On the Road Again
Live Reviews:

Brian Jonestown Massacre
August 12, 1998
El Mocambo, Upstairs, Toronto, ON

Immediately after the show here, lead singer/controller Anton Newcombe hopped into an airport-bound cab and flew back to his home in San Francisco, abruptly causing the cancellation of thirteen future gigs. Anton needed a break from the stress of touring and will resume road duties in September.

For those who know the BJM, this chaos is nothing new. Anton has (rumoured) been known to fire managers at gun-point and has gone through roughly 60 musicians in recording and touring on behalf of the six BJM albums he's put out in the last couple years. This spectacle, coupled with the suggestion a fist-fight could erupt onstage any second, brought many curious and a few already converted to the ElMo this night.

There were few fireworks however. Besides Anton's admonishing of the bassist and the ElMo soundman coupled with the occasional general scowl, the BJM crew were a well-behaved lot.

The set was considerably more rocking than the Byrd-out fans who witnessed the band's Club Shanghai gig a couple months earlier were privy to. The set was kicked off with "Fucker," then (not necessarily in order) "Who?" "Going To Hell," "Dawn " and "Jennifer." While Anton seemed pissed playing these tunes, he sounded pretty good to this casual observer. The show got considerably more intense when the songs "That Girl Suicide" and "Satellite" were rendered spectacularly. Undoubtedly the highlight of the show, these two alone justify BJM's existence as a musical entity. To close, as per the norm, the band flung into a monstrous feedback jam for "Sue." One observer clocked this extended feedback assault at 25-minutes in duration before everyone quit the stage. All told, a strong, though unspectacular show. Hardcore Massacre fans were likely to have left feeling quite giddy, those who only know BJM from their major label debut, Strung Out In Heaven, probably felt lost halfway through.