Toronto – I first heard rumblings of Wild Beasts on Twitter a few months ago (That shit is better than Pandora, especially because I’m Canadian and can’t access Pandora. Fail). After the first listen I became slightly obsessed with their hilarious song lyrics, the lead singer’s shrieky falsetto, and the song Poutine Hooting and Howling which quickly became my favorite of the bunch.
What struck me first about this band is how similar the lead singer’s voice is to Justin Hawking of the Darkness, (Side note: sadly, they are not reuniting) a band that I sorely miss. What the world is lacking in new Darkness material, Wild Beasts make up for in droves.
Onto the show: It’s Monday night, Wild Beasts are playing at the Mod Club and…no one is there. This show was very sparsely populated due to the fact that it was a Monday and the band has yet to garner any major press in North America (Yet another reason to hate Biebs). Numbers notwithstanding, these guys induced some serious energy from the crowd including (but not limited to) mosh-style jumping, fist pumping and the dance-with-your-hands-reaching-out-for-the-lead-singer-dances.
I was actually quite shocked at how good lead singer Hayden Thorpe’s voice is, he is able to nail all the high notes even though this was the band’s first stop after the Lollapalooza music festival. Hayden shares front man duties with bassist Tom Fleming who takes on songs that call for vocals in an octave lower and that require a bit more theatrics (think playing bass guitar with a drumstick). Wild Beasts have an excellent stage presence. Throughout the performance they chatted to the audience between songs telling us stories of when they were last in Toronto (shockingly, it was cold) and they introduced a few songs with anecdotes from their past told in their cute English accents.
Most of the songs Wild Beasts played were from their sophomore album Two Dancers, peppering these with a few from their first, Limbo Panto. Despite grumblings from the band about playing with rented equipment and how the humidity left their guitars out of tune, every song was played with energy that the crowd just ate up. There was however, the token douchebag who yelled “play Poutine Hooting and Howling” after EVERY song. Unlike that guy, I knew Wild Beasts would play Poutine Hooting and Howling for the encore and I must say that it was my favorite part of the show. The crowd (albeit thin) went crazy when it began: everyone danced up a storm, sang their hearts out and finally, the douchebag was silenced.
Wild Beasts are touring North America at the moment with major music festivals like Lollapalooza and Outside Lands on their roster. This band has some definite staying power and I hope the next time I see them in Toronto that it’ll be a sold out show.
Wild Beasts Remaining Tour Dates:
Wednesday, Aug. 11 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
Friday, Aug. 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
Saturday, Aug. 14 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival