. The mustachioed frontman and face of the Eagles of Death Metal, Jesse Hughes, graced the stage to a particularly increased applause. He alluded to the choice of opening music being due to the fact that “we’re in the Hammer baby!” which was met with loud cheers of approval. “I do know some shit” Jesse remarked. They kicked off the night with the fast, rhythmic song I Only Want You. Theatrics came into effect almost immediately as Jesse was shaking his hips and grabbing his crotch while belting out the line from the pre-chorus “I’m not the lover man that you want me to be”. Don’t Speak was next on the set list; as Hughes followed this up with some exuberant banter about marriage and holy matrimony. He began to tell the crowd that he had witnessed a couple in the front row’s engagement on his way into the venue from outside. Jesse carries a lot of energy on stage, and his banter between songs is improvised, clever and relevant to the people in his vicinity. This sort of presence on stage really connects you to the artist. It makes you feel that you are there with them, not just watching them.
The banter led to a song off their latest album Unzipped, titled Complexity. The song is actually an old Boots Electric (Hughes’ alter-ego) song that was remade for EoDM’s new album. Jesse pranced around stage during the song before breaking into a straight ahead rock n’ roll song Whorehoppin’ (Shit, Goddamn). Following that song Jesse pointed out another couple in the crowd, one wearing a DFA 1979 shirt, the other an EoDM shirt. He commented that they were “a match made in heaven”. He went on chatting whilst stating his appreciation for the fans, the venue and the way things were setup. “I love you motherfuckers” he said before breaking into the song Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M). Again following the song he began remarking how much he loved the venue and how the stage was setup. Stating that he loved that he could see everyone and once in a while would “catch a whiff of those jazz cigarettes” as he gestured to a plume of smoke rising up from deep in the centre of the crowd. This came directly before playing their Duran Duran cover Save a Prayer. The venue was indeed well laid out, despite the “sold-out” tag there was still plenty of room to move around and tons of great views available at any point of the night. It differs heavily from a sold out show in Toronto, where it often will eventually feel like a sauna that fills every inch of space wall to wall. It was good to see a venue not overselling a show and using the space effectively.
EoDM ended their set with the songs Wannabe in LA, I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News) and Speaking in Tongues. During Speaking in Tongues each member performed a solo during a breakdown of the song. Bass player Matt McJunkins built up to a snippet of the Rush Song “Tom Sawyer” that was completed by the drummer in perfect unison to a burst of laughter from the audience and band members. Jesse joked “Do you know where you are man, you can’t try that on these people!” The band then reprised to finish off the song and said their goodbyes to give way to Death From Above 1979.
Moments before the lights dropped in the Hamilton Convention Centre, a massive banner donning the iconic DFA 1979 logo was walked out and placed as the backdrop to a loud cheer from the patrons in the venue. The smoke billowed as the walk out music injected with the famous “It’s alive! It’s alive!” from the classic film Frankenstein echoed through the building. The silhouettes of Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler appeared shortly after to an uproar of approval. They kicked things off with the songs Right On Frankenstein and Always On. Two high tempo tracks from their latest album, 2014’s The Physical World.
They then threw it back to 2004 with Turn It Out, the opening track of the 2004 album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. The loosened up crowd went crazy after hearing the first note of the song. Fans had 10 years to get familiar with every song on the album, as it was the only material the band released prior to them reuniting and releasing The Physical World. It looked as though there may never have been another album from the band for the better part of a decade. More importantly to some, the band was dissolved. It appeared that if you had missed them in their early years, you may never get to witness just how they could possibly get that massive sound out of just a bass guitar and a drum kit. Needless to say it truly is a real treat to witness them live, and it still seems too good to be true after years of accepting that it was over and never going to happen.
The band then went back to The Physical World for the next two songs of the night. First up was a single released from that album, Virgins. After the song Sebastien then greeted the crowd and stated that he “knows a lot of Toronto ex-pats that moved to Hamilton” and joked that instead of people moving to Parkside, they just head to “giant Parkside”, Hamilton and then assured the crowd it was not meant as an insult in the slightest. He then pointed out someone using an iPad in the audience and remarked in awe “that is just so indiscreet”, most likely a polite way of calling out the patrons selfishness for using an iPad at a concert (seriously, phones get pretty annoying after a while, but an iPad just epitomizes ignorance towards your peers). They then moved on to the song Cheap Talk before throwing it back to another few tracks from their 2004 release.
They quickly moved on to three of their older songs. The title track from their first album, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, followed up with the song Going Steady. They then rolled on to the track Black History Month, one of the most recognizable songs the band ever released. The crowd was extremely active by this point of the show. A non-stop stream of sweaty crowd-surfers floated out of the mosh pit and exited stage left for the majority of the remaining songs. Continuing with the theme of recognizable, the band moved on to the lead single off their comeback album, Trainwreck 1979. A song that has much more meaning to die-hard fans than just “that song that was on the radio all the time”. This track was the first new material that fans ten years elder were waiting for. It goes without saying there was a massive amount of excitement in the audience during this song.
DFA then cranked out a couple more massive songs in the form of Little Girl from their first album, followed up with another single from their latest release, White is Red. They rounded out their set with another massive hit, Romantic Rights, followed up with two songs from their newest album, Government Trash and the title track, The Physical World. After a brief break the band returned to give the fans their encore. They pulled out two more songs from their extremely familiar first album. The songs Sexy Results and Pull Out were the last two songs that billowed through the Hamilton Convention Centre this evening. Sexy Results being one of the more aptly named songs from their discography, the song has a great rhythm and very topical lyrics. The results of their song-writing did indeed have sexy results. Pull Out was a perfect choice to end the evening. They ended things the way they started them, high energy, fast tempo and loud. Sebastien put his whole heart into this song to end the night, the screaming vocals are surely a safer bet at the end of a set rather than in the middle. Going a bit too hard on anything but the last song could result in compromising the vocals for some of the more down-tempo songs featured earlier in the evening.
By the end of the night Death From Above 1979 played eight songs from each of their two records. A perfect balance of their discography that surely pleased all fans in attendance. It was a real treat to see these two bands on the same bill. Eagles of Death Metal were a lot of fun and a phenomenal way to kick start the evening. I have to admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect from them on-stage going in, but I left extremely impressed by their theatrics and musicianship. To see these two bands play together in my hometown was great. It’s easy to feel overlooked with the consistent quality and abundance of acts that play Toronto, but the fans sure do turn up and let loose when bands roll through town and show The Hammer some love.
