Toronto’s lovable band of misfits Fucked Up tore down the El Rey Theatre on Thursday, nine and a half years after their first show there. “And it wasn’t like this,” lead vocalist Damian Abraham told the adoring crowd he had been hugging, high-fiving and screaming at for the past fifty minutes. Abraham is incredibly engaging in his performance; he is a hulking, shirtless woodsman of a frontman who frequently offers up the microphone to any fan who looks willing and ready to finish a line, or scream anything for that matter.
With two openings acts and a DJ spinning classic punk between sets, Thursday’s lineup was a showcase of raw punk and deafening garage rock. Opener Rat Fist, flanked by two full Marshall stacks, delivered a barrage of meaty chords rich with teenage restlessness and growling angst with nary a clean tone in sight to let the vocals come through the mix. What Rat Fist lacked in the high end, Silverlakes’ Tijuana Panthers more than made up for with its shrill, surfy garage rock. Evoking aggression in a collared shirt, guitarist Chad Wachtel’s Jazzmaster cut like razor blades on a sea of punchy bass and tight restless drums. Like Rat Fist, vocal issues bugged the Panther’s set. Although each member of the trio takes turns on lead vocals, only Wachtel’s could ever really be heard.
Fucked Up opened with “Let Her Rest”, the instrumental anticipatory opening track from 2011’s David Comes to Life. Abraham waited just off stage as four minutes of build led into the blistering “Queen of Hearts” and then he emerged fully, spinning the mic in long loops until it was time to commence his vocal assault, stepping down into the audience and joining them in a non-violent controlled mosh that Ian Mackaye would approve of. By the third song Abraham had lost his shirt, and shortly after that he had dumped an excessive amount of glitter on his bald crown, which slowly migrated over his face and torso for the remainder of the set, which clocked in at about an hour, with one three minute encore after closing the set with the glorious “The Other Shoe.” “If you wanna sing along, you just gotta say ‘Dying on the inside,’” Abraham said.
Fucked Up’s brand of punk is of the glorious, verbose variety. What little time Abraham spent addressing the crowd, he was funny, weird and shared an underlying message of hope, equality and zero patience for bullshit of any sort, at one point gently nudging the situation in Ferguson. For fans of the intricately layered guitar work on the recordings, the live act might leave some disappointed. At least that was the case at the El Rey. With three heavily overdriven electric guitars, much of the rich harmonic progressions that make their recordings so rewarding were lost in a soup of mud. But the energy of seeing a shirtless bald man with a lumberjack beard, covered in glitter and screaming to his heart’s discontent was its own reward.
Set List:
Let Her Rest
Queen of Hearts
Son the Father
Echo Boomer
Sun Glass
Led By Hand
Paper the HouseTurn the Season
David Comes to Life
Police + Glass Boys
The Other Shoe
Encore:
Year of the Dragon
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