The War on Drugs at Massey Hall

Photos by Randall Vasquez

The War on Drugs returned to Toronto after a few years, in the beautiful Massey Hall for the first of two evenings.

This show was unlike any other Massey Hall show, as half of the crowd on the floor was out of their seats gathered around the stage (including myself, of course). Out of the bundle of shows that I’ve attended at Massey, I have never seen this happen before; it was as if I was at the Danforth.

The stage décor was simple, but the lighting was positively surprising considering the setup. The lighting was breath-taking and unique for each song, my favourite being during “An Ocean Between the Waves” as it was blue, and rapidly moving up and down like a domino effect between the lights, almost mimicking waves in an ocean.

This was such an energetic show filled with passion, emotion, and tons of energy from the crowd.