Concert Review: Savages, April 4, Danforth Music Hall

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A few songs in to their set at The Danforth Music Hall, right after performing “Slowing Down The World” (described as a “slow, sexy” song), Savages singer Jehnny Beth introduced “Shut Up” to the crowd as “an old, angry song.” Sure, to the uninitiated, most of Savages’ songs might sound like angry ones, but it was a rather telling sign of where the band is at these days. In a recent interview with NOW Magazine, guitarist Gemma Thompson described their latest album Adore Life as being a record about love, and while it’s a complex look at love that hardly sounds like your typical collection of love songs, there’s a certain positivity in the band’s outlook that comes through clearly in their live show.

Led by the incredibly charismatic and engaging Beth, Savages put on an impressive, even uplifting performance. And while the occasionally somewhat tame Toronto crowd couldn’t match Beth’s intensity and didn’t respond quite the way she might have wanted them to (“Do with your bodies what you just did with your voices,” and “Everybody take one step closer” were just a few of the words of encouragement she offered up), she didn’t let that diminish her energy one iota.

“Boredom is the evil of the world! Don’t ever be bored!” she shouted out at one point, though with the kind of performance put on by the band, I can’t conceive of anyone ever being truly bored at a Savages show.

Posted on by Paul in Concerts