Toronto – Opening for Empire of the Sun was another Australian synth-pop outfit – Miami Horror. The band had previously headlined a sold out show at the Mod Club in April. Due to the early start time of the headliners, the four piece outfit from Melbourne had the unfortunate task of opening up a show at 8pm to a rather sparse crowd. I made a note of that on my tweet.
Undeterred by the small crowd, Benjamin Plant, his singer Josh Moriarty and the rest of the band soldered forth an energetic set consisting of tracks off the band’s debut album Illuminations. To say Josh Moriarty has got moves is an understatement of epic proportions. The man knows his guitar poses as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. The spin? yup. The machine gun? yup. The play the guitar behind your head move? yup. On your knees? yup. Crotch in photographers face? yup. He’s got it all.
Miami Horror’s energy went a long way into transforming the semi lethargic opening band type crowd into a semi dance party. Their hit tracks – I look to you, Holidays and Summersun definitely struck a chord with the crowd and I even had a girl who looked like she had just started college ask me what the band was. Since English is my second language, I sometimes have trouble with my R’s so I think I said ‘Miami Whores’ which elicited a semi unfavorable response from the lady. I quickly rectified this by typing out the band’s name in my phone and showing her the real name, much to her relief. Her dad then protectively pulled her to the side and punched me in the face. One of the previous three sentences is a lie, I’ll let you figure out which one.
Anyways, the band ended off their set with the track Holiday. While the opening slot lacked the same amount of energy and love Miami Horror showed in their initial show here, they were still entertaining and easily won over a large number of new fans. A great achievement considering the circumstances.
Sometimes by Miami Horror (Official)
I don’t know why I quoted myself in this article, but like Whitney Houston said.. It’s not right but it’s okay.