Eagles' Death Metal Rocks

The Mod Club

Toronto, ON

on Nov 13 2008

Evan Dickson (CHARTattack)

11/14/2008 3:24pm

This show renewed my faith in rock 'n' roll.

In a world where reality shows like Rock Star: Supernova make being a rock star seem like paint by numbers, a lot of bands just follow the formula and end up turning into ridiculous caricatures — posers of the worst kind with more tattoos than talent. I'm ashamed to admit that I suspected Eagles Of Death Metal of committing that sort of bullshittery. Their Mod Club performance proved me dead wrong.

The club was filled with pure rock 'n' roll spirit all night. The crowd was thrilled, the band were giddy, and even the sober among us felt high. I knew this for a fact when frontman Jesse Hughes asked, "Can you feel it?" and the black-clad tough guy next to me shouted, "I feel it!" with all the reverent conviction of a holy roller. Nobody even seemed to care that Josh Homme wasn't there to sing the high parts.

It's true, the king of Queens was absent, leaving Hughes — a man for whom every month is Movember — to fill the star power void with his own giddily unpretentious personality. He seemed genuinely grateful to the sold-out crowd of madly enthusiastic fans. After almost every song, he stopped to thank the audience, kissed outstretched hands, or just chatted with the superfan groupies watching from the wings.

Admittedly, all the between-song love-ins stuttered the momentum and, combined with a few technical problems, the show dragged about halfway through. Still, Hughes was just so damn likeable that you couldn't help but root for him. He even pointed out specific fans who were apparently at their last show in Detroit, the whole time giving the impression that he was everyone's buddy who was just as excited to see us as we were to see him.

That's what the Lukas Rossis of the world don't understand. Rock 'n' roll isn't about looking cool or getting famous. It's supposed to be fun — even silly.

Eagles Of Death Metal definitely know how to have a good time. It almost doesn't matter what they played. Almost all of their tunes provide a good mix of hard rock balls and cheeky humour, but only a few, like show-opener "I Only Want You," really stand out. But that's not even important. The songs aren't necessarily brilliant or poetic, but they don't insult your intelligence. Like the band, they're fun, accessible and get the job done. Power to the people.