Concert: Silverstein, Chiodos (Toronto)
Posted on November 16, 2008 at 5:04 pm by Luke
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Venue: Sound Academy - Toronto, Ontario
Bands: Silverstein, Chiodos, Escape The Fate, Dead and Divine, A Skylit Drive
I felt a little out of place as everyone who was crammed into Toronto’s Sound Academy was all decked out in stripes, bright colors, slip-on shoes, and dark, slicked back hair. Plus they were all in high school. As for my jeans and t-shit self, I’m used to the old school, straight up punk rock concerts, but being able to delve into the post-hardcore scene is truly exciting as it’s great how this young generation, like past generations, can latch onto something different and run with it.
It was a rainy day near downtown Toronto and I was expecting three bands to perform during the last day of the Silverstein/Chiodos tour, and to my surprise, there were five. A Skylit Drive was the first act to play, and they came onstage all dressed like most of the crowd. Their sound was your average, bubbly post-hardcore with the common whiny vocals accompanied by screaming from the bassist. They were supporting a newer record and the crowd seemed to enjoy them, but had only around 20 minutes to promote.
Following was the first of two hometown bands, Dead and Divine, which was the only group I didn’t know going into the concert, and along with Silverstein, the only group who were dressed in regular jeans and t-shirts. They had a more hardcore edge than most post- bands; constant scream and a rough, heavier sound. The crowd didn’t appear too thrilled, although there was a few moshers up front who seemed to enjoy the show. Their set was about 20 minutes as well.
Escape The Fate took the stage next, a Las Vegas act that plays some ‘80’s influenced post-hardcore, and with a new singer they’re currently showing off in Craig Mabbitt (formerly of Blessthefall). The crowd was pretty loud and got even louder as Craig asked who picked up their newest album. They split up tracks from both albums, and was really the only band that talked more than a sentence in between their songs. Halfway during their slightly longer set they asked the audience for a “wall of death”, in which the crowd splits up into two sides, then at the moment declared by the singer, the two sides crash into each other. When Craig said that so far Montréal had the best reaction to the wall, Toronto surely wanted to better their rival city. They could’ve, in fact, prevailed over Montréal, if they only could’ve had the patience for the signal to mosh; most people ran early, in which created everyone to join in, but still entertaining to watch.
The band with the most elaborate stage show entered right after, Chiodos, an act that sounds completely different than what you hear on their studio album. Their live sound is much more harsh, with screaming, noisy guitars, and occasionally some soft, prolonged, whisper-like singing. For crowd interaction they had everyone lift their hands in the air and do spirit fingers. Yes, you heard me correctly. As well they took a stab at another death wall, and this time it seemed to go a lot smoother.
Lastly, the second hometown act, Silverstein took the stage. They’ve been playing their patented brand of “screamo” for quite a long time now, and it shows in their instrumental skills as they played tighter then the previous bands, plus there wasn’t as much random noise coming out of their amps. They knew how to please the crowd with an array of song selection and hometown shout outs. They also gave everyone a taste of new material with the new song “Broken Stars”, and told the crowd there’ll be a new Silverstein album in 2009. A highlight to their set has to be the acoustic version of “My Heroin”, in which most of the way through the song the vocalist let the crowd sing the chorus, then the rest of the band came back on stage to finish the song electric.
Altogether a pleasant night just seeing all the kids having a good time enjoying the music they love, even with the emotional audio clips at the beginning of every song, and I mean every song! I do have to say though, that the one surprise for the evening, and I’m sure everyone at the venue will agree, was the snow outside when it all ended.
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