Skinny Puppy's Noise Shows Evolution

The last time Skinny Puppy played the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto was 1985. The venue was called the Diamond back then, and it's quite likely that scalpers weren't scoring $125 per scarce spare ticket on the street outside.

Other than that, the scene was probably much the same as 'twas this Friday the 13th: a black sea of skinny brooding types gathering to witness an ocean of noise and a river of (fake) blood.

I can't say this for sure. I wasn't there that night 24 years ago, although I did see the Vancouver electronic music icons live before they dissolved in 1996 and reunited in 2000. That placed me amongst those audience members with fairly high expectations that this tour, dubbed In Solvent See, would deliver the same wild jolts of audio/visual horror as those Skinny Puppy shows of yore — a mess of grand guignol theatrics and subversive sonic collage that inspired every goth/industrial band in their wake.

Skinny Puppy founders cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre (touring with additional live drummer Justin Bennett), may not spill buckets of blood and practically kill themselves for art anymore but they still delivered a disturbing sensory wallop, from the hyper-kaleidoscope video projections to Ogre's costuming and posturing.

The singer first appeared, hobbling upon a cane, wrapped in an all-white get-up with pointy hat and some kind of oversized oven mitts, that gives a decidedly KKK vibe that also evoked the Abu Ghraib prisoner photos. He peeled back layers of this outfit throughout the night, revealing various shadowy characters, at times stepping into a magician-type glass box off to the side which subjected his body to various experiments, some bloody.

Meanwhile, his partner Key conducted a dizzying bombast heavy on the bass rumble, which Bennett plowed over with (frankly) too much drum soloing.

Song selections come from throughout the band's politically charged canon — from 1988's "Dogshit" through to "Pro-Test" from 2004's reunion/comeback album, Greater Wrong Of The Right — each song re-interpreted for the modern age.

This fuckery with the arrangements made the show feel less like a greatest hit album done live and more like an on-the-fly remix session. If you didn't appreciate this, or perhaps the lack of guitar, well, you'd be hard-pressed to complain after hearing "Assimilate," "Warlock" and "Far Too Frail," some of the band's best work, sounding vital as ever.

By the end, Ogre shed the final layer of disguise and was actually smiling, his audience joyous in unison. Sure it was ungoth, but it was also probably way more fun than anyone had at that first Puppy gig so long ago. This is one dog up to some fine new tricks.