The Dears @ Pop Montreal 2002

ChartAttack staff swarmed the Pop Montreal festival last weekend. Here are some of the highlights:

Tonight was a more dangerous, more violent Dears. Sure that may sound odd considering their epic Brit-pop resume, but most of the fey strumming has been crushed under foot. The band were ragged and tense to start the set, with frontman Murray Lightburn weaving about angrily onstage. The band finally stabilized for unreleased gems "Who Are You, Defender Of The Universe?" and the classic "Pinned Together, Falling Apart," but it wasn't until the new song, "Summer Of Protest," where the new Dears power revealed itself. Ferocious and metallic, Lightburn's repeated thrusts of "Revolution! Revolution! Revolution!" signaled what may be a new order.