LIVE: C'mon Fulfill Male Fantasies
Monday March 17, 2008 @ 02:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

March 14, 2008
Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, Ontario
By Scott Bryson

Beer was spilled, fists were pumped and pits were moshed. This was all happening before headliners C'mon were even spotted in the club.

Aside from the usual mix of Friday concert-goers, this night's Horseshoe crowd was sporting a plethora of beards, an unsightly number of Judas Priest T-shirts and far too many examples of metal hair. Shouts of "Rammer! Rammer! Rammer!" quickly revealed who the head-bangers had come out to see.

Toronto-based thrash outfit Rammer were at the 'Shoe to play their second last show before they end their nine-year run and it didn't take them long to whip the crowd into a body-surfing frenzy. It was almost too grand a spectacle for C'mon to bother trying to top. To add to the "You know you're at a metal show when" list: When the singer yells something incomprehensible about "the reanimator."

The frenetic set fittingly ended with singer Dave Plisskensen disrobing and launching his sweaty body into a pile of spectators.

When Ian Blurton and his crew finally did take the stage to cap off the night, the crowd had thinned and the moshing had all but ceased. But that didn't stop the hometown crew from putting together one of their usually tight rock spectacles.

Blurton may be one of the most unlikely frontmen in indie rock — with his just-emerged-from-a-decade-spent-as-a-recluse-in-a-cabin-in-the-woods look — but he and his guitar certainly know how to command a stage. The threesome ploughed through a countless number of tracks from their three albums and beyond, only briefly stopping between songs to throw back shots of some indeterminate alcohol. C'mon, while somewhat vocally reserved, could teach today's young bands a thing or two about showmanship.

If no one has called her so before, it needs to be mentioned that bassist Katie Lynn Campbell is a veritable rock goddess. That long flowing hair; the way she plays the bass with it hanging down at her knees — there's no doubt her image was fulfilling a significant number of male fantasies.

The trio reemerged for an expected encore and, much to the crowd's delight, nailed their most recognizable hit, "The Messenger." One fan was treated to the night of his life when Blurton allowed him on stage to play tambourine for the finale. It was certainly a magical event for that dude, but it's a good bet everyone left the Horseshoe feeling a little bit better about the world.