Pop Montreal Warehouse Show Ends In Glorious Near Destruction

Various venues

Montreal, QC

on Oct 3 2009

Erik Leijon (CHARTattack)

10/06/2009 3:37pm

As you may have noticed, this year's Pop Montreal coverage at CHARTattack comes with photos.

Anyway, new photographer Cindy Lopez and myself took the opportunity to strategize the festival's biggest night while taking in the Montreal Canadiens-Buffalo Sabres game at designated home base Copacabana's. It was an introductory conversation over pakoras with a new colleague: we discovered we shared a large stable of mutual friends, had numerous observations about the incestuous and recycled nature of Montreal's anglophone music community, discussed the overuse of punctuation and gave our overall assessment of the festival at large.

The Fringe Phenomenon, pointed out by the photog, is the strange occurrence where at the yearly alternative theatre Fringe Festival, one tends to have a quick, amorous fling that lasts as long as the theatre's transient population is in town.

Considering Pop Montreal is a yearly congregation of familiar faces one might otherwise not encounter out and about, it stands to reason a similar phenomenon happens at this festival. It's maybe why concertgoers are more amicable, friendly, outgoing and uninhibited whenever the Pop Montreal caravan rolls back into town — there's a slight endorphin kick that starts sometime around Thursday afternoon and keeps the blood pumping through the weekend.

Whatever the reason, a couple of Montreal bands I've seen countless times this year, Parlovr and Think About Life, delivered their best sets of 2009.

Saturday, Oct. 3

10:15 p.m.: The Habs game finished, with new forward Brian Gionta netting the game-winner in overtime. Why does this matter in the grand scheme of Pop Montreal? People are happier when the Canadiens win. Even those who don't care much about sports.

11 p.m.: I met with friends in preparation for a unique concert-going experience at Espace Reunion. It's an out-of-the-way abandoned building in the derelict factory area of Outremont. It was also a key space for this year's festival, since it housed the ArtPop installations and the Theremin Project — 16 theremins in close proximity.

11:55 p.m.: Local trio Parlovr hit the stage, with the crowd still relatively sparse. Espace Reunion isn't a conventional concert space, and the multiple lobbies seem better for a compartmental studio apartment house party rather than a community-gathering live show. There's even an Xbox 360 (an obvious tie-in to the Ubisoft-sponsored space), and a few comfy loveseats.

12 a.m.: Everything that makes Parlovr an interesting entry into the Montreal indie rock catalogue was in overdrive tonight: the ramshackle presentation, the tattered instruments and the piercing vocals barely requiring any amplification. At this point, the pockets of attendees began to congregate closer to the stage.

12:15 a.m.: A good chunk of the set was devoted to new, unreleased material. They still had space for album cuts "On The Phone" and "Hiccup!" complete with the memorable transition in-between the songs.


Homosexual Cops at Esapce Reunion (Photo by Cindy Lopez)

12:35 a.m.: I observed gobsmacked members of the audience exit the darkened performance area, literally dragging their friends back with them, while standing in one of the quieter sections of Espace Reunion before the next band, The Homosexual Cops, took the stage. They were all mouthing the words "you gotta see this."

12:36 a.m.: Sure enough, their shock was warranted, as on stage were two men — one skinny and one buff — dressed in matching skin-tight white pants and T-shirts. They were singing along to a programmed iPod filled with simple electronic beats.

In the most complementary of senses, The Homosexual Cops were really gaying it up. It was kitschy, campy Right Said Fred-meets-Cut Copy stuff, and it was as much about comedy as it was generally catchy dance music.

The lyrics were easily memorable — shout outs to weekends and finding love were as deep as it got — but it succeeded in livening the atmosphere and preparing the typically uptight indie audience for some guilt-free fun.

1:30 a.m.: Think About Life finally took to the stage after a bit of a delay, to a floor that was a tight fit. Sweat was already permeating from every collective gland, and in response to Graham Van Pelt mucking around with his sampler, things become even more constricted near the front of the stage.

1:35 a.m.: "Sofa Bed," the most rocking of tracks on 2009's Family, began, and I was immediately sucked into the large mosh pit like a vortex had just opened in the middle of the floor. Someone dropped to his knees using his cellphone as a makeshift flashlight looking for something. He got pummelled.

1:40 a.m.: "This is it, this is what we've been waiting for," obnoxiously proclaimed some anonymous hipster as the opening flute notes of "Johanna" began to play. It's the opening track on Pop Montreal 2009's compilation disc — otherwise I'm not sure why that song would stand out above the others.

Throughout the rest of the set, there was always at least one mosher soaring above the fray. A young girl got dropped on her head — twice — yet got up with a big grin both times. I took a swift kick in the side of the head from a crowd surfer, but cancelled that out by accidentally elbowing some equally sweaty guy in the temple. No one seemed upset by the random violence, rising temperatures and unavoidable groping.

1:55 a.m.: The live-only bridge of "Set You On Fire" was playing and my T-shirt was sopping wet. Drummer Matt Shane lit one of his drumsticks on fire and invited a crowd member to play alongside him. A mosher grabbed the scaffolding above him, nearly sending it toppling. It seemed oddly appropriate we completely destroyed the makeshift venue tonight.

2 a.m.: The show ended with Think About Life frontman and birthday boy Martin Cesar receiving a warm anniversary greeting, along with a cake. We're told that despite his inexhaustible energy, he's older than we think. At this point, I was on the periphery, considering the value of wringing my T-shirt like a wet rag.

3:30 a.m.: After a refuelling chicken poutine at an all-nighter on Bernard, I took a quick glance at the after-party at Mainline Theatre. It was still kicking on into the night.

Sunday, Oct. 4

Pop Montreal was supposed to end with a quiet day of reflection at home, cup of herbal tea in hand. Yet there was a unique triple bill at Il Motore that begged for one final trip.

The Hoof And The Heel At Il Motore (Photo by Cindy Lopez)

The show featured new local band The Hoof And The Heel, Missouri-based chanteuse Kristeen Young and gyps-indie New Yorkers Kiss Kiss. The show was the perfect opportunity to unwind after a hectic few days. Full disclosure: I have been known to consort with the opening act outside of business hours.

9 p.m.: Local trio The Hoof And The Heel took the stage first, with frontman Harris Shper aggressively leading the procession on acoustic guitar, trading vocal lines with female keyboardist Christine Hale like a conversational Ben Gibbard and Jenny Lewis did on The Postal Service's "We Will Become Silhouettes." Musically it's a less dour, more danceable Bright Eyes.

10 p.m.: Young, who was sporting body armour fashioned out of detached piano keys, was next. The singer/keyboardist was accompanied by just a drummer, and her show have the look and feel of a Dresden Dolls gig, but her vocals position her more like a headstrong singular songwriter/performer a la Tori Amos.

10:45 p.m.: Kiss Kiss were the final act my Pop Montreal 2009 experience. They're a violin-heavy five-piece that incorporated a lot gypsy and Mediterranean influences with standard indie rock. If the description sounds an awful lot like DeVotchKa, it's no accident, although Kiss Kiss were more in the traditional pop realm.