AWmusic

On Friday March 27th, Young Widows returned to Sneaky Dee’s once again to unleash their noise rock onto an eager Toronto crowd. Unfortunately I did not arrive soon enough to see Ancestors – I saw them at a show at the press club a while back opening for ICPMABOYC and they were a very lively noise punk band, a perfect way to get into the mood for Young Widows.

Also unfortunately, I arrived in time to see “minimalist” punk rockers’ My Disco’s set. Hailing all the way from Melbourne, Austrailia, this band has perfected the art of song introductions. Then they repeat the introduction. Then they repeat it again, and again, and again, and again, until one can’t help but wonder…”when is the song going to start?”
It’s possible that they’re fans of the minimalist masters of the 20th century like Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, and their music tries to blend this with indie/punk rock. In other words, it’s noise rock that goes NOWHERE – and will bore you out of your skull. Single bass lines that can barely stand on their own, are repeated over and over ad nauseum, with little guitar accompaniment and vocals (if any) and an unchanging drum beat. Granted, some members in the audience were visibly hypnotised by the band’s insanity inducing journey to nowhere and seemed to be enjoying it. I wasn’t. I tried to find some redeeming quality in this band and I just couldn’t – avoid at all costs.

Thankfully, their set was followed by the intense, engaging, loud-as-hell hardcore punk of local band Burning Love. I have never had the privilege of seeing Converge live, but this band was one of the closest experiences I’ve gotten. The intensity was always there, along with a tight sound that was fiery enough to be punk and bottom heavy enough to remind me of Converge. It can sometimes be hard to get into a hardcore punk set when you don’t know the material beforehand, but this band was an exception. Every song they played was almost instantly easy to get into, and it soon becomes hard to reduce the urge to mosh.

Finally Young Widows got on stage, fully equipped with on stage lights that could have been used in a lighthouse. One thing I immediately noticed is there were about twice as many people in attendance as last time. The crowd seemed more excited this time, and more than people who had come for the local band and just stayed to see the headliner, it felt as if these concert-goers were already Young Widows fans.
Young Widows were louder (not always a good thing but sometimes nice), more intense, and more polished than last time. The bass sounded as crunchy as last time but not too overwhelming that you couldn’t hear anything else. As always, the band’s presence left nothing to be desired. Everything looked natural, and each band member was deeply involved in every single note they played. Also an improvement from last time was the fact they actually played some older material which was nice to hear. Though it still was mostly new material, I have found after this show that much of their new album has grown on me and I may soon acknowledge it as the better of their two main releases. More and more indie music lovers are finding that Young Widows are truly a band that anyone who likes creative music can enjoy. It’s the kind of music that will send chills down your spine and keep your head bobbing along the whole time.

Young Widows – Lucky and Hardheaded
Young Widows – Old Skin

Tags: concert